Exclusive Savings

This account is available to existing Chelsea customers only.

Important information
Please read and print the information listed below so that you can proceed with your application. We also need you to tick the box below as confirmation.

How to apply

  1. Complete all the relevant sections of the downloadable application form below, print it off and sign it. If you want to transfer from an existing Chelsea account, please also complete, print and sign the transfer form.
Application form (existing savers only) Transfer form (existing savers only)
PDF PDF

These forms are PDFs and may take a few minutes to download. The file size is detailed to give you a guide as to how long it may take on your system.

You will need the free Adobe® Reader® software and weblink plugin to view these documents. If you do not have these, you can download them using the button below

Get Adobe Reader, this link will open in a new window

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

  1. You can return your application to us by post or at your local branch. Just follow the instructions below:
By post At a branch
  1. Make sure you have the following items:
    • completed forms
    • cheque (minimum £250)*
    • identification (if required)
  2. Send to:
    • Chelsea Building Society
    • Savings Department
    • Freepost SW3414/4
    • Thirlestaine Hall
    • Thirlestaine Road
    • Cheltenham
    • GL53 7BF

    You don't need a stamp as we pay the postage for you.

  1. Make sure you have the following items:
    • completed forms
    • cheque (minimum £250)*
    • identification (if required)
  2. Take to your local branch

* Please ensure that cheques are written clearly and made payable to Chelsea Building Society followed by your name. This will help us to prevent fraud. You should draw a line through unused space on the cheque so unauthorised people cannot add extra numbers or names.

If you are transferring from an existing Chelsea account, you won't need a cheque but you will need to provide your passbook (if applicable).

  1. When your account is opened you will be given a passbook as a record of your savings. Please keep this in a safe place and present whenever you wish to withdraw money.

Proving your identity

If you are opening a joint or trustee account and one of you is a new customer, we will ask for proof of the new customer´s identity. This is no reflection on you – it´s to ensure compliance with the Money Laundering Regulations that apply to every bank and building society.

Asking for proof of identity also makes it more difficult for criminals to use stolen identities, helping to prevent financial crime and protecting you from fraud.

Proving your identity is simple and can be done by post or in person at one of our branches. Once we have taken a record of the relevant information we will return any documents to you.

Existing customers may also need to provide us with additional identification – we will let you know if this is the case.

Acceptable documents

Acceptable documents are detailed in the checklist below.

If you are opening your account by post we’ll need:

  • the required item from section A and
  • one item from section B, and
  • one item from section C.

If you are opening your account at a branch we’ll need:

  • one item from section B, and
  • one item from section C.

We will need to see these documents for each person opening an account and they must be originals. The same document cannot be used to confirm both your name and address.

A

A completed cheque drawn on your personal current account (sole or joint) for the opening deposit or as part of the opening deposit. We are unable to accept building society cheques as proof of identity.

B

One of the following Government issued documents to confirm your name:

  • current valid passport (foreign passports will take longer to process within the branch) (branch applicants only, please don’t post these to us)
  • current full driving licence (branch applicants only, please don’t post these to us)
  • HM Revenue and Customs Notice of Tax Coding or Demand (issued within the last 12 months)
  • evidence of entitlement to state benefit, state pension or tax credit (issued within the last 12 months).

If you can’t provide a document from the above list, the following documents are also acceptable:

  • bank or building society, credit card or credit union statement showing your current address (no more than 3 months old).

C

One of the following to confirm your address:

  • current full driving licence (branch applicants only, please don’t post these to us)
  • domestic utility bill – gas, water, electricity, telephone – NOT mobile (no more than 3 months old)
  • mortgage statement (no more than 3 months old)
  • council tax bill (current year)
  • bank or building society, credit card or credit union statement showing your current address (no more than 3 months old).

If you can't supply one of the items listed, please call us as we may still be able to help. In some circumstances we may be able to accept other documents, or use an electronic verification system to prove your identity.


Charitable assignment
It is a condition of opening an account that new members must agree to assign any future windfall conversion benefits to Chelsea Building Society Charitable Foundation.

‘Windfall conversion benefit’ means a benefit which a person may become entitled to receive as a shareholding member or depositor of Chelsea under the terms of any future transfer of Chelsea's business to a company (ie on a conversion or takeover) but excludes the statutory right to have shares (including any balances on share accounts) converted into deposits with the company to which Chelsea transfers its business.

The requirement to assign any future windfall conversion benefit applies to anyone who opens a share account with Chelsea unless that person is an ‘exempt customer’.

To be an ‘exempt customer’ you must either have been:

  • a shareholding member or a borrowing member of Chelsea continuously since 19 March 2000 or
  • belong, at the date you apply to open the account, to one of the classes of exempt customers (a list of the customers who are exempt or who are partially exempt is available on request – the reason why some individuals are exempt is to avoid unfairness).

The agreement to assign any windfall conversion benefits lasts for five years (unless you are a partially exempt customer in which case the period will be such shorter period as Chelsea considers appropriate for the particular class of partially exempt customer to which you belong).
Charitable assignment has been introduced to avoid disruption to normal business caused by the action of speculators whose main objective is to receive conversion benefits.

The application form sets out your agreement, unless you are an exempt customer, to transfer to Chelsea's Charitable Foundation your rights to any windfall conversion benefits to which you may become entitled for the required five year period. Your agreement cannot be withdrawn or varied either by you or us.

Chelsea Building Society Charitable Foundation is a registered charity, constituted so that a majority of its trustees are independent of Chelsea Building Society. It provides financial assistance in the form of grants to registered charities.