One Folio Number Makes for Convenience

Are you overwhelmed by numerous folio numbers in the same mutual fund? You may have invested in dozens of times in many mutual funds and not been systematic about keeping track of them, given your busy life. At the time of filing your returns, you may forget what you have or what changes you made in your investments and these could cause problems.

So, here’s what you should do: Consolidate into one single folio number for each fund.

Some investors end up filing a fresh application each time they invest in the same fund. This means, the investor ends up having many folios, or accounts, in the same fund. If you happen to be one such person, don’t worry. Mutual funds and registrars allow you to consolidate all the folios and improve your record keeping. You will be able to keep track of all the investments better and also transact using just one folio number. This will also mean just one statement instead of many!

How do you go about consolidating the folios into one?

Simple. All you have to do is give a signed request letter to the mutual fund or transfer agent. Mention in the letter that you want to consolidate all the multiple folios of the same fund into one folio. Mention all the folios in the letter.

But for the fund to consolidate the folios, you must meet some requirements. These requirements must be uniform in all the folios:

i)             The names of the account holders should be in the same order in all the folios

ii)            Address must be the same

iii)           Bank details must be the same

iv)           Tax status of the investor must be the same

v)            Holding nature – Joint or either or survivor

vi)           Nominee registered in the folios

vii)          Dividend option of the same scheme should be same, i.e., either Re-invest or Payout

If you meet these requirements, the folios can be consolidated into what is called “Target Folio”.  Some mutual funds have extra guidelines. Constact the mutual fund or its registrar for more information.

Ok, you say that one of your folios does not meet this criterion. What do you do, in that case?

The mutual fund will consolidate the other folios and tell you that it was unable to include this one folio that did not meet the requirement. You can also givfe a request to change the bank details, or address or nominee or dividend options. Once all these match this folio can also be consolidated. Simple!

Once the mutual fund or registrar consolidates all the folios, they will send you a statement confirming that they are processing your request.

Once the folios are consolidated, the statement will reflect all the transactions for all the schemes. For future transactions, all you have to do is mention this new folio in the transaction slips. Everything will go into this new target folio number that will be allotted. Whenever you make fresh investments, instead of creating a new folio, just remember to mention the existing folio number in the transaction slip.