Mis-Sold Personal Equity Plans PEPs
PEPs which is short for Personal Equity Plans have provided a way for investors to take advantage of profits from the stock market-related investments that are free from capital gains or income tax. These were replaced by the Individual Savings Accounts in 1999, and by 2008 all the PEPs were converted to ISAs. While the existing clients were no longer able to add funds to current investments, they still continued enjoying the very same tax advantage that they once did.
PEPs carry a certain risk level, but the returns are usually good as they were made available at the time when the stock markets performed well. In fact, there are still many people who still maintain their original investments today. PEPs were also very popular for investors and with this popularity came an unusually higher than normal chance that the investors may have become victims to been mis-sold PEPs.
How To Identify The Mis-Sold Personal Equity Plans
Since many of the PEP investments were regarded as successful, most customers were more that happy when they were recommended one and then proceeded with taking them out. The 2 main issues involved: not all customers are suitable candidates for purchasing PEPs, and higher risks of these products were not explained in a clear manner by the advisers. This resulted in many people that were mis-sold PEPS, and who lost significant amounts of money without knowing why or how.
Banks are required to abide by a number of regulations which restrict these entities to suggesting products that are only suitable for your circumstances and your needs. When attempting to sell you a Personal Equity Plan, the adviser needs to take into consideration your financial needs and circumstances, your occupation, age, the duration of your investment and most importantly your feelings or attitude towards the risks. Cautious investors should never be encouraged into being Mis-sold a risky product or a PEP.
Claiming For A Mis-Sold PEP
After all these things have been established clearly, these types of investments need to be clearly explained. If you would like to determine if you were in fact mis-sold a PEP, think about if the adviser:
- Asked you about your feelings or attitude towards the risks
- Gave you information about impacts of under-performing PEPs
- Had accounted for your experience in investments
- Talked about alternative products
- Presented the disadvantages and advantages of PEPs
If your adviser failed to provide you with this type of information, you might be able to claim. At Goldman Knightley, we are experienced experts when it comes to reclaiming funds from a mis-sold PEP investment. We are backed by experience over a number of years when it comes to assisting clients that were mis-sold PEPs to obtain a reasonable rebate.