From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbuilding societyˈbuilding soˌciety noun [countable] British EnglishBFB a type of bank that you pay money into in order to save it and earn interest, and that will lend you money to buy a house or apartment SYN savings and loan association American English
Examples from the Corpus
building society• Ramzan is being sued for £30,000 by a building society.• His loan, from a building society, was for £50,000.• A building society is not concerned with public or local government or the provision of a public service.• So ask your building society what you could lose or gain from a remortgage.From Longman Business Dictionarybuilding societyˈbuilding soˌciety noun (plural building societies) [countable] British EnglishFINANCEORGANIZATIONS an organization providing financial services to customers, especially lending money in the form of MORTGAGEs to buy a house or flat and paying interest to savers. Building societies were originally formed to help people buy or build houses with money from people who saved with the societyI would have been better off investing in a building society investment account. 