Martin Lewis says 'can I be really honest' as he issues £1,100 car finance warning
Money expert Martin Lewis is being 'really honest' as he urges people to claim a £1,100 payout
Money saving expert Martin Lewis is urging people to check now before time runs out to claim compensation which could be worth £1,100.
Martin fired a missive to anyone who has ever bought a car on finance - namely, a PCP or hire purchase deal.
These two common types of car financing are currently being subjected to Financial Conduct Authority scrutiny over potential misselling through something called ‘discretionary commission’.
Effectively, car buyers weren’t told that they were being charged a higher rate of interest to hand more commission to the seller.
The FCA is currently investigating and if it rules against car finance firms, Martin says the average payout is expected to be around £1,100.
Talking on his ITV The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday, Martin said: “So Lee had a PCP or hire purchase deal before January 2021, he wrote he said, ‘did I pay a higher interest rate because the person who was selling it got more commission if they charged me a higher interest rate, without telling me’, in this case they said yes. Lee, you’ve done everything you need to do you just wait until September, we’re expecting the decision on the 25th of September. If the regulator the FCA rules that car firms have to pay out, we’re talking a typical payment of £1,100 per person.
“So yep you’ve done everything, get on with your life until September, and I will be on somewhere, probably Good Morning Britain I expect, telling you what to do on that day.”
But Martin then added that many people had not heard back at all and weren’t sure if their claim had been recognised.
He continued: “We are hearing quite a few firms are snowed and they’re just not replying, they should have replied.
“Can I be really honest? I’ve just done a survey of 11,000 people going firm by firm to see what the replies are, I’m in the middle of analysing it, I’m gonna put that out on social media in the next couple of weeks on what you should do firm by firm.
“The most important thing for anyone watching is if you bought a car on PCP or hire purchase before January 2021 and you haven’t put a claim in now to find out if you had discretionary commission, the sooner you get it in, the less chance there is of you being timed out, and there are free tools online.”