Hanley Economic Building Society Reviews 93

Claire at the stone branch was excellent, she sorted out my ISA

Since my first mortgage I cannot fault the dealings I have had. They are excellent and they have always dealt with me efficiently. Thank you for everything you have done for me. George Henderson.

I have a regular saver with Hanley. I logged onto my account on the app and tried to put money in using the pay by card option which I have done before without problem. However the money didn’t appear in my account this time. The day after it was showing as being sent by my bank. I contacted Hanley and was told it could take 2 days. It still didn't appear. I phoned again and was told that they couldn't find it but they would look again. I gave them a transaction number provided by my bank and raised a complaint. I've emailed them but still no contact. They seem to have a couldn't care less attitude. I can't afford to lose the money. I was told that the transactions were done manually. Really! My next step will be to raise chargeback with my bank. I have no confidence in Hanley.

Honestly I have no idea what the recent reviews where on about on here. My first reaction after reading them was have I made a mistake. Phone calls having to take a selfie, holding up an ID like a criminal in a line up.
No none of that happened, simple process easy log in. One of the easiest I have ever done Well done Hanley you have my vote

Have the Hanley Economic Building Society improved since November 25?

Back in November 25 the Hanley BS, launched a monthly saver account, these are often a great way of saving a little every month and in return getting a good rate of interest. The Hanley was offering a decent rate and since I’d been a previous member and can still log in to on-line banking thought I’d apply. The onboarding process was the worst I’ve ever had with a building society so much so it didn’t actually happen.

My review I posted on Trip Advisor last November.

February 2026, have the Hanley learnt from my feedback? Read on and find out.

Just a bit of background first. I’ve got an excellent credit score, have accounts with several banks and building society’s. Never been refused an account or credit when I’ve applied for it. Lived at the same address for over 25 years and I’m on the electoral role.

Henley BS open up on-line applications for another account and I try again. I made the application on-line but for some reason half way through I got a message to the effect that there had been an error try later. Luckily an email arrived saying my application had been saved and to click to continue which I subsequently did and that went really well. I quoted my old closed account number as part of the application to make sure everything matched up.

Normally accounts are opened within a couple of days after the required security checks. Normally a ‘soft’ search is carried out with credit reference agencies on the odd occasion perhaps a referral to an outside specialist Company such as Onfido now Entrust or even Veriff.

Quite a bit has happened since last Nov I’ve opened other regular saver accounts with the Yorkshire Building Society, the TSB and the Suffolk Building Society all of which, without exception have been fully functional within 24 hours. The Suffolk BS and TSB instantly.

So 24 hours I get an email asking me to use Microsoft to read a secure email, my instant reaction was anger not this stupid system again, waiting for emails with codes so you can read another email. I still haven’t got an outlook account and I don’t want one, The Hanley is the only BS I know of that uses this crazy, stupid system - no lessons learned there then. Oh well, persevere and finally got to read the fun part, exactly the same as last time, photo id then photo of me holding the id ‘it’s selfie time again’ nope didn’t happen last November and won’t happen again. Still not getting a new passport or driving licence, I’ve actually got my bus pass but they won’t accept that.

You might think I’m been stubborn perhaps obnoxious but let’s think and list the financial organisations that I have relationships with that I’ve opened accounts with that have NOT required selfie ID.

Lloyds, Halifax, Cahoot, Santander, RBOS,DF Capital, Saffron BS, Atom. Virgin Money, Tandem, Suffolk BS, Yorkshire BS, Newcastle BS, Zopa, Nationwide First Direct, Skipton,The Tipton, Beverley BS and Nottingham to name a few,

So the request for Selfie ID while holding the ID is unique to the Hanley, and very hard to achieve without involving someone else to take the photo.

In Hanleys reply to my last review they said ‘ additional steps are sometimes necessary to very identity for online applications’

In my case :-
1) Previous Customer
2) living at same address over 25 years
3) on the electoral roll
4) Good / Excellent credit score.
5) No problem verifying identity with Entrust.

I’m genuinely not sure what type of savers you’re trying to attract but not this one.

So three months on and nothing has changed. I do reluctantly remember having to get my son to help me do a photo last time I saved with the Hanley - but last time not to open the account, you requested one to withdraw to my linked savings account.

The Hanley Building Society - security obsessed or just stupid - you decide.

My mortgage adviser, Lana Beech, was very knowledgeable, helpful and made the whole self build mortgage application process easy to understand. Hanley Economic Building Society were straight forward to deal with and i cannot speak highly enough of the services provided.

Jane Longmore our Mortgage Advisor at Hanley was superb. She found us the perfect mortgage for our particular personal circumstances. The personal service which she provided made us feel like we were her only clients. She kept us constantly updated with the progress of our application and answered any queries that we had immediately. Her friendly and professional demeanour throughout made us feel confident that she was a very experienced Mortgage Advisor. Jane made the whole experience of obtaining a mortgage from Hanley Economic Building Society stress free from start to finish and we can’t thank her enough.

Jane looked after our mortgage when we bought our house and has done so again on our re-mortgage. She is incredibly knowledgable and responsive, always at end of the phone when we needed her and always had the answers to our questions. The process was very straight forward with her help. Thank you again Jane!

I made a phone call to apply for a self build mortgage after speaking to a couple of other lenders first - within 5 minutes of speaking to a lady called Lana who has looked after me every single step of the way from start to finish ( and still looking after me now with the stage drawdowns etc ) I knew I was speaking to someone who I would be happy, relaxed and confident to do all of this with. Her help, perseverance and attention to detail is second to none - I will speak to Lana with every mortgage enquiry I have from now on......I couldn't possibly recommend her highly enough to do her justice.

The application process was straight forward and timely, I was given an initial appointment within two days for example and each of my messages during the process was answered the same day. Lana, who was my point of contact throughout was absolutely great, knowledgeable friendly and professional. I initially chose a fixed term discount product but as my sale was subsequently delayed, I was able to switch to a newly issued variable tracker at a couple of days notice. I would highly recommend Hanley for excellent customer service.

I applied for a savings account, but first they sent me an email that I couldn’t open, I’m 80 years of age and it said something about needing an outlook account.

My son helped me and said they want a passport and a driving licence and a photograph with me holding them up before the end of November. I haven’t got a passport and I’ve never drove so don’t have a driving license.

I don’t have this problem with any other accounts I have. My son tried to help me but there’s nothing he could do either. I don’t understand why the Hanley are asking me to do this. I normally don’t have any problems with a credit check never owed anybody anything in my life. I shouldn’t fail and have never failed an identity check. I don’t understand what’s happened but looking at other reviews in a way I’m glad to see I’m not the only one. My son says they seem very amateurish and not a good building society to deal with so I’ll carry on saving with my local building society the Leeds. It’s just that I have to walk to crossgates and I’m not as good as waking as I use to be. My son is going to help me get online with Leeds building society. I just thought I’d give the Hanley a try as my daughter lives in Stoke and saves with them, I just like to put a few pounds away every month for christmas next year. Never mind there loss, not mine.i feel quite upset but will move on.

We dealt with Victoria Earl for our mortgage, from start to finish she was informative and helpful. She guided us through everything we needed to do. We have already recommended her to a friend. Thankyou for all your help.

What I would like to say about Hanley Economic Building Society.
I was looking for a product that suited my needs,
I viewed a lot of other providers and they fell short of what I was looking for,
I found that Hanley Economic Building Society had the very product i was looking for,
They were very easy to talk to and the process was straight forward, simple and easy.
John Brand

We found Hanley to be efficient in handling the mortgage and their staff friendly and helpful. A particular thank you to Lana Beech, who responded quickly to any queries and problems and was always on top of the process.

I first made contact with victoria a few months ago, and she's been very helpful and supportive. She was always at end of the phone or email to help or explain anything to me. She literally made my dream a reality and im very grateful.

Traditional values,
competitive products helpful friendly staff.

Excellent help and advice from Vicki Earl in our pursuit for a mortgage. From start to finish, experience was brilliant.

To date, Lana and HEBS have been very diligent, provided excellent guidance and explanations, and communicated clearly and responsively throughout the process of my self-build application. I was originally apprehensive of utilising a self-build mortgage for my project, having been told by other funding providers of their complexity and potential "red-tape". However, my experience with HEBS couldn't have been further from this. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again, and would highly recommended them to anyone else embarking on a self-build project!

We have just completed on a Hanley RIO Mortgage. The Mortgage Advisor, Lana Beech, was particularly helpful, polite & efficient answering most queries within an hour of them being posed. This made our application straightforward & trouble free. Lana is an asset to The Hanley Economic Building Society with her pleasant manner & interest in the customer. Well done & thank you.

Met with mortgage advisor Jane who was extremely kind polite and helpful