Even more traumatic than a natural calamity is the post-calamity re-building of your life.

Much of Mumbai was devastated last week, when torrential rains hit the city.

As Mumbai's drainage system succumbed, many homes were flooded with water. What was destroyed included documents, food, clothes, furniture...

In this article, we will explain how you can get on your feet as far as your financial documents and paperwork are concerned.

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Property

Good for you if you have taken a home loan.

In that case, all your original documents -- as far as your home is concerned -- will be with the home loan company. You can rest assured they are safe; what you have lost are the duplicates.

Get yourself another set; it is always wise to have a duplicate with you. All you have to do is approach the home loan company and request them for a photocopy. They will most probably do this for free and it should not take them more than a a couple of days.

Give them whatever information you possibly can by which they can track down the original set. Some of this information could include:

1. The loan applicant's full name. If it was a joint home loan, then both the names.
2. The loan account number.
3. The amount of loan.
4. The month and year in which the loan was sanctioned and disbursed.

If you don't have a home loan and own the house, then the documents would be with you.

If you have lost them or they have got totally ruined by water, you will have to get them reconstructed. This is how you go about doing it.

Ask the society for a duplicate share certificate. You will need to file an affidavit and an application for a duplicate. Read up on the by-laws of the society to find out how this is done. A copy of the by-laws will be available with your society's managing committee.

You can also approach the office of the Registrar and ask for a copy. In this case, you will have to give some information like the date of registration or the registration number.

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Investments

If you are electronically savvy, you don't to worry because you will have all your mutual fund documents and statements via e-mail.

Ditto for shares; since they electronically held in a demat form, it should not be a problem.

But what if you have physical copies and they have been damaged?

Don't fret.

According to Sanjay Prakash, CEO, HSBC Mutual Fund, the solution to this is quite simple. "All the customer has to do is call up the service centre of the relevant mutual fund or the registrar of the mutual fund and they will be able to send a duplicate document immediately," he says.

A similar procedure needs to be followed as far as shares are concerned.

Whatever be the state of your current share certificates, make copies for yourself and send the originals to the Share Registry of the company. Also send a covering letter explaining your certificates got lost or damaged in the flood.

In the letter, state your full name and the joint holder's or nominee's name. Give other details like the number of shares you hold and the folio number. Whatever information you can provide is helpful.

If you cannot find the folio number, then look at some dividend warrants (if you can find those); it will have the folio number.

As for mutual funds, try and remember the name of the scheme. If you do remember the account number, it will help.

You follow the same procedure for your insurance papers. You can write to the insurance company requesting them to issue a duplicate set.

Once they receive the request, they will courier it to your registered address.

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Handy tips

1. Whatever be the state of your documents, keep them. Do not discard them, even if they are a shred shred of paper now.

2. Try and provide as much information as possible. Here are some pointers.

~ Your full name, joint holders name and nominees' name.

~ Mutual funds: Name and type of scheme, number of units held, when the units were purchased, customer account number.

~ Shares: Number of shares owned, when they were bought, folio number.

- Loan: Amount, date at which sanctioned and disbursed.

- Insurance: Name and type of scheme, date at which purchased.

Now in case you do not have any of the above information or documents, don't give up. Call up the company and ask them whom you should meet. Make a trip personally to the concerned person or department and ask for directions on how to proceed.

3. Often you will have to get in touch with the Registrars. All you have to do is call up the company and ask them who their Registrar is and to provide you with the contact details. Even if they do not give you an address, you can get it by doing a search on the Internet.

4. Some companies will want you to register an FIR with the police stating what documents have been lost. A copy of this can be attached to the request letters asking for duplicates.

5. Others may not insist on an FIR but will want an indemnity bond signed. An indemnity bond refers to a statement written by you on stamp paper. In this case, it will state that you have lost or misplaced the original documents (or they have been damaged) and, should they be retrieved, you will return them to the company.

6. Generally, a service fee is charged when you ask for duplicates. Some companies, like life insurance player ICICI [Get Quote] Prudential, have waived the service fee and indemnity bond requirements in the case of Mumbai since this was a natural calamity.

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What we have outlined above is the general procedure. Do check with each company what their specific requirements are.

If you had some valuables in a bank safe deposit vault which got flooded, don't expect to get compensated. Bankers are pointing out what happened was a natural calamity and not a theft, so it is not the bank's responsibility.

Their responsibility is to keep the contents of your locker safe and they claim to have done that.

Since the locker is rented out, it is your business what is put in there. If you had your valuables insured, you can claim insurance. If not, you bear the brunt.

So, if you have any important documents in the bank locker, do check if they are safe. If not, see whether you can get a duplicate.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier