What kind of complaints do we really see coming against mutual funds or AMCs because this is not like insurance where we see a lot of mis-selling but then there have been cases of mis-selling in this sector also?
One can classify the various complaints that come against mutual funds into two categories. One are what one could call the routine or the regular complaints. What these normally deal with are things like say non-receipt of dividend in account or it could be non-receipt of redemption proceeds. It could even be something like that you have updated your, say, details of either your mobile number or it could be your address, but it is still not reflected with the mutual fund. So, these are small procedural matters where a lot of complaints come in because of, say, changes which have occurred, but which are not reflected in the records of the mutual fund. Many a times what happens is that you change your bank account or you close an old bank account, but that bank account was linked to the fund, so suddenly the next time either you redeem some units or you get dividend, it does not come into the account because the account is not linked.
So, these are routine matters. Then, there are the serious matters which could involve something like, say, manipulation of your investment. It could be that maybe you made an investment, but it is not reflected in your account. It has gone somewhere else. All these are slightly worrisome. It could also involve a mis-selling by some distributor or some other person. So, these are the serious complaints which can come into play, but most of them would fall under either of these categories, though a large proportion is normally the regular complaints.
So, for that, do we have to go to the AMC, like contact the fund house because most of these complaints are procedural complaints and these can be easily sorted out once you speak to the mutual fund house. Is that so?
Yes, so the first point of contact is obviously the mutual fund itself, because in most cases, it is very easy to solve these kind of complaints with the mutual fund itself. So, you contact the mutual fund with your details, with your folio number, with the fact that this is, for example, if you have not received, say, last two-three years dividend in some scheme which you have forgotten about it, you give these details to the mutual fund.
Now, see, it is even easier to track these amounts. For example, I mean, mutual funds themselves put out details of which amounts are lying unclaimed with them. So, if you find that your amount has not been received by you, you can easily go and claim these amounts.
And also, portals like MFCentral, where all the data of all your investments are centralised by the registrar and transfer agents, there also you can see that if some amounts are lying unclaimed.
So, this makes the mutual fund the first source of getting your complaints redressed and in most cases this is where, I mean, you will be able to sort it out because the mutual fund will tell you what exactly you need to do to get this matter sorted out.
One are these kind of complaints, which are process related complaints, but then others, for example, a complaint against a mutual fund broker or a distributor, can these also be registered against these people to a mutual fund house or an AMC?
Ideally, these kind of complaints which involve market intermediaries, those complaints have to go to SEBI because these entities are regulated by SEBI. So, SEBI has a complaint redressal system, which is also known as SCORES. It is an abbreviated term of the complaint system. So, there you go and when you go to this system, what happens is at first you go to register yourself with your pan, mobile, email, all these details. Once you have registered, then you can lodge a complaint against these market intermediaries and the problem that you have.
You can also lodge some complaints which you have tried to sort it out with the mutual fund, but they have not been able to solve. So, these complaints can be lodged here. What it also requires is that if you have some attachment as proof for this, they allow you to upload an attachment also and once all these details are mentioned, you can even have a description of what is the problem and once the complaint is submitted, the system allows you to track the complaint.
What action has been taken on it, you can see there, when it has been taken, what is the process, where it has gone. All these things you can track within the system so which makes this SEBI system very effective in trying to resolve your complaint.
And what is the timeline of resolving these complaints usually given or it depends on what kind of a complaint it is?
So, it depends on what kind of complaint it is. Mostly, I mean, once your complaint is received, the SEBI will forward or rather they will ask for an explanation from either the mutual fund or the distributor or whichever intermediary is involved.
It will give this intermediary certain time frame to get back with its reply and once the reply is received, then they will act on it or they will pass an order saying that this is what needs to be done.
