THE National Housing Trust (NHT) is assuring contributors that robust internal review mechanisms are in place for those who believe they were wrongly denied or underpaid a refund.

Supervisor for the Contributions, Refunds, Payments and Monitoring Unit, Cameo Simmons Thomas, stated that contributors have the right to query any perceived discrepancies in their refund amounts.

She explained that these matters are referred to the NHT’s Compliance Department, where inspectors carry out investigations, including company audits, to verify whether the correct amounts were remitted.

“If the contributor is disputing that the amount taken from their salary is not what was remitted to the NHT, then the inspector will go out and probably do an audit of the company and find out what exactly is the correct amount,” Simmons Thomas said.

She added that, in some instances, contributors may believe they are entitled to a larger refund. However, once the necessary checks and balances are completed, the records may confirm that the correct amount was paid.

“In those instances, we provide them with a contribution statement showing the amount received from the company and what the NHT paid out, including the interest amount, for them to verify,” Simmons Thomas added.

Meanwhile, Assistant General Manager for Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Dwayne Berbick, is encouraging contributors to utilise the Trust’s online portal to monitor their contributions.

He explained that the platform provides contributors with access to their complete contribution history, allowing them to verify the sums received from their employers prior to applying for refunds.

“The NHT online portal provides you with all your contribution data. So even before you get to the application process, you know how much was received by the NHT from your employer, if it was received,” Berbick said.

He emphasised that the platform helps manage expectations about payout amounts while empowering contributors to identify and resolve discrepancies at an early stage.

“If whatever you are seeing in NHT online, for whatever reason to you it’s not accurate, you can always reach out to the NHT for us to do that verification. We can get a contribution verification statement from your employer and match it with what the NHT records have,” the Berbick explained.

Berbick is encouraging contributors to register for NHT online and become familiar with the platform, so that any issues can be identified and resolved prior to the refund stage.

He emphasises that the NHT is committed to resolving discrepancies, and taking corrective action where necessary, to safeguard contributors’ benefits.

– JIS