SALLY SORTS IT: Help! NS&I lost my disabled brother’s TWO £1m cheques

My brother was left disabled following a road traffic accident and recently received compensation. 

We decided to invest £2 million of his money in the National Savings & Investments Guaranteed Income Bonds and Guaranteed Growth Bonds while we decided what to do with it long term.

We sent two completed account opening forms to NS&I in March, together with two cheques for £1 million each. 

The cheques were cashed on March 24. But we still haven’t received confirmation that these accounts have been opened. NS&I told me it couldn’t trace the cheques.

My brother, who has a brain injury, has also pleaded for NS&I to help trace his money by phone. Call handlers were unhelpful and rude and hung up the phone on him.

Please can you help?

Anon.

Sally Hamilton replies: I’m disappointed, but sadly not surprised, to hear of your poor treatment by NS&I.

The state-backed savings providers’ customer services appear to be buckling, with complaints pouring into our mailbag, as Money Mail reported last week.

You and your poor brother have had enough to contend with without the stress and inconvenience of NS&I seemingly losing track of two £1 million cheques.

As background, you explained how your brother tragically became disabled a few years ago after being hit by an ambulance. 

It took four-and-a-half years to obtain compensation from the ambulance service involved in the accident, and you were determined to get his finances organised.

You decided to save the money with NS&I for now, so that it would be safe while you sought advice on where to invest for the benefit of your brother’s long-term future.

You calculated that £1 million saved into NS&I’s one-year Guaranteed Income Bonds would provide a regular income of £3,250 a month and help towards these costs. 

The other £1 million saved in the Guaranteed Growth Bonds account would generate a return of £40,000 after a year and pay for other bills.

Unfortunately, neither account was generating anything by the time you contacted me. NS&I had yet to set them up and you were having to find the cash from other pots to pay for carers.

You went around in circles for weeks trying to track down the money. At one point, you were told the cheques could not be traced. 

You felt particularly enraged when you were informed by call handlers that they were unable to go to higher management to help sort out the problem. Instead, they told you to raise a formal complaint, which should be a last course of action.

I intervened and asked NS&I to hunt down your missing £2 million asap and explain why the accounts weren’t in place after weeks of nervous waiting.

After a few days of investigation, it emerged that the application forms you filled in and posted were missing crucial information. They should have contained boxes for you to tick to state who the income and maturity payments should be made to.

NS&I realised the mistake, and should have contacted you immediately to rectify it, but failed to. 

Following my intervention, an executive phoned you to explain how to download fresh forms containing the correct boxes, which you quickly completed. A few days later, you contacted me to say the accounts were finally up and running. Hurrah!

An NS&I spokesman says: ‘We would like to apologise to your Money Mail reader for the difficulties they experienced when investing money with us. 

There will be no loss of interest and, in recognition of us not delivering the level of service that they should expect, a goodwill payment of £300 has been sent.’

Can’t renew our European Health Insurance Cards

I have been trying to renew European Health Insurance Cards (EHICs) for me and my wife, but without success. 

I have found it impossible to do this by phone with the number given — 0300 330 1350.

A friend tried to renew for us online as we don’t have a computer, but could not progress without our National Insurance numbers, which we don’t have. 

I don’t recall this being a requirement when the cards were issued in 2015. Residency was the only requirement.

We have lived at our address for 14 years.

M. E., Doncaster, S. Yorks.

Sally Hamilton replies: EHICs are invaluable. They are free to UK holidaymakers travelling temporarily to EU countries and Switzerland and give access to the same state healthcare available to locals for free or at a reduced cost. 

Cards need to be renewed every five years to maintain cover. Since Brexit, they have been replaced by the UK Global Health Insurance Cards (GHICs).

A National Insurance (NI) number is required when applying for a card online. For anyone who doesn’t know theirs, it can be found in various places, including in an online personal tax account or on a P60 end-of-year certificate (issued by employers), a payslip or a self-assessment tax return.

Or, try calling the HM Revenue & Customs National Insurance registrations helpline on 0300 200 3500. To apply for an NI number for the first time, visit gov.uk.

You can apply for or renew a GHIC without an NI number on the phone. Phone applicants only require a passport number and NHS number. The latter can be found on prescriptions or hospital letters. However, you say you couldn’t get through when you tried this approach.

Fortunately, after my intervention, the Overseas Healthcare Services team, which oversees EHIC and GHIC cards, was able to complete an application for you and your wife with the information you had provided in your letter, which I forwarded on with your permission. You’ve now received your cards.

It is free to apply for a GHIC via the NHS website. Do not be taken in by impostor websites.

• Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk — include phone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.