Another building society windfall is on its way - the news that First National Building Society is to privatise within the next 18 months will be welcomed by the Society's 220,000 qualifying customers, each of whom can probably expect roughly the same number and value of shares paid out in previous free share issues,such as those from the Irish Permanent and Norwich Union in their flotation. In both cases the standard issue of approximately 150 shares was worth about £300.

First National requires that members hold savings or mortgage accounts for a specific two year period before they qualify for shares. The controversial first name on the account rule will also apply and it is with this latter precondition that problems are likely to arise. Readers may recall the many cases of Irish Permanent members who were disenfranchised when that company went public because the member failed to remove the name of a deceased spouse, grandparent, other relative or friend from their joint savings pass book. Those cases involving widows who were refused shares allocated to their late husbands by reason of the fact that the deceased person's name remained the first-named on the account received the most publicity.

A Dublin solicitor, Mr Patrick Brady, contacted Family Money with a report of a case similar to one we reported recently about an unhappy Irish Permanent mortgage holder whose name was apparently not transferred in time to qualify for shares. Mr Brady recommended that anyone who believes they are due shares from an institution that is going public, but is at risk of being disenfranchised, "should seek legal advice early". "The problem is that if you try to contact a large institution on your own behalf, you tend to end up dealing with junior officials who have no authority to deal with the case. And your case gets caught up in the backlog." It was only after a number of letters and telephone calls that Mr Brady succeeded in dealing directly with Irish Permanent's chief legal officer and settled his client's complaint satisfactorily.