Motor commission complaints
The FCA has been reviewing commission relating to regulated motor lending for personal motor vehicles taken out on or after 6 April 2007 and before 1 November 2024. This includes hire purchase and personal contract purchase agreements.
The scheme is designed to compensate customers where they weren’t given enough information about commission arrangements when they took out their motor finance agreement.
Parts of the scheme are currently paused as it’s facing a legal challenge.
We'll continue to prepare for the scheme, review complaints and progress cases where possible. Some customers may receive a response during this period if their complaint falls outside the scope of the scheme or doesn't meet the criteria for compensation.
If you already have a complaint with us, you don't need to do anything. We'll contact you when we have an update.
You’ll find more information about the scheme and how it works on the FCA's website
If you'd like to make a motor finance commission complaint - the quickest way to do this is via our dedicated form.
You don't need to use a claims management company
You can raise a complaint directly with us, free of charge. You do not need to appoint a Claims Management Company (CMC), solicitor or other Professional Representative to make a complaint about motor finance commission.
If you choose to appoint a Professional Representative, you should ensure you understand any fees, charges and contractual arrangements that may apply.
We will review your complaint in exactly the same way whether you contact us directly or choose to use a Professional representative. Using a Professional representative will not affect the outcome of our review or improve your chances of compensation.
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What is a Professional Representative?
A Professional Representative is a solicitor, law firm or Claims Management Company (CMC) that you have chosen and authorised to act on your behalf in relation to your complaint. By appointing a Professional Representative, you are giving them authority to manage aspects of your complaint for you.
This can include submitting and managing the complaint, receiving correspondence and any compensation payments, requesting updates, and providing information on your behalf.
Why has Black Horse contacted me about multiple Professional Representatives?
We have received information suggesting more than one Professional Representative may be acting on your behalf. Before we can progress certain aspects of your complaint, we need to understand who, if anyone, you want to represent you.
You may have authorised a Professional Representative by:
- Signing an agreement.
- Completing an online enquiry form.
- Responding to advertising about motor finance complaints.
- Providing authority for a Professional representative to act for you.
If you believe you were signed up without your consent or treated unfairly, guidance is available on the FCA website along with information on how to escalate a complaint to FOS/Legal Ombudsman.
Do I need a Professional Representative?
No. You can raise and manage a complaint directly with Black Horse free of charge. We assess all complaints individually, regardless of whether you complain yourself or use a Professional Representative.
Before deciding whether to appoint or continue with a Professional Representative you should consider things like the terms of your agreement with them, any related fees or charges, and the service provided.
Can I appoint more than one Professional Representative?
No. We can only work with one authorised Professional Representative per agreement at a time. If more than one Professional Representative contacts us claiming authority to act for you for the same agreement, we will need to confirm your instructions and their withdrawal before continuing.
We cannot advise which Professional Representative you should use but, if you have more than one professional representative then each may have separate contractual arrangements with you, which could include fees or charges. If you are unsure about any fees, you should contact the Professional Representative directly.
What happens if Black Horse cannot determine who is representing me?
We will continue to progress your complaint as far as possible. However, we may need to confirm who is authorised to act on your behalf. This may take additional time before we can continue progressing your complaint.
What should I do if I have concerns about my Professional Representative or they are not responding to me?
Black Horse cannot manage the relationship between you and your Professional Representative. If you have concerns about your Professional Representative or they are not responding to you, we recommend first checking that they are authorised to act by the FCA. You can do this by visiting the FCA website. Where possible, you should raise your concerns directly with the Professional Representative first and follow their complaints process.
If your concerns are not resolved, you may be able to escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (for Claims Management Companies) or the Legal Ombudsman (for law firms).
The Professional Representative says I owe a cancellation fee. Do I have to pay it?
We cannot determine whether a Professional Representative is entitled to charge a fee.
The FCA and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) say “You should check that any itemised bill aligns with what you were originally told you would be charged. Termination fees must reflect the work carried out by the CMC and must not exceed what is reasonable in the circumstances.”
If you disagree with a fee, you should raise this with the Professional Representative and follow their complaints process. Visit the FCA website for more support.
Make a complaint or information request
Make a commission complaint
The quickest way to make a complaint is online.
Before you start, make sure you have everything you need to complete it in one go.
There is no save button.
You'll need:
- Vehicle make and model, registration or agreement number
- Full details of your complaint
- What you think we should do to put things right
Make an information request
You can ask us to check whether a commission arrangement was used on your finance agreement. We'll look for agreements taken out after 6 April 2007, including Hire Purchase (HP) and Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) agreement.
So we can make checks, you'll need some basic information about the agreement.
You'll need:
- Your address at the time of the agreement
- Vehicle registration
- Your full name
Other ways to complain
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Please send your complaint to:
Motor Commission Complaints
Tredegar Park
Pencarn Way
Coedkernew
Newport
South Wales
NP10 8SBWhen you write to us, please include:
- Your contact information, including address and telephone number
- Agreement number / Vehicle registration
- Full details of your complaint
- What you think we should do to put things right
- Copies of any paperwork supporting your complaint
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Call us on 0800 022 4844.
Lines are open 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturday.
When you call us, you will need to give us:
- Your contact information
- Agreement number / Vehicle registration
- Full details of your complaint
- What you think we should do to put things right
Motor commission complaints FAQs
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We'll need to complete our assessment of your agreement to understand if any money is owed to you. We'll complete our review either as a complaint or via the compensation scheme.
If we review your complaint and find that you are not entitled to compensation under the scheme or are not in the scope of the scheme, we may still be able to give you an outcome and will explain our decision. This includes complaints that fall outside the scope of the scheme or where the agreement does not meet the criteria for compensation.
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If your agreement or complaint is included in the compensation scheme, we'll assess your agreement in line with the scheme timelines. Please refer to the latest information on the FCA's website for further details.
If you raise a complaint and we find your agreement isn't included in the compensation scheme, we’ll aim to get in touch again within eight weeks with an update, or by sending you a final response letter explaining why your agreement falls outside the scope of the scheme.
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You can complete the information request form to find out.
We’ll check your agreement and confirm if there was a discretionary or a non-discretionary commission arrangement.
We’ll tell you as soon as we can.
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You can complete the information request form and we’ll check your agreement.
We'll confirm if there was a discretionary or a non-discretionary commission arrangement and, where available, tell you how much commission was paid to the Dealer for arranging your finance agreement.
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We can’t tell you this until we review the details of your agreement. If you’re not happy, you can make a complaint.
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We aim to complete all requests within 28 days. If it's going to take us longer than this, we’ll contact you with an update.
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Commission is a payment which is sometimes made by the finance provider to a dealer or broker when a customer takes out a finance agreement.
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You can still submit a complaint and we'll do our best to find your agreement based on what you give us, and what we hold in our records. We'll write to you to confirm whether we've been able to log your complaint, and any next steps.
To give us the best chance of doing this, please provide as much as possible from this list:
- Your name
- Address at the time of the agreement
- Your date of birth.
And it would help if you could give us at least one of these:
- Vehicle make and model
- Account or agreement number
- Dealer name
- Year of purchase
- Registration number.
Complete the information request form to check if a discretionary commission arrangement was used in your motor finance agreement.
You can complain using our online complaints form.
Beware car finance compensations scams
Following the FCA’s announcement that they’ll consult on a potential car finance compensation scheme, they’ve received reports of scammers contacting people.
Fraudsters are asking individuals for personal information including their name, address, date of birth and bank details. They they're falsely claiming that people are owed compensation.
It's important to remember
- There's no car finance compensation scheme in place yet.
- We’re not contacting customers about compensation yet.
How to protect yourself
- If you receive a call like this, hang up immediately and don’t share any information.
- If you’re worried about a potential scam, or you think you've been contacted by a fraudster pretending to be us, you can call us on 0800 022 4844.
- You can report scam calls and texts to Ofcom by forwarding them to 7726. More information on how to do this is available on Ofcom’s website.
You can find more guidance at FCA’s protect yourself from scams.
General information about the motor commissions review
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On 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. Due to this, they paused the requirement to respond to complaints involving DCAs.
On 19 December 2024 the FCA extended their pause to include motor finance complaints where a non-discretionary commission arrangement (non-DCA) was involved.
The temporary changes to the time limits for relevant motor finance complaints finished on 31 May 2026. Please visit the FCA's website for further information.
If your complaint isn't about motor commission, please go to the complaints page.
Information for professional representatives
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Solicitor’s Regulation Authority (SRA) have set out expectations to professional representatives, where customers have signed up with more than one firm for the same motor finance complaint.
The FCA and SRA have jointly set out that:
- Consumers will be contacted by lenders and the firms involved in their case if questions about representation exist.
- Lenders, Consumers and Professional Representative Firms will need to constructively work together to determine who the correct representative is
- Communications from firms should make clear the implications of appointing more than one representative, including any potential termination fees from them.
We’re still reviewing the full detail as the announcement has only recently been made. Once we’ve done this, we’ll need to contact all impacted customers. Thank you in advance for your patience while we work through this.
Read more here:
FCA's statement to professional representatives
SRA's statement to professional representatives