What is a Unit Trust?
A Unit Trust is a type of investment fund which is a very popular investment. Examples of Unit Trusts could be bonds, shares, such as ISA’s or gilts.
It is bought and sold in units that are individually priced and sold to a many different investors to pool their money together to form the overall investment fund. This is managed by a manager of the fund.
The manager of the investment Unit Trust fund regularly checks the performance of the unit trust and attempts to head off any potential financial loss or downturn in the market to keep the bond as profitable as possible for the investors.
How can a Unit Trust be mis-sold?
Unit Trusts can be very risky investments as investments can be affected by financial issues within the market, or even by certain world-wide events.
A Unit Trust can be mis-sold if you were not informed about the potential level of risk loss prior to taking the Unit Trust.
Unit Trusts can be mis-sold if: –
- You felt pressured by the adviser into taking a Unit Trust investment;
- The Unit Trust and its investment process was not fully explained to you;
- Brokerage fees were not explained to you;
- Your financial circumstances were not discussed and you were not in a position to invest the capital for the unit trust;
- The Unit Trust investment sounded too good to be true, i.e. you were told that you were guaranteed to increase your unit trust exponentially and you were not warned about the risks or potential pitfalls to the investment.
- If any of the above apply to you, or RBS did not do any of the above when selling a Unit Trust to you, then you could have been mis-sold a Unit Trust investment.
The RBS would mis-sell my Unit Trust? Would they, really?!
Unfortunately, it is entirely possible that you could have been mis-sold a Unit Trust by RBS, or indeed any financial institution.
There is growing evidence that bank advisers, including RBS, often mis-sold investments to its customers.
As with all complaints of mis-sold investments generally, the mis-sale occurs at the point of sale if the investment was not explained fully to you, including terms and conditions including small print, exclusions and risk factors to that investment.
If you in any way concerned at all regarding how RBS sold you your Unit Trust, or the above points were not explained to you, then it is likely you will have been mis-sold your Unit Trust and you may wish to make a complaint to that effect.
Can I receive compensation for a mis-sold Unit Trust?
Can I receive compensation for a mi-sold Unit Trust? The answer is yes. As with all investments, if you have cause to complain, you should firstly complain to the lender who sold you the Unit Trust.
You will have a period of up to six months from the date the investment was sold, or three years from the date when you realised that you were mis-sold the Unit Trust to make your complaint.
In the event the adviser of the Unit Trust does not accept it was mis-sold or does not respond within the eight weeks deadline it is given to initially respond to you, then you may refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for consideration and potential recompense.
What compensation would I get if it was mis-sold?
The compensation you would get if you were mis-sold a Unit Trust will depend upon a number of factors, including the level of investment you made, the potential or actual loss to you, together with interest on top.