Santander offers its customers a wide range of financial products, including finance for cars, vans and motorbikes. City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently launched an industry wide investigation into whether customers have overpaid on their car finance loans. The FCA is conducting a detailed review into historic commission arrangements in the motor finance industry following a high number of complaints from customers to car finance providers. This means increased scrutiny of the finance providers such as Santander and their commission arrangements.
Any Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) car agreement from dealerships may have included a hidden, secret or discretionary commission fee paid by the lender finance company. Often unknown to the consumer, this fee inflates the price of the contract. This means that if you have taken out a PCP financial plan with Santander since 1st April 2014, you may be able to claim a refund in relation to these commissions.
Government-backed watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has banned finance deals where the car dealers and their sales teams could earn more commission if customers were sold a more expensive PCP finance deal. This would often happen without the buyer even knowing what commission the sales team was getting. This is known as a ‘secret’, ‘hidden’ or ‘discretionary commission’ and meant that customers were unfairly paying more than they should. Many UK drivers are now eligible to make PCP claims for each car contract that may have been mis-sold.
Warning signs of customers being mis-sold PCP include:
This is where the car dealer sells you a finance package for the car but does not tell you that they are getting a commission or just how large the commission they are getting is. Most customers expect the salesperson or dealership to make their money on the sale of the car, but they do not realise that they may also be getting a commission from the finance company, in this case Santander, for the PCP finance agreement that goes with it. In turn, this means that the customer is potentially paying more than they should when buying the vehicle.
Because of the high risk of there being a conflict of interest between the customer and the car dealer (the dealer recommending Santander finance products based on the amount of commission as opposed to what is best for their customer), and to ensure full transparency for their protection, the exact amount of this commission should be disclosed to the customer.
If the payment of commission and the amount of that commission has not been explained, then the customer can claim compensation for mis-sold PCP car finance.
If you or a loved one have taken out PCP car finance after 1st April 2014 and before 1st January 2021 and you think you may have been mis-sold, then get in touch with our mis-selling team by phone on 0800 169 5925, email info@tlwsolicitors.co.uk or complete either the Start Your Claim or Request a Callback form below.
A member of our team will then go through your case and explore your options in a free, no-obligation discussion.
If appropriate, then we will contact Santander and request all the relevant documents and contracts on your behalf to see if you have a claim and if so, what it might be worth. We can still investigate your claim even if you no longer have the paperwork for the Santander finance agreement.
Anyone who has taken out PCP finance with any dealership for any manufacturer’s vehicle since 2014 and before 1st January 2021 may be affected.
Common manufacturers we work with include:
This depends on many factors including the wording of the finance agreement with Santander, the interest rates charged, the amount of finance and how long ago the PCP finance agreement was signed. However, you may well be entitled to thousands of pounds in compensation.
If you think that you have been mis-sold car finance, get in touch with our mis-selling team and we can discuss your claim and what it might be worth.
This varies from claim to claim. If the dealership and/or Santander accepts responsibility for the alleged PCP mis-selling and agrees to put things right, then a compensation claim can take just a few months.
However, in our experience this is unlikely to happen. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are carrying out an investigation into the mis-selling of car loans, the outcome of the investigation is unlikely to be known until December 2025, and so settlement of most claims will happen after this date.
There is no limit on the number of contracts you can make a claim for if each PCP finance agreement included hidden, secret or hidden commissions.
It will cost you nothing to make an enquiry and once our team has reviewed your potential refund case and if we feel it suitable, then we will enter into a no-win-no-fee agreement. That means, if the case is unsuccessful, we will not charge for the time we have spent on the case. Our costs are governed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. More details of which can be provided to you before you decide if you wish to proceed with a claim.
‘Secret/hidden/discretionary commission’ car finance mis-selling claims can be very complex. Our team of specialist lawyers has many years’ experience of dealing with a wide range of financial mis-selling cases.
Our PCP lawyers are very familiar with the regulatory framework and the various financial institutions involved in these cases, such as City regulator, the FCA and the Financial Ombudsman Service which is an independent government backed body, set up to resolve disputes between consumers and financial institutions such as Santander. The team is also very experienced in taking cases to Court, if necessary, to ensure that clients get the compensation they are rightfully owed.
If you or a loved one bought a car on Santander finance after 1st April 2014 and before 1st January 2021 and were not told about the amount of commission that the dealership or salesperson received, then you may be able to claim compensation for PCP mis-selling.
Contact our specialist PCP mis-selling team for a free no-obligation discussion about making a NO WIN, NO FEE refund claim.
Call 0800 169 5925, email info@tlwsolicitors.co.uk or complete either the Start Your Claim or Request a Callback form below.
It is important to get advice as soon as possible as strict time limits can apply.
Meet Sarah, who heads up our experienced Mis-Sold PCP Car Finance team.
Sarah and her colleagues are on hand to help with your claim.
