This is not going to be another whinge, but it's been a strange year. I have reached the point where reaction to new developments consists of taking careful notes and shaking my head from time to time.
The basic story is that my mother died at the end of last year, it took 5 months for the Sheriff Court to approve and "Confirm" her (unusually straightforward) will, and at present it has taken NS&I a further 6 months (and counting) to actually pay anything out. There is no point getting worked up about any of this - no doubt everyone is very busy, and it will be settled as soon as they can manage [my head is shaking slowly]. I live in a state of Considered Limbo - I am not going to fret on any given day, but if a letter from NS&I were to arrive I should be interested.
In July I received a letter I wasn't expecting. NS&I had unearthed another Savings Account that I had never heard of, so I had to complete a new form, and they would start work on this new complication. Righto - I was confident the extra account would be worthless, but I was interested - what on earth was it?
Well, I worked out what it was. My sister was mentally handicapped, and received Incapacity Benefit (or whatever it was called) - long ago my mother used to take her to the local Post Office on a Monday, and cash was paid out. At some point this arrangement stopped. Benefits would now be paid by transfer into a bank account. Legally, my sister did not have capacity to own anything, so my mum set up a National Savings Ordinary Account in her own name, and from then on the visits to the Post Office stopped and it was all done by internet banking. These savings accounts were closed in 2004 and, whatever the replacement arrangements were, my sister passed away in 2013. Since I never heard of this extra account previously, I have assumed that my mother would have cleared it years ago.
Anyway, I've been waiting for a letter about it - I mean, you never know...
Well, yesterday I received two new envelopes from NS&I. You might describe my state as "calm but interested". One envelope was a letter giving details of this closed account, the other was a cheque payable to me for the princely sum of £4.34.
Fine - this is actually better than I expected, but I now have to come up with a scheme for paying in the cheque - preferably a scheme which does not cost me more than £4.34. Since the received wisdom is that such news comes in 3s, perhaps there may be another letter soon about the rest of the estate.
Probably not, I hear you say, so I shall shrug and return to my background vigil, head shaking a little. We are lucky to be so well looked after. Nothing to see here.
Riches beyond belief. I love that the financial institutions, who have tried their best to get rid of cheques, still use them to repay money to people. Any cost will fall on the individual (such as travelling somewhere to pay it in). It's almost as if they don't want to give you any money.........
ReplyDeleteNeil