Martin Lewis has issued an urgent warning to those who think car finance may have been mis-sold to them. Most people buy their vehicles through leasing agreements, where they pay an upfront deposit for their car and then pay a monthly fee with interest.
The MoneySavingExpert was hosting Good Morning Britain today, where he spoke about car finance. It was revealed last week that a whopping 44 percent of car leasing agreements, which were sold between April 2007 and November 2024, might have been mis-sold.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that during that time period: "Motor finance companies broke laws and regulations in force at the time by failing to disclose important information. This led to unfairness, with consumers denied the chance to negotiate or find a better deal and, in some instances, paying more for their loan."
Speaking on the ITV breakfast show today, he said there were three ways someone could have been mis-sold – Discretionary Commission Arrangements (11.4million agreements), contractual ties (3.2million agreements) and unfairly high commission (2.9million agreements). He said there was no way to know how people were mis-sold without checking.
Martin explained that many people will be contacted next year onwards and will receive their compensation automatically but he warned people to step in and register their own complaint. He said: "There's a risk on older cases that they don't have the documentation that you do. There's a risk that you've moved house or have a different address.
"There's a risk you got married and changed your name. For all of those reasons, I would prefer to be in the group that has complained and has to opt out of the payment rather than they have to find you and opt in."
He said that his team would be producing templates which would support those concerned and that they would be ready in the coming weeks. "As long as you make the complaint before the re-dress scheme starts, you'd be ok," he added.
Martin has been advocating for those who had been mis-sold car finance. An estimated four million car finance deals have already been the subject of a complaint – leaving approximately 10 million which could still be pursued.
Martin said people can use a letter template at MSE.com to ensure they 'opt-in' to the compensation scheme. He also offers a step-by-step guide on how to lodge a complaint and what subsequent steps should be taken for those who have already done so.
He said: "If you haven't already complained, then the firms have to try and identify all the people who were mis-sold under all these categories and need to get in touch with you within six months of the scheme [starting], but then you'll have to opt in.
"So you'll have to actively say 'I want to be a part of this and I want to get that money.' Now, in my view – and I suggested this to the regulator boss when I was talking to him about this – in most cases it would be a lot easier if you were in the 'I've already complained' category. So that means you probably want to put in a complaint NOW, so that you're in that category by the time the redress scheme starts (if you were mis-sold)."
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