Latest news with #DarrenSmith
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Scottish Sun
Everything you need to know about £16billion car finance scandal ahead of huge ruling in DAYS – could you be owed cash?
MILLIONS of drivers could be given compensation over mis-sold car finance loans. A decision is set to be made in days as to whether £44billion worth of cash should be handed out by motor finance providers as compensation for undisclosed broker commission arrangements. 1 Millions of drivers could be owed compensation if the Supreme Court rules in favour The Court of Appeal ruled in October that the firms broke the law by not telling borrowers about the broker commission terms. The case has now been taken to the Supreme Court, which will decide on Friday whether customers can be compensated. Lenders including Barclays, Lloyds, Santander UK and Close Brothers may be liable to pay out £44billion in compensation, analysts have suggested. However, there have been recent reports that the Government could step in to limit the compensation claims. Reporting in The Guardian suggest Chancellor Rachel Reeves may step in to overrule the Supreme Court's decision over concerns about what such a hefty sum of compensation could do to the industry. These laws would set clear rules on disclosing broker commission fees and could even apply retroactively to existing cases. The move would be almost unprecedented from the Treasury and would prevent the scandal spreading to other financial products beyond car loans. The Financing and Leasing Association, which represents motor finance companies, has warned the decision could harm the motor finance market if it's upheld. They say it could lead to less lending, higher borrowing costs, and even company closures. Courmacs Legal, a law firm representing 1.5million car finance victims, warned millions of consumers could be harmed if the Government does decide to cap or limit the financial redress for car finance victims. Man 'missed being in debt' after selling beloved Corvette - but little-known equation helped get it back with no payments Darren Smith, the law firm's managing director, said: "The billions owed to victims would undoubtedly help generate economic growth just as in the PPI scandal. "Doing right by consumers is also good for the UK economy." What did the courts find? Regulators and courts have found that many of the car finance deals signed between 2007 and 2021 did not properly inform consumers about charges and commission. This is because banks allowed car dealerships and brokers to set their own interest rates on loans. Under these now-banned discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs), dealerships and brokers had a financial incentive to charge higher interest rates, as their commission increased proportionally. But many customers were not aware of this practice. What is the FCA investigating and who is eligible for compensation? What is being investigated? The FCA announced in January 2024 that it would investigate allegations of "widespread misconduct" related to discretionary commission agreements (DCAs) on car loans. When you buy a car on finance, you are effectively loaned the value of the car while you pay it off. These loans have interest payments charged on top of them and are often organised on behalf of lenders by brokers - usually the finance arm of a dealership. These brokers earn money in the form of commission - a percentage of the interest payments on the loan. DCAs allowed brokers to, to a certain extent, increase the interest rate on a loan, which in turn increased the amount of commission they received. The practice was banned by the FCA in 2021. Who is eligible for compensation? The FCA estimates that around 40% of car deals may have been affected before 2021. There are two criteria you must meet to have a chance at receiving compensation. First, you must be complaining in relation to a finance deal on a motor vehicle (including cars, vans, motorbikes and motorhomes) that was agreed before January 28 2021. Second, you must have bought the vehicle through a mechanism like Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) or Hire Purchase (HP), which make up the majority of finance deals and mean you own the vehicle at the end of the agreement. Drivers who leased a car through a scheme like a Personal Contract Hire, where you give the car back at the end of the lease, are not eligible. How would customers get compensation? If the Supreme Court rules to let customers be compesated, industry regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) may set up a formal redress scheme. The regulator began working on the redress scheme in January last year. The FCA has said it may set up the scheme as a way that reduces the scope for consumers to hire lawyers to make claims on their behalf. Instead, the regulator could ask the lenders who carried out the mis-selling to check their records to decide who could get compensation. But less than a quarter of people surveyed said they would trust the lenders to do this fairly. A redress scheme would rely on lenders to identify and trace victims of mis-selling but could miss out significant numbers of people who should get compensation. This is because they may have moved house or changed other important personal information such as their legal name. Plus, 36% of potential claimants - around 8.4million people - said they have lost some of the paperwork from their previous car finance deals. Are you due compensation? More than 23million people believe they could be in line for compensation, polling by consumer law firm Slater and Gordon suggests. The poll found that 45% of people believe they are likely to be eligible for some sort of compensation over motor finance deals signed between 2007 and 2021. Consumer groups have estimated that motorists took out more than 30million car loans over those years. If you think you should be compensated, consumer finance website offers an email template to help you complain to your finance provider. To download this, visit You can also complain directly to your provider without using the template. Anyone who took out car finance should file a claim, even if their previous one was denied. In your complaint, ask whether you were overcharged due to your broker receiving a commission and ask the company to rectify this if it happened. If you are not happy with the company's response then you can escalate your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service for free. You have until July 29, 2026, or up to 15 months from the date of the company's final response letter to do so, whichever is longer. Avoid using a claims management firm as they will take a portion of any successful claim.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
American guard Doyle leaves JackJumpers for NBL rivals
American guard Milton Doyle is set to confirm a move to Melbourne United after bringing an end to his successful NBL stint with the Tasmania JackJumpers. Doyle has been one of the league's premier guards over the past three seasons, averaging 15.8 points, 4.3 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He made 96 appearances for Tasmania and was a key piece of the puzzle in the club's historic 2023/24 championship under coach Scott Roth. Thank you Milt. Milton Doyle has informed the club he won't be accepting the offer presented by the JackJumpers, opting to pursue a new direction in NBL26. "While we're disappointed we weren't able to come to an agreement to continue his time in Tasmania, we respect his… — Tasmania JackJumpers 🐜 (@JackJumpers) June 1, 2025 "We wish Milton and his family all the best for the future," JackJumpers chief operating officer Darren Smith said in a statement. "He's been a big part of our club for the last three years and we thank him for everything he has given during his time with us. "While we're disappointed we weren't able to come to an agreement to continue his NBL journey in Tasmania, we respect his decision and wish him, Keyara and the children every success." Doyle, who was also named Tasmania's MVP in 2023, is currently in Puerto Rico playing for Indios de Mayaguez. The 31-year-old was part of the Brooklyn Nets as a two-way player in 2017-18 and has spent most of his career between the NBA G-League and Europe. Melbourne are coming off successive NBL Championship Series defeats, and have had top-two regular-season finishes in four of the past five years. But they have been forced to rethink their recruiting strategy this year, having lost high-profile locals Matthew Dellavedova and Jack White. Doyle, who has reportedly agreed a one-year deal with United, is likely to be one of three imports on the roster. Melbourne already have Chris Goulding, Finn Delany, Shea Ili, Kyle Bowen, Tanner Krebs, Fabijan Krslovic, Tom Wilson and Next Star recruit Dash Daniels signed for the upcoming season.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
About £1bn in car loan compensation at risk because data deleted, lawyers warn
Consumers are at risk of losing £1bn of compensation over inflated car loans because high street banks and specialist lenders deleted their data, claims lawyers have warned. Borrowers, banks and the government are anxiously awaiting a ruling from the supreme court that could spark one of the biggest redress schemes since the £50bn payment protection insurance (PPI) saga. But some consumers could miss out because most banks typically purge customer data after six years. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered firms to stop deleting car finance documents when it launched its initial investigation in January 2024. But the files relating to customers with contracts that ended more than six years earlier may have already been lost. That could be a problem if the FCA sets up a compensation scheme where banks are ordered to contact borrowers who may be due a payout. Claims law firm Courmacs Legal says that 465,000 consumer complaints on its books fall into this category, having been paid off before 2018. If all those claimants faced document deletion hurdles, they could lose out on £1.18bn worth of compensation – an average of £2,365 each – according to Courmacs' estimates. 'There is a real risk that millions of people will lose out because the banks which ripped them off will never write to them,' Darren Smith, managing director of Courmacs, said. The Financing and Leasing Association, which represents leading car loan providers including Lloyds, Santander UK and Close Brothers, said: 'We have made clear to the FCA that consistent and fair outcomes cannot be delivered with patchy or absent data.' The car loans scandal has been rumbling on for more than a year, but ballooned in October when a court of appeal judgment vastly expanded an FCA investigation into potentially harmful commission arrangements. It determined that paying a secret commission to car dealers, who had arranged the loans without disclosing the sum and terms of that commission to borrowers, was unlawful. It sparked panic over compensation costs, with lenders including Santander UK, Close Brothers, Barclays and Lloyds potentially on the hook for up to £44bn, according to some analysts. Even chancellor Rachel Reeves attempted to intervene, warning supreme court judges ahead of the April hearing to avoid handing 'windfall' compensation to borrowers. It is unclear whether the court of appeal ruling will be upheld. But consumer champion Martin Lewis said he was still concerned over how data deletion issues would be handled if there is compensation for discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs), which were the subject of the FCA's original investigation. DCAs, which were banned in 2021, allowed car dealerships to earn more commission by setting higher interest rates, providing an incentive to make loans more expensive for consumers. 'I do have concerns about it. I am worried about how it will play out,' Lewis said. However, he urged consumers not to panic. 'We have to hope that the regulator will be on top of firms who have destroyed data, [and] we are only potentially two months away from having some clarity of what's going on.' While banks were urged during the PPI scandal to err on the side of consumers, even when there was no documentation, it is not yet clear how this will play out for car loans. An FCA spokesperson said: 'If we decide to undertake a redress scheme, we will work with industry and other interested parties to ensure that it is as clear and straightforward as possible for customers to complain.' Lloyds Banking Group, the biggest provider of car loans, said: 'We do not recognise these figures shared by Courmacs, and encourage people to contact their car finance provider directly to avoid paying claims management fees.'
The Guardian
26-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
About £1bn in car loan compensation at risk because data deleted, lawyers warn
Consumers are at risk of losing £1bn of compensation over inflated car loans because high street banks and specialist lenders deleted their data, claims lawyers have warned. Borrowers, banks and the government are anxiously awaiting a ruling from the supreme court that could spark one of the biggest redress schemes since the £50bn payment protection insurance (PPI) saga. But some consumers could miss out because most banks typically purge customer data after six years. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ordered firms to stop deleting car finance documents when it launched its initial investigation in January 2024. But the files relating to customers with contracts that ended more than six years earlier may have already been lost. That could be a problem if the FCA sets up a compensation scheme where banks are ordered to contact borrowers who may be due a payout. Claims law firm Courmacs Legal says that 465,000 consumer complaints on its books fall into this category, having been paid off before 2018. If all those claimants faced document deletion hurdles, they could lose out on £1.18bn worth of compensation – an average of £2,365 each – according to Courmacs' estimates. 'There is a real risk that millions of people will lose out because the banks which ripped them off will never write to them,' Darren Smith, managing director of Courmacs, said. The Financing and Leasing Association, which represents leading car loan providers including Lloyds, Santander UK and Close Brothers, said: 'We have made clear to the FCA that consistent and fair outcomes cannot be delivered with patchy or absent data.' The car loans scandal has been rumbling on for more than a year, but ballooned in October when a court of appeal judgment vastly expanded an FCA investigation into potentially harmful commission arrangements. It determined that paying a secret commission to car dealers, who had arranged the loans without disclosing the sum and terms of that commission to borrowers, was unlawful. It sparked panic over compensation costs, with lenders including Santander UK, Close Brothers, Barclays and Lloyds potentially on the hook for up to £44bn, according to some analysts. Even chancellor Rachel Reeves attempted to intervene, warning supreme court judges ahead of the April hearing to avoid handing 'windfall' compensation to borrowers. It is unclear whether the court of appeal ruling will be upheld. But consumer champion Martin Lewis said he was still concerned over how data deletion issues would be handled if there is compensation for discretionary commission arrangements (DCAs), which were the subject of the FCA's original investigation. DCAs, which were banned in 2021, allowed car dealerships to earn more commission by setting higher interest rates, providing an incentive to make loans more expensive for consumers. 'I do have concerns about it. I am worried about how it will play out,' Lewis said. However, he urged consumers not to panic. 'We have to hope that the regulator will be on top of firms who have destroyed data, [and] we are only potentially two months away from having some clarity of what's going on.' While banks were urged during the PPI scandal to err on the side of consumers, even when there was no documentation, it is not yet clear how this will play out for car loans. An FCA spokesperson said: 'If we decide to undertake a redress scheme, we will work with industry and other interested parties to ensure that it is as clear and straightforward as possible for customers to complain.' Lloyds Banking Group, the biggest provider of car loans, said: 'We do not recognise these figures shared by Courmacs, and encourage people to contact their car finance provider directly to avoid paying claims management fees.'
