In the first instance you should contact your lender to assist you with this. If you do not know the name of your lender, you may find it helpful to check your bank statements to see who your payments were made to.

In the first instance you should contact your lender to assist you with this. For your information, due to our group data retention policy we only retain sales related documentation for 7 years from the point of sale, unless we have reason to retain longer.

Most lenders ask you to submit details as you can such as your name, address at the time of the agreement, date of birth, and as many details as you can about the car you purchased such as make and model, dealer name, year of purchase.

Commission is usually a payment. The payment is made by a lender to a dealer or broker when a customer takes out a finance agreement.

On the 11 January 2024 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced their intention to review historical motor finance Discretionary Commission Arrangements (DCA) across the motor finance industry. This included the FCA originally implementing a 37 week ‘pause’ to the requirement for firms to respond to such complaints within 8 weeks, to allow the outcome of their review to be taken into account.

On 24 September 2024, the FCA announced their review was taking longer than anticipated and therefore extended the ‘pause’ relating to DCA complaints until 4^th December 2025.

On 19^th December 2024, the FCA published a further update and announced a widening of the ‘pause’ to now include non-DCA commission complaints as well as DCA complaints. They confirmed the ‘pause’ for handling both DCA and non-DCA commission related complaints will apply until 4^th December 2025. This was following a judgement issued by the Court of Appeal in relation to finance commission on 25^th October 2024 which was appealed to the Supreme Court, who heard the appeal in April 2025 and issued their verdict on the 1st August 2025 – see the separate question below for more information relating to this.

On 3rd August 2025, the FCA announced that they intend to consult in early October 2025 on the introduction of a redress scheme launching in 2026, covering DCA transactions from 2007 to 2021, and potentially some non-DCA transactions. They have stated the need to balance a number of factors in the design and implementation of the redress scheme, and hope to launch the scheme in time for customers due any redress to start receiving payments in 2026. The FCA have also said they may need to extend the complaints handling pause beyond the current deadline of 4th December 2025.

As a result of the ‘pause’ relating to both DCA and non-DCA commission related complaints, if you choose to raise a complaint with your lender you will have more time than usual to refer these complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if a final response is issued. Instead of the usual 6 months deadline, you will have until 29 July 2026, or 15 months from the date of the final response letter, whichever is later.

You can read more about this and the latest updates on the FCA's website here.

The Court of Appeal’s judgement on 25th October 2024 in Johnson v FirstRand Bank Limited, Wrench v FirstRand Bank Limited and Hopcraft v Close Brothers [2024] EWCA Civ 1106 (the “Judgement”) involved the Lenders FirstRand Bank and Close Brothers. In these cases, it decided that it was against the law for the dealers to receive a commission from the lender without first telling the customer about the commission amount and getting their informed consent to the payment.

As this came as a shock to the industry and gave rise to a number of complex issues that required further consideration and clarity, the Court of Appeal judgement was itself appealed by the Lenders concerned to the Supreme Court which is the highest court in the UK. On the 1st August 2025 the Supreme Court issued it's verdict which overturned much of what the Court of Appeal had said. You can find more information on what the Supreme Court decided here.

Shortly after the Supreme Court verdict the FCA issued an update regarding their review into DCA and non-DCA commission arrangements and intention to consult (in early October 2025) on a industry wide redress scheme, which they expect to be ready to launch in 2026. You can find more information and any further updates to the FCA approach on their website here.

A discretionary commission arrangement (or DCA) is where a lender allowed a dealer or broker to select the interest rate charged to the customer and where the commission paid was linked to the interest rate charged. The FCA banned discretionary commission arrangements (DCA’s) on 28th January 2021.

A Non-DCA commission arrangement (sometimes also called a fixed commission arrangement) is where any commission paid is not linked to the interest rate charged, and usually the interest rate is fixed by the lender. All commission models since 28^th January 2021 have been Non DCA (fixed) models, but many finance agreements taken out before January 2021 also had Non-DCA (fixed) commission models. Although the FCA review (announced on 11^th January 2024) is only related to historic DCA commission models on agreements taken out between April 2007 and 28^th January 2021, the FCA have expanded their pause to include complaint handling on Non-DCA commission arrangements also. You can read more about the reasons for this extension on the FCA Website here: https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/car-finance-complaints

You should contact your lender as they are best placed to answer this. Most lenders have set up dedicated webpages and online enquiry forms to allow you to do this. Please click here to see a list of the contact details for the lenders we work with.

Yes it does because if you took out your agreement before April 2007 or after 27th January 2021, the FCA have confirmed that your agreement will not be within the scope of their review into DCA’s. The FCA banned DCA’s on 28th January 2021.

Once you have submitted an enquiry to the lender, they will be able to review your agreement and confirm if your agreement was affected by a discretionary commission arrangement.

You should submit any complaint to your Lender. Most Lenders have set up dedicated webpages and online enquiry forms to allow you to do this. Please click here to see a list of the contact details for the Lenders we work with. Your Lender will inform you of any next steps when you submit your complaint to them, however please be aware that it is unlikely that your Lender will be in a position to issue a ‘final response’ letter until after the conclusion of the pause, currently until 4th December 2025 and the outcome of the FCA review and intended redress scheme is known.

Currently no final decisions have been made regarding the design and implementation of the proposed redress scheme.

The FCA have stated that any redress scheme must be fair to consumers who have lost out and ensure the integrity of the motor finance market, so it works well for future consumers.

They have stated they intend to consult in early October and finalise any scheme in time for people to start receiving compensation in 2026.

The consultation will cover how firms should assess whether the relationship between the Lender and borrower was unfair for the purposes of our scheme and if so, what compensation should be paid.

The FCA currently estimates that most individuals will probably receive less than £950 in compensation per agreement.

You can read more about the FCA approach and consultation on the redress scheme here.

You won't need to use a Claims Management Company (CMC) or a Law Firm to take part in any compensation scheme the FCA set up. The FCA have stated that they aim to make any redress scheme easy to participate in, without needing to use a CMC or Law Firm. Using a CMC or Law Firm may end up costing you up to 30% in fees of any compensation you receive.

You can complain to your Lender for free without using a CMC or Law Firm, and you don't need to use a CMC to find out if you're eligible. If you're unsure who your Lender was, there are a few ways you can check.

• Check old Bank Statements.

• If your agreement was active in the last 6 years you can also try checking your credit file as your Lender may be listed on there. Find out how to access your credit file for free from the Information Commissioners Office here.

• Complete a commission enquiry form on our website here by clicking the "Make a Commission Related Enquiry" button.

Over the last year, the FCA has required 225 promotions from CMC's on motor finance to be amended or withdrawn, including some which were highly speculative in suggesting the compensation consumers may get.

The FCA have made clear they they will continue to act against CMC's using "clickbait-style" promotions or language that suggests a guaranteed outcome before any investigation into a customer's claim has taken place. All CMC's must ensure that all financial promotions are clear, fair and not misleading, and that they accurately reflect the nature and status of any potential claims.

The FCA have stated they will ensure Lenders handle claims consistently, efficiently and fairly.

The FCA have stated that people who already complained to their Lender do not need to do anything.

No. If you arranged your finance between yourself and a Lender, there is no commission involved.

Due to data protection rules, the Lender will likely require the account holder to provide consent for you to deal on their behalf.