THE Cumberland Building Society has been named 'regional lending provider of the year' at the prestigious Moneyfacts Awards in London.

The industry event recognises the best financial providers in the UK, based on the products they offer.

The Cumberland was awarded the title having offered the most consistently competitive mortgage products over the course of a year.

It was a case of third time lucky for the Carlisle-based mutual, which has been a runner-up to the Cambridge Building Society for the last two years.

Peter Temple, deputy chief executive of the Cumberland, collected the award.

He said: “We are particularly delighted to win this award as Moneyfacts is a completely independent comparison site and one of the industry’s leading providers of impartial financial information.

“To be recognised by them shows that we are delivering our aim of providing great value mortgages.”

He added: “One of the important factors that Moneyfacts consider when judging is the entire cost of a mortgage, including fees.

"Many ‘best buy’ tables simply rank products according to the initial interest rate, which can be misleading.”

This title is the second national mortgage award the Cumberland has received this year, having been named 'best regional building society' by Mortgage Finance Gazette.

The Cumberland is Cumbria’s largest financial institution and the UK’s 10th largest building society with more than 140,000 customers.

It operates 34 branches in Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, Lancashire and Northumberland.