Claiming on behalf of a deceased person

MoneyMouse38

Hello, just after some advice on if I can try to reclaim commission on a PCP agreement that is in the name of someone who has since passed away. I had a car where the vehicle was registered to me, however I was 18 at the time and couldn't get the finance approved and so my Grandad put the finance in his name. The Direct Debit was coming out of his bank account and I was paying him the monthly payments. The car was purchased in 2012 so would potentially qualify.

Has anybody attempted this, and if so, were any additional documents requested from the finance provider?

Thanks

la531983

Surely if it was possible any proceeds would go to his estate?

DullGreyGuy

Were the finance company aware of the fronting? Most won't allow it. 

As they were the person in contract for the finance then its their estate that would receive any compensation due and would be distributed inline with the will

Antibalderdash

Generally speaking you need to be the executor of the will (if there is one) or be the administrator (if there isn't a will).  If there is a will, you'll need to apply for grant of probate so that'll cost you £300 usually.  If there isn't a will, you'll need to apply for a letter of administration.  

You might want to check if the agreement actually had an undisclosed commission on it, some agreements don't have any commissions on them, some might have had a commission arrangement in operation, some might be a fixed commission. You might be able to fill in the details on the finance provider's website since a lot of them have setup tools for this sort of thing, but you might run into issues if they know your grandad is deceased or if you don't have any identity documents to prove his personhood.  Either way, to get a payout you'll need the probate/administration letter.

A lot of these commission claims are likely only going to be worth £500 to £1500 so it depends what you're willing to invest.  

Also if you don't have a copy of the finance agreement from 2012, you might also struggle to make a claim as a lot of the finance providers won't necessarily hold details from way back then. 

Also it might depend on what the FCA say in the future once their investigation is done.  

Also as the others have said, the estate would probably receive the compensation, so you might not necessarily get anything out of this.