Help Me Hank: Help Me Hank! Life insurance mistake

For Antonette Crugnale 1960 was an important year. Not just because the Celtics were unstoppable. Not just because Ted Williams retired with a home run. For Antonette, 1960 was the beginning of her career at the bank.

Antonette Crugnale
"I just had graduated from high school."

She started processing invoices and worked her way up to the front office. Now, 46 years later, as fans of the Celtics green are feeling blue and it’s Big Papi hitting the homers, Antonette is retired from the banking world.

But unlike sports teams, Antonette knew her financial future. Bank retirees were given life insurance. So when her bank merged with another bank, Antonette hoped, for her family's sake, her life insurance would survive.

Antonette Crugnale
"I had some concerns because I don't have any other life insurance."

To protect her family's future, Antonette called to check that her policy was still intact. No problem she was told.

But in the frenzied world of finance, her bank merged again. And when a letter from the newest bank arrived in the mail, Antonette knew the numbers were shockingly wrong.

Antonette Crugnale
"It was $4000 less than what I had expected."

So, back on the phone.

Antonette Crugnale
"Nobody could give me an answer to my question."

Then Antonette put her future in the hands of someone else.

Antonette Crugnale
"I emailed Help Me Hank."

We knew the amount of Antonette's life insurance policy shouldn't just shrink, no matter who's in charge.

So we called bank officials to see what went wrong.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"She had the insurance from the previous bank."

The bank discovered that during the merger, someone hit the wrong key and Antonette's record was incorrectly changed. Instantly they changed it back and replaced the missing money.

Antonette knows the future of the Celtics is uncertain. The future of the Red Sox is too early to tell. But her family's future is taken care of, although everyone hopes that's a long time coming.

Antonette Crugnale
"I hope I'm going to be around for a while."

Antonette caught the mistake because she kept her paperwork and knew what she was due. That's the only way to insure your insurance coverage.

(Copyright (c) 2006 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)