Martin Lewis issues 'huge' car finance scandal update and 'explains what's happening'

Martin Lewis has issued a "huge" car finance update - as he "explains what's happening." The Money Saving Expert team have explained how a major investigation into hidden, unfair car finance commission has had a huge update on Wednesday (November 13).

A blog post on the MSE website, which was founded by BBC and ITV star Mr Lewis, says: "HUGE car finance update signals ALL mis-sold commission complaints could come under probe – Martin Lewis explains what's happening."

Mr Lewis on Twitter/X wrote: "Many questions coming in about specific on this. My answer is "don't know yet, we await the consultation document from @TheFCA and have lots more reading, and thinking to do before we do - so please be patient"."

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Earlier, he had written: "HUGE CAR FINANCE NEWS: Now most people who've had any type of it are being urged to complain – doubling the numbers. Minutes ago, the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), announced it's consulting for two weeks (so quick, it's a likely done deal) on extending the time firms have to handle motor finance commission complaints. This is on the back of a Court of Appeal ruling a couple of weeks ago and the extension is to incorporate a potential Supreme Court decision."

He said: "While not specified in its announcement, I've had it confirmed this applies to ALL car finance commission complaints, not just the Discretionary Commission Arrangements (DCAs) complaints previously covered. It signals that the FCA is paving the ground to, in future, broaden the scope of its car finance investigation, so not only does it look at the 40% of past claims that had DCAs (where dealers could increase their commission by increasing interest) but all commissions including fixed commissions.

"This is on the back of the Court of Appeal ruling 'consumers need to know all material facts including the amount of commission', which they often weren't told even in fixed commission cases.
It looks like (I need to dig) if the hold is extended, almost everyone who has had car finance deals may have a complaint (I need to examine timelines of what counts) and be potentially due money back (this includes those already rejected as they were told they 'didn't have a DCA').

"This potentially more than doubles the number of people involved, and would really start to look more like PPI scale of payouts (and a substantial threat to the car finance industry)." He added: "These are provisional first thoughts, bashed out at speed. Obviously there's more work to do, but it is big."