Discretionary Commission - BMW finance

Gardiners5

I contacted BMW finance in relation to a car I purchased under a finance agreement. I have all the paperwork but BMW say they cant validate my details. I’ve provided them all the information they have requested but it’s now been 2 months and despite chasing for an update have had no response. Do I just wait until September before taking it further? 

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this to the most relevant part of the forum.

Our guide covers what happens after you've made initial contact: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/reclaim-car-finance/#letter-sent 

dunstonh

Do I just wait until September before taking it further? 

Yes, it makes sense to.  The FCA will tell the lenders what they have to do next.  This could include bringing archived  data back onto systems (as they did after the FCA report into PPI) and it may tell lenders to be proactive. i.e. contact people directly rather than wait to be contacted.    Or it may find there is no wrongdoing and close the whole thing down.

Knitteddoll

I had this response from BMW what does it nean
Thank you for your correspondence. We acknowledge your request for confirmation of whether your finance agreement(s) held with us had a discretionary commission arrangement between us and the broker / car dealer or any other entity involved in the transaction. 

We note your request for a response within 28 days, however we are currently reviewing the arrangement relevant to your agreement(s) to respond to your request. We are therefore not treating this as a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) under the GDPR. For clarity, the commission arrangement would not be disclosable within a DSAR as it is not Personal Data. 

Due to high volumes of correspondence, we may not be able to respond within 28 days, however we will respond as soon as possible. 

dunstonh

I had this response from BMW what does it nean

It appears you have used a template that included a DSAR.    However, DSARs are completely pointless with a DCA complaint and BMW finance are telling you that they are not going to do a DSAR for that reason. 

That is quite reasonable and expected.   Unfortunately, some templates take the overkill approach rather than focus on the issue in question.

BMW has logged you, and you will need to wait until 2026.   The FCA review has been suspended until May 2025 with firms required to start responding to complaints from December 2025.   Depending on the legal cases currently underway, it could be pushed back further  (i.e. if there are appeals)

keyplayer77

I have received this response back from BMW Finance. However I did have the car back in 2007 and I thought you could claim back to 2001. I'm not sure what the letter means, is it a point blank refusal?

You entered into the agreement on 1 October 2007 we maintain that the limitation period for any complaint has now expired. The Limitation Act 1980 states that any contractual claims, statutory claims, or actions based on misrepresentation is 6 years from the date you were or should have been aware of the problem. As you were notified prior to entering into the agreement that commission might be paid to the dealer you could have used reasonable diligence to immediately ask for details before signing the agreement. You were therefore aware of a potential complaint when you entered into the agreement over 6 years ago.

Without prejudice to our position, we are prepared to disclose that a commission payment was made to the dealer in the total sum of £140.00, and the commission structure relevant to your client’s Agreement was a fixed fee arrangement. This means that we paid a fixed commission to the dealer irrespective of any interest rate on (or any other feature of) the agreement. The dealer had no ability to set the APR in your client’s Agreement which was fixed by us at 9.0% APR.

The Ombudsman might not be able to consider your complaint if:

• what you’re complaining about happened more than six years ago, and

• you’re complaining more than three years after you realised (or should have realised) that there was a problem.

We think that your complaint was made outside of these time limits for the reason set out above. If the Ombudsman agrees with us, they will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances (see below).

If you do decide to refer your complaint to the Ombudsman you must do so within six months of the date of this letter.

dunstonh

I have received this response back from BMW Finance. However I did have the car back in 2007 and I thought you could claim back to 2001. I'm not sure what the letter means, is it a point blank refusal?

2009 is DCA.

And they are saying that it was fixed commission and not discretionary.

So, yes, its a refusal as it didn't apply to you.

Nasqueron

keyplayer77 said:

I have received this response back from BMW Finance. However I did have the car back in 2007 and I thought you could claim back to 2001. I'm not sure what the letter means, is it a point blank refusal?

You are complaining (not claiming, nobody claims anything) about a product being sold on the basis that it had DCA applied. The FCA consultation runs from 2009 and they have told you that they paid commission directly, not via DCA so you were not miss-sold. They are not refusing, they are telling you, factually, that your complaint about them using DCA is closed because they didn't use DCA, and they are time barring a complaint about commission in general as that isn't in the FCA scope (not least because paying commission to a dealer for using them is perfectly normal and legal!).

Basically you can be happy that you were not affected and the APR you got was fair and done based on your circumstances and your complaint is over.

KROAzzuri

I used the MSE letter and provided full details to BMW.  I have just received an email asking me for the same information already sent because they cannot find my agreement which ended in May 2018.  I have not changed my address? I have replied and sent them a copy of the Finance Agreement and correspondence from them.  Let's see what that brings.  lets hope I receive a reply before 25th September.

KROAzzuri

I used the MSE letter and provided full details to BMW.  I have just received an email asking me for the same information already sent because they cannot find my agreement which ended in May 2018.  I have not changed my address? I have replied and sent them a copy of the Finance Agreement and correspondence from them.  Let's see what that brings.  lets hope I receive a reply before 25th September.

Nasqueron

KROAzzuri said:

I used the MSE letter and provided full details to BMW.  I have just received an email asking me for the same information already sent because they cannot find my agreement which ended in May 2018.  I have not changed my address? I have replied and sent them a copy of the Finance Agreement and correspondence from them.  Let's see what that brings.  lets hope I receive a reply before 25th September.

There is no rush, there will not be a reply on or before 25th September, or even until mid-2025. It is surprising that they would have got rid of data by May 2024 given that is the 6 year "rule" they normally operate to