Ms Juliet Hasselblad asked in her letter last Thursday why it was so hard to make third-party encashment for Growth Dividends. We are sorry she experienced difficulty encashing her grandmother's Growth Dividend cheque.

To protect the interests of the intended beneficiary, the CPF Board is obliged to establish proper authorisation and procedures for third-party encashment of cheque payments.

For third-party encashment, a doctor's memo stating the beneficiary's medical condition or a letter of authorisation must be submitted to the board, before the board authorises the bank to make payment.

In cases of encashment for immediate family members (spouse, parents, children and siblings), the board has further simplified procedures by allowing submission of these documents directly to the bank without going through the board.

We have since contacted Ms Hasselblad and facilitated the successful encashment of her grandmother's cheque.

We would like to take this opportunity to remind those who wish to encash cheques on behalf of their loved ones to refer to the third-party encashment procedures available at www.growthdividends.gov.sg or call us on 1800-2222-888.

Teoh See Leong
Director (Agency & Self-Employed Persons Division)
Central Provident Fund Board

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 8 July 2008.