Commission Arrangement Complaints

On 7 January 2024, the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) announced a pause on the complaint handling rules whilst they conducted a review into motor finance and discretionary commission arrangements (“DCAs”).

 

On 24 September 2024, the FCA announced that they were extending the pause on complaint handling rules until 4 December 2025. They will be announcing the findings of their review in May 2025.

 

On 19^th December 2024, the FCA expanded the complaint handling pause to include all complaints relating to commission, including complaints about other types of commission. This is as a result of the Court of Appeal judgment, which was handed down on 25 October 2024.

 

This means that if you have a complaint relating to commission, you will not receive a final response within the usual 8-week deadline. The FCA has currently extended the deadline until 4 December 2025.

 

If you raise a complaint, we will inform you whether a DCA was operated in relation to your agreement or not.

 

The FCA has described a discretionary commission arrangement as an arrangement between lenders and brokers which allowed the broker to adjust the interest rates offered to customers. Typically, the higher the interest rate, the more commission the broker received. This practice was banned by the FCA in 2021; however, they are now undertaking a review of the industry to understand whether there has been a widespread failure to comply with relevant requirements, resulting in financial loss or harm to consumers.

 

Once the pause is lifted (due 4 Dec 2025), in the weeks that follow you will receive a final response from us in relation to your complaint. If you’re unhappy with our final response, you’re able to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”). Usually, you have six months from the date of our final response letter to refer your complaint, however, as a result of the pause to complaint handling, this has been extended by up to 15 months.

 

For further information, you can visit the announcement on the FCA’s website here.

 

To make a complaint to us in relation to commission, please complete the below form.