Dear Claudienne

I live in New York. My husband died one week before his 82nd birthday which would have been June 24, 2014. He was suffering from cancer when he died. He had accounts at the Spanish Town branch of National Commercial Bank (NCB) and prior to his death, he asked NCB to transfer the monies in the accounts to the Carver Federal Savings Bank in New York.

He also had an account at NCB Capital Markets at the St Jago Shopping Centre. When he made the request for the monies to be transferred to the New York bank he also asked that my name be put on one of the accounts and he sent the bank a notarised letter with my name and ID photo.

When the bank did not respond to my husband’s request to transfer the funds, he phoned them. During the phone call the bank told him that his signature on the letter requesting the transfer of the money was different from the one on the documents he had signed when he opened the account.

The difference in my husband’s signature was due to the fact that he was much younger when he opened the account. Due to the ageing process and illness, in some cases signatures also change somewhat over time.

I would like to get some information from NCB about my husband’s accounts and would appreciate your assistance.

AT

Dear AT

Tell Claudienne requested information from NCB regarding your complaint by way of questions. We also gave NCB your phone numbers and asked them to contact you in New York.

We have received the following response from NCB:

“NCB has made the necessary consultations in relation to the additional queries you have raised, coming from my initial response.

“Please note that our duty of secrecy prevents us from responding to most of the queries raised and the request for legal advice cannot be given by us. However, as this is a complaint, we have thoroughly investigated, and based on our contact with the customer, are in the process of having the matter amicably resolved.

“Again, thank you for your assistance in channelling this complaint/query to us.”

Please continue to cooperate with NCB to bring about a favourable resolution to this matter.

Good luck.

Dear Claudienne

I am 67 years of age and I am a retired policewoman. I am writing to you about my Widow and Orphans refund that I should get from the Ministry of Finance. I applied to the ministry for a refund from May 30, 2013, and provided them with every document that they requested.

I have phoned the office many times but no one answers the phone. I have also gone to the office more than once. The last time I went to the office was in June 2014, but I could get no information.

Please find out for me why it is taking them so long to refund me my money.

LW

Dear LW

When we contacted the Ministry of Finance they told us that they had requested information from the administration of the police force and the Ministry of National Security to prepare audited statements, but they had received no reply.

The ministry has now advised Tell Claudienne that they have spoken with you and made an arrangement for you to be refunded a portion of the Family Benefit money due to you.

They said that you will receive the remaining amount due to you as soon as the National Security Ministry sends the schedule to them.

We will follow this up for you.

Good luck.

Have a problem with a store, utility, a company? Telephone 936-9436 or write to: Tell Claudienne c/o Sunday Finance, Jamaica Observer, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5; or e-mail: edwardsc@jamaicaobserver.com. Please include a contact phone number.