Response from Ford Credit

DullGreyGuy

hancoxrg said:

I find it hard to believe that this wouldnt be recorded, otherwise how could they work out any commissions that were/had to be made to a dealer.  Mine has gone to the ombusdsman.

The ombudsman will tell you that the FCA has suspended all complaints on DCA until the end of September at the earliest, signs are it will be pushed back further. 

Commissions will have been paid at the start of the agreement once the cooling off period had ended not 4+ years later after the finance is paid off. Data protection law states you should delete data as soon as is practicably possible, the contract with the dealer could have capped disputes to 1 year and so what justification could they have for holding onto it for another 3 years?

[Deleted User]

I cant work out how to reply to a comment. In reference to the payout for something they don't have full records for… yes they can and they have. Millions were given PPI refunds based on the fact they had a credit card or loan in a time period that likely had PPI. As the lender couldn’t bring up specifics but equally couldn’t say £0 or no PPI the consumers were given ‘average redress’ based on an average user over that time. Crazy really but very pro consumer. Were car finance to become reasonably clear cut e.g. you had DCA = refund of some sort, then there is no reason this might not happen again where records are incomplete. This is a case where only one party, the lender, ever had this information, if they’ve lost it within 6 years OR they still have the whole file after 6 years just not this information, the onus is on them not the consumer and they dint have the 6 year gdpr get out clause. Sounds like FCEs response to OP is not, we can’t find you, more, we found you but have incomplete records. I never understood why they didn’t take a flamethrower to their records over 6 years but then I’ve seen Andover (LBG dsar base) in its heyday. Knew someone who worked there too and wowee was there a lot of files. 

[Deleted User]

Information should be kept for 6 years after an account closes, that is when it stops becoming relevant, not 6 years after it opens. However, if a consumer continues to have a relationship with the lender e.g. you take a car out with them every 3-5 years, then they will usually consider the account information for all your lending still relevant as you are a repeat customer and will not destroy it nor be willed to do so. Business records for invoicing for commission are different, they are not relevant to gdpr as they are not personal information. If they are misplaced, mis filed or destroyed then lenders find themselves in a sticky pickle of knowing the lending happened and that they had a commission arrangement with the dealer, but not knowing how much or the type that was paid. In the absence of evidence to the contrary the FCA and FOS could order average redress (pending the outcome in September I know ofc). Firms tend to keep business records for much longer so it seems unusual they were destroyed, my expectation is they are not able to link the files and / or it will be VERY manual and costly to do so and therefore they are thumb twiddling until they know the review outcome.

coldorcey

Hi, I have emailed fordcredit UK 3 times since February regarding DCA's on 2 finance agreements with them, using the template provided on Martin lewis site and they havn't even acknowledged me, I tried to call them and the automated response says you have to email them regarding DCA's, but they fail to reply, any advice as to the next step for me would be grateful

dunstonh

coldorcey said:

Hi, I have emailed fordcredit UK 3 times since February regarding DCA's on 2 finance agreements with them, using the template provided on Martin lewis site and they havn't even acknowledged me, I tried to call them and the automated response says you have to email them regarding DCA's, but they fail to reply, any advice as to the next step for me would be grateful

advice is to wait.  Firms do not have to deal with your complaint until December 2025.  You need to be patient.