Crunch goes ?2500 award

I was a passenger on a bus that collided with a car. The accident was the bus driver's fault and I claimed on the bus company's insurance for personal injury. One minute the insurance company, Zurich, admitted liability. Seven months later, it does not. Why, I wonder?
AG, Rotherham

Zurich still accepts liability for the bus driver's carelessness but the amount of compensation has changed.

The company originally offered you £1,000, which was increased to £2,500 when you provided more medical evidence. You rejected this offer and took it to court, claiming £50,000 for a head injury and psychological consequences.

But the judge awarded you just £1,350 and decided that you should pay Zurich's costs of £4,700. This is why you have not seen any money and in fact owe Zurich. The insurer had paid £2,500 into court and you are entitled to £1,350 of this but, because you owe Zurich £4,700, it is allowed to keep your award towards its costs.

You still owe Zurich £3,350 although the company has not chased you for the balance. You could have taken £2,500 but took a risk trying to get more money out of the insurance company and lost. Zurich says it urged you to seek legal representation before the court case started.

Money hold-up: £250 victory


My husband's company sent me $10,000 (about £7,000) by Swift transfer from HSBC New York to my Intelligent Finance (IF) account. Six weeks later it had not arrived.

I phoned IF dozens of times but never got any calls back. My husband's company has asked me to try to trace the money, and I am at my wits' end.
JR, Corby

IF apologises for a breakdown in communications between the various banks involved and for not keeping you informed.

It says it has put in place procedures to stop this happening again. IF is paying you interest on the money from 5 July and sending an extra £250 in compensation for the long delay in getting your money through.

Mortgage errors: Woeful Woolwich

My Woolwich mortgage was paid off in 1994 but I kept an endowment policy with Axa, which matured last May. Axa told me in March that the papers had been sent to the Woolwich.

As I heard nothing from the Woolwich, I made more than a dozen calls to the call centre, the chief executive's office and the central complaints department. Axa confirmed that its calls were also ignored.

When I made a formal complaint, the Woolwich agreed it had made mistakes and offered me £25 compensation but it had still not told Axa I no longer had a mortgage. When the money finally arrived 64 days late, I complained that the delay - at 4 per cent interest - cost me £221. The reply, in effect, was 'tough'.
KM, London

Confirming that your mortgage had been repaid is routine, and yours is one of many complaints I have had about the Woolwich.

It blames overwork after introducing a flexible mortgage account. But that does not explain ignoring you and Axa, its mistakes and ill-judged responses. Its apology is fulsome, makes no excuses for being discourteous and suggests the service will improve in future when, it promises, safeguards are put in place.

In a flourish of goodwill, the bank is sending you £250 to make up for the interest you could have earned if it had done its job properly.

Missold pension: Minding the gap

I complained to the firm that persuaded me to leave the NHS pension scheme, and it offered to reinstate me to the position I would have been in had I stayed. This is important because, as a mental health worker, pension scheme years count double after 20 years' continuous service.

It made an offer but said I need to pay a £3,000 gap between contributions I paid during those years and a higher amount I would have paid to the NHS.

I do not have this money, nor do I wish to give yet more money to people I have lost faith in. Am I not entitled to compensation?
RE, Plymouth

The firm has to do no more than restore you to your original position and can insist that you pay the money you saved through smaller contributions.

The £3,000 should go into your NHS pension and not to the firm that misled you.

You can ask for compensation for distress and inconvenience but, even if it was agreed, this is likely to be only £100 to £150.

It sounds worth your while borrowing the £3,000 to maintain your continuous NHS scheme membership but you should check that this sum is within the Inland Revenue limits for annual contributions. If not, you will not get tax relief on the excess. For more help, telephone the free Occupational Pensions Advisory Service on 020 7233 8080.

Widower's chore: Taxing hassle

I have recently lost my wife. She was a non taxpayer and received gross interest on her savings accounts. Abbey National paid me interest gross until the date of her death, and the small amount due subsequently net of tax.

Nationwide, despite my protest, insisted on paying all the interest net. They are sending me a form to reclaim the tax but, at a time like this, I do not need the hassle of recovering a comparatively small sum.
KH, Dartford

Both Abbey National and Nationwide have complied with the Revenue rule which says all interest due but not yet added to an account must be paid net of tax on death.

Nationwide interest was added annually and your wife died part-way through the year. Her Abbey account earned monthly interest paid on the 15th so the only interest paid net was from the 15th to the 27th, when you closed it.

• Write to Margaret Dibben, Money Writes, The Observer, 119 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3ER. Include a phone number but not SAEs or original documents. Letters are selected for publication and we cannot give personal replies. The newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for advice.