Many of us experience difficult times during our lives, financial or other, or we know of friends or family members who may be in that position. It is during these times that our customers may find themselves in circumstances that may require our additional help and support.

As a mutual building society, our Purpose is to look after the financial wellbeing of our members, and this is especially true during times of difficulty. We pride ourselves on our customer care and have a team dedicated to support the wellbeing of our customers.

The recent customer panel survey on financial wellbeing allowed us the explore some of these experiences and understand how organisations cater for customers during these difficult times.

We recognise that the topic is very sensitive, and we are grateful that so many of our panel members took part to tell us their experience and thoughts on this subject.

In fact, just under half of the respondents told us they have experienced something that affects their physical or mental wellbeing with age related issues and limiting long term illness and disability being most notable, followed by bereavement and mental health.

Interestingly, two fifths also said they provide help or support to someone who is experiencing something that affects their physical or mental wellbeing.

It was pleasing to learn that the majority of those said they feel they were treated well by organisations they come in to contact with such as their bank, doctor or at the shops. We asked what the organisation did so well for them, with panel members telling us it was people being helpful, polite and friendly as well as listening and empathising with their situation. Where organisations didn’t treat them well, being dismissive, unhelpful and not understanding the person or situation were common responses.

We asked the panel what could the West Brom, or other financial organisations do more of to help and support customers experiencing difficulties. Several suggestions were provided and include showing kindness, listening and being flexible, being clear and concise in our communication and literature and offering additional financial support when needed.

The information provided to us in this survey has been a great help and it enables us to be better equipped now and in the future. It will help us to really understand the needs of customers who are experiencing difficulty and identify areas for improvement that will support our customers when they really need us most.