You can deposit money in a building society and obtain yearly interest at a certain rate．You can also borrow money from a building society．What, then, is difference between a bank and a building society? In fact, a building society does not seem to be very different from a savings bank．Many people regularly save money by depositing small amounts monthly in a building society, just as other people regularly save money by depositing small amounts monthly in a savings bank．Some people deposit large amounts in a building society as an investment．They receive higher interest than they would receive from a savings bank; their money can be invested either in building society shares or in loans to the society．
These societies are controlled by law, but they are not government organizations．They were originally started to enable people to buy houses．One of their main purposes is to provide loans for buying or building houses．Many people prefer buying a house to paying rent, but some of them cannot afford to buy a house．To cover the cost they borrow the money from a building society．The loan plus the interest is paid back in monthly amounts over an agreed number of years．Probably the payments made in this way are no more than the rent of a rented house．But at the end of the stated period, when the debt is paid, the borrower becomes the owner of the house．To protect the building society from “bad debts” he must sign a statement to say that the house belongs to the society until the debt is paid．
A building society invests the savings of its shareholders in houses and property．Unlike a bank, it does not serve as a general clearing house （清算所） for every kind of exchange or business operation．Its activities are limited compared with those of a bank．
68．A building society is different from a bank in that ____．
A．the former is limited in its activities
B．the latter is limited in function compared with the former
C．a bank doesn’t serve as a general clearing house
D．a building society can protect itself from “bad debt”
69．Some people put large amounts of money in the building society because _______．
A．they can get more profit than they do in a bank．
B．they may choose between the form of building society shares and that of loans for their investment
C．they may enjoy shares and loans at the same time
D．they like the society
70．If you borrow money from the society to buy a house, ____．
A．you have to return the money to the building society the moment it is needed．
B．you have to sign an agreement to repay the loan after a number of years
C．what you pay back monthly for the loan would be less than the rent
D．the house doesn’t belong to you unless you have repaid all the debt