FCA Investigation - Car Finance

[IanF]

https://news.sky.com/story/fca-consider ... s-13406307

[Gavin]

We took PCP on the Yeti, so just sent off an email asking Alphera what's what. If it nets us a few squids, fair enough.

[Gavin]

Anyone had anything back? Last email we got said probably December we would hear.

[Zonda_]

Anyone had anything back? Last email we got said probably December we would hear.

I received this on December 17th:

“We’ve decided to end the complaint handling extension on 31 May 2026, rather than 31 July 2026 as consulted on. This will help ensure that consumers do not wait any longer than necessary for a complaint response.”

[Gavin]

Anyone had anything back? Last email we got said probably December we would hear.

I received this on December 17th:

“We’ve decided to end the complaint handling extension on 31 May 2026, rather than 31 July 2026 as consulted on. This will help ensure that consumers do not wait any longer than necessary for a complaint response.”

Thank you, my last email just said they had until afer 4th December. Might pay a nice weekend away somewhere.

[GG.]

FCA to publish plans for redress later today...

[Rich B]

I don’t really get the whole premise of this lawsuit to be honest - Surely everyone investigated the various lenders and options to finance a car before idly signing up to the dealers plan? If you took a higher APR with the dealer, presumably the car was cheaper or there were other stuff included for instance?

i trust car dealers as far as they can throw them so would always assume they are trying to extract every last penny from me, so i’d always investigate the finance options with them and elsewhere.

[Rich B]

i wouldn’t expect a mortgage broker to move me onto a higher rate in their interest - because i am using and paying a mortgage broker to work expressly in my interest. I am using a broker because i don’t necessarily have the knowledge or clout to get the best deal directly from going to just one mortgage seller.

I know that car dealers are not trustworthy people who are obviously not working to get me the best deal ahead of themselves, so i’d be daft to rely fully on them to work in my interest. They have given me a deal, they’ve not changed the terms after i have agreed to that deal, so i think it’s the buyer who has the responsibility to check if the deal is the best there is.

Everyone was happy with the deal they agreed to at the time or they wouldn’t have agreed to it. It’s just the lure of free money now that has everyone fired up and signing onto the ambulance chasers.

[Rich B]

oh, GG seems to have deleted the post about mortgage brokers?!

[Gavster]

I don’t really get the whole premise of this lawsuit to be honest - Surely everyone investigated the various lenders and options to finance a car before idly signing up to the dealers plan? If you took a higher APR with the dealer, presumably the car was cheaper or there were other stuff included for instance?

i trust car dealers as far as they can throw them so would always assume they are trying to extract every last penny from me, so i’d always investigate the finance options with them and elsewhere.

From the sheer quantity of people included in the class for this claim here, it's abundantly clear that a lot of people definitely do not research finance before buying

[Rich B]

I don’t really get the whole premise of this lawsuit to be honest - Surely everyone investigated the various lenders and options to finance a car before idly signing up to the dealers plan? If you took a higher APR with the dealer, presumably the car was cheaper or there were other stuff included for instance?

i trust car dealers as far as they can throw them so would always assume they are trying to extract every last penny from me, so i’d always investigate the finance options with them and elsewhere.

From the sheer quantity of people included in the class for this claim here, it's abundantly clear that a lot of people definitely do not research finance before buying

Or that it is ridiculously easy to sign up to the spam callers who want a piece of the action. They were happy with their deal until the phone call came.

[Jobbo]

oh, GG seems to have deleted the post about mortgage brokers?!

He mentioned a glitch in it - I read it and it didn't seem controversial so maybe he's having browser issues?

Anyway, the point is that car sales people were regulated by the FCA when it came to finance but didn't treat customers fairly and, most importantly, didn't disclose their commission. There was a conflict of interest where they made more money by trying to push the customer onto a more expensive deal, and all undisclosed. I think the decision is probably right, though like payment protection insurance it's virtually impossible to know who actually lost out and who didn't so it's blanket redress time.

[Gavster]

I don’t really get the whole premise of this lawsuit to be honest - Surely everyone investigated the various lenders and options to finance a car before idly signing up to the dealers plan? If you took a higher APR with the dealer, presumably the car was cheaper or there were other stuff included for instance?

i trust car dealers as far as they can throw them so would always assume they are trying to extract every last penny from me, so i’d always investigate the finance options with them and elsewhere.

From the sheer quantity of people included in the class for this claim here, it's abundantly clear that a lot of people definitely do not research finance before buying

Or that it is ridiculously easy to sign up to the spam callers who want a piece of the action. They were happy with their deal until the phone call came.

It doesn't work like that. The FCA would have been required to estimate the amount of people who could have been affected by a discretionary interest charge prior to the legal action against the finance companies. It's only once a judgement has been made and the court ruled in favour of the FCA, that's the point at which people can claim their refund. By that point, you are legally entitled to your refund, and by not claiming it, you're allowing the finance company to keep money which is rightfully yours.

All of the cold callers are just firms that are jumping on the opportunity to take a % of your refund, simply by doing a small amount of admin work for you. They have absolutely nothing to do with the claim, the FCA etc.

[mik]

oh, GG seems to have deleted the post about mortgage brokers?!

He mentioned a glitch in it - I read it and it didn't seem controversial so maybe he's having browser issues?

GG's BEEN SILENCED BY TEH MAN!

[GG.]

oh, GG seems to have deleted the post about mortgage brokers?!

He mentioned a glitch in it - I read it and it didn't seem controversial so maybe he's having browser issues?

GG's BEEN SILENCED BY TEH MAN!

Ha - I LIVE!

...though somehow managed to write a post twice and delete it and then got stuck doing, you know, actual work. Weirdly the forum seemed to not want to load at various points today but other websites and emails were OK.

Anyway - Jobbo succinctly said what I was driving at which is that you need to comply with how the regulator expects you to behave and if you don't procedurally do that they can instigate a programme to require you to recompense people separate from the court process. Quite rightly, the FCA mandates proper disclosure of situations like this and they saw fit to ban arrangements like it a few years ago as unfair practice, so it was always going to end up here eventually.

Interestingly they have included a few caveats now as to high value cars being excluded and have also set out detailed mechanics on how the payout will be calculated. I'm not sure to what extent, if any, these carve outs and calculations have a basis in law or past practice (as opposed to just what the FCA has said they think is reasonable) and that may dictate how likely it is lenders are to challenge it.

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/car-finance-complaints

ETA: On very back of the fag packet maths, using their method of calculating the payout, I end up with something like £1,800 and that's before adding on interest which they say would be payable at 1% above bank rate at a minimum of 3 per cent. per annum and I paid this loan off over 5 years ago...