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 11th 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 24th 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.

Following the Supreme Court ruling, on 3rd August 2025, the FCA announced that they intended to proceed with a consultation on the introduction of a redress scheme and they published this consultation paper on 7th October 2025. The FCA also said they may need to extend the complaints handling pause beyond the previous deadline of 4th December 2025. On the 3rd December 2025 they announced that the pause has been extended until the 31st May 2026. 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.

Following the consultation period, on 30th March 2026 the FCA confirmed that they intend to go ahead with a redress scheme and announced the final rules of the scheme. The FCA confirmed that the Lenders will be responsible for administering the scheme, and included a 3 or 5 month implementation period (depending on when you took out your agreement) after which Lenders will be required to contact all eligible customers, starting with customers who have already raised a complaint with them. The FCA intend for eligible customers who have complained to their Lender to receive any compensation they are due during 2026.

You can read the FCA announcement and scheme rules in full here where you will also find a link to some Factsheets you may find helpful.

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 an industry wide redress scheme. The FCA published their consultation paper on the planned redress scheme on 7th October 2025.

Following the consultation period, on 30th March 2026 the FCA confirmed that they intend to go ahead with a redress scheme and announced the final rules of the scheme. The FCA confirmed that the Lenders will be responsible for administering the scheme, and included a 3 or 5 month implementation period (depending on when you took out your agreement) after which Lenders will be required to contact all eligible customers, starting with customers who have already raised a complaint with them. The FCA intend for eligible customers who have complained to their Lender to receive any compensation they are due during 2026.

You can read the FCA announcement and scheme rules in full here where you will also find a link to some Factsheets you may find helpful

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) was originally only related to historic DCA commission models on agreements taken out between April 2007 and 28^th January 2021, the FCA expanded their review (and pause to complaint handling) to include DCA and Non-DCA commission arrangements covering the period from 6th April 2007 - 1st November 2024. You can read more on this on the FCA Website here.

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 on or after 28th January 2021, your agreement will not be subject to a Discretionary Commission Arrangement (DCA) model as the FCA banned the use of DCA models on that date.

The FCA redress scheme announced on 30th March 2026 covers DCA agreements and some limited non DCA agreements taken out between 6th April 2007 and 1st November 2024

There will be an implementation set-up period so lenders can prepare.

If you took out your loan before 1 April 2014, the scheme will start on 31 August 2026.

If you took out your loan from 1 April 2014, the scheme will start on 30 June 2026.

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.

The FCA also provide a wider list of lender contact details on their website here.

Your Lender will inform you of any next steps when you submit your complaint to them, however you can read more about the timescales set out by the FCA here.

On 7th October 2025, the FCA published their consultation on the planned introduction of a redress scheme.

Following the consultation period, on 30th March 2026 the FCA confirmed that they intend to go ahead with a redress scheme and announced the final rules of the scheme. The FCA confirmed that the Lenders will be responsible for administering the scheme, and included a 3 or 5 month implementation period (depending on when you took out your agreement) after which Lenders will be required to contact all eligible customers, starting with customers who have already raised a complaint with them. The FCA intend for eligible customers who have complained to their Lender to receive any compensation they are due during 2026.

You can read the FCA announcement and scheme rules in full here where you will also find a link to some Factsheets you may find helpful.

Under the Motor Finance Consumer Redress scheme rules announced by the FCA on 30th March 2026, all customers who are eligible for redress will be contacted by their Lender, however the FCA have stated that if you put a claim in with your Lender, you may get any compensation you are due sooner. Customers who have claimed and are due any compensation should receive this during 2026. Customers who have not complained but are eligible should receive any compensation due by January 2028.

As we are not your lender, we are unable to confirm if you will be eligible for compensation under the scheme rules, or how much any compensation will be.

The FCA state they estimate that 12.1 million agreements are eligible for compensation. Those that get compensation will receive an average of around £830 per agreement, but this will vary, with some people getting more and some getting less. Interest is added to any redress award and is calculated at the annual average Bank of England base rate per year plus 1%, at a minimum of 3% in any year.

You can read more about how redress will be calculated on the FCA website here.

You won't need to use a Claims Management Company (CMC) or a Law Firm to take part in the redress scheme, it's free and simple to do it yourself. Using a CMC or Law Firm may end up costing you up to 36% in fees, including VAT, 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.

The FCA has been proactively monitoring the activity of CMC’s and Law Firms and have highlighted some troubling behaviour from many such firms, for example inappropriate advertising. This has led to the removal or amendment of more than 740 misleading adverts by FCA regulated CMCs since January 2024, including some which were highly speculative in suggesting the compensation consumers may get.

The FCA have made clear 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 as part of their monitoring of the redress scheme. You can find more information to help you decide if you should use a CMC or Law Firm here.

The FCA have highlighted concerns that they have received reports of scammers contacting people and pretending to be from car finance lenders, offering fake compensation. If someone contacts you out of the blue and offers compensation, you should make sure you are dealing with the genuine firm.

Remember:

• Don't share your bank account PINs and passwords with anyone.

• Don't give out your bank account details unless you’re certain who you’re dealing with.

You can find more guidance from the FCA on how to protect yourself from scam emails and letters from fake car finance lenders here.

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

Under the rules of the redress scheme announced by the FCA on 30th March 2026, Lenders will be required to write to all eligible customers who are due any compensation, regardless of whether you have complained or not.

However, the FCA have set out that if you put a claim in with your Lender, you may get any compensation you are due sooner.

You can read more about the timescales set out by the FCA here.

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.