Dominic Coyle answers your financial queries.

Irish Nationwide and inheritance

My father-in-law had an account with Irish Nationwide on which he was due to qualify for the share entitlement whenever the demutualisation was announced.

He died this year and his sons, who inherit all of his estate, have been advised that, even though they wish the account to be transferred into their joint names and continue as normal, they will not benefit under any demutualisation.

Irish Nationwide says that, under its terms and conditions, when an accountholder dies and has not nominated a benefactor or had a joint account with same, the account cannot transfer through inheritance.

My father-in-law discussed this with us and wished the benefit to be inherited should he die and was never advised to nominate anyone even though he was in his 80s when he opened the account. Could you please clarify if Irish Nationwide is correct in this as surely inheritance is as legal as any other transfer?

Ms E.M., e-mail

At the outset, I would advise you to get proper legal advice on this issue as it is not simply a matter of building societies' own terms and conditions.

Having said that, my instinct in this case is that the building society is entirely correct. There is provision in the Building Societies Act for the benefit of a demutualisation to be passed from the first named member in the case of a joint account to the second named member in the event of a death.

This follows previous demutualisations where such benefit switching was not allowed.

However, I cannot see how the benefit of a member could be reallocated through inheritance.

The fact that your father-in-law intended the benefit to be passed to his sons is irrelevant if he did not officially add their names to the account.

Pension offer

Yesterday I discussed your article with two of my friends who are both Government pensioners and have an income of less than €50,000 per annum.

They told me that they went to the bank and asked about the pension scheme. One of them said he was told that he could not avail of the scheme because he was an ex-State employee, while the other said that he could not avail of it because he was over 60.

As my position is similar to theirs is there any point in me applying for the scheme?

Mr B.B., Kildare

The amount of misinformation being given out by the banks on this issue is breathtaking and can only be regarded as an indictment of the financial services industry. I can only assume that it is simply the latest in a long line of examples of the lack of training in these massively profitable institutions.

The fact that a person is a former State employee has absolutely nothing to do with their eligibility to avail of the Cowen incentive.

This initiative is simply designed to boost pension cover and is open to anyone who earned less than €50,000 the year before their SSIA matures.

It is also arrant nonsense that anyone over the age of 60 cannot avail of the €1 for €3 bonus on transfers from the SSIA to a pension product.

A significant proportion of people holding SSIAs will be older than 60 when these accounts mature. There is nothing stopping people opening a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) at any time up to their 75th birthday. This is true even if they are already drawing down a pension - from the State or otherwise.

You should certainly apply for this incentive and, if refused, report the matter to the bank superiors in writing and ultimately, if necessary, to the financial services ombudsman and/or the pensions ombudsman.

Please send your queries to Dominic Coyle, Q&A, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail to dcoyle@irish-times.ie. This column is a reader service and is not intended to replace professional advice. Due to the volume of mail, there may be a delay in answering queries. No personal correspondence will be entered into.