Car finance reclaim - have I been scammed?

EmilyInLondon

Hi all,

I bought a car in 2020 on finance with Blue Motor Finance.

I remember there was lots of adverts about in on social media a while ago and I remember I followed a link from Courmacs Legal - I put my registration number in and I have only very recently realised that I seem to have a contract with them and the contract says they will take a certain % of the payout for representing me (It's 30% if my payout if £1-£1499). However, I do not remember signing anything or any indication that they would be representing me. Also, the signature in this "contract" is not my signature and I did not sign anything.

I also did an official complaint to Blue Motor Finance myself and they confirmed that they paid a discretionary commission to the dealer so I should be due some money back.

I know we're still waiting for the redress scheme to conclude, but is there anything I can do about this Courmacs legal contract??? I feel like I've been scammed and I don't want to miss out on money unnecessarily. I actually only realised when I saw it being addressed in a TV programme…

Thanks all!

dunstonh

However, I do not remember signing anything or any indication that they would be representing me. 

You dont need to sign to enter into a contract. Typically with these companies, they include it in the declaration that you say you are agreeing to if you proceed beyond that point. i.e. along the lines of a tick box and a button to proceed. Often that translates into an electronic signature.

Also, the signature in this "contract" is not my signature and I did not sign anything.

Electronic signatures are rarely your signature.

I also did an official complaint to Blue Motor Finance myself and they confirmed that they paid a discretionary commission to the dealer so I should be due some money back.

Don't count on that yet. A discretionary commission contract doesn't mean that they added an increased commission at the cost of increasing the interest rate. It could be that the dealer had it available but didn't use it. Or they used it positively to lower the interest rate (often happens when trying to get you over the line or promotions for certain vehicles or when they are trying to increase sales) or negatively increase the interest rate to increase the commission. The latter is the one that people are expecting some money back from.

I know we're still waiting for the redress scheme to conclude, but is there anything I can do about this Courmacs legal contract??? I feel like I've been scammed and I don't want to miss out on money unnecessarily. I actually only realised when I saw it being addressed in a TV programme…

People that use claims companies are easy targets. So, claiming that you are being missold about being missold does seem to happen often going by comments on this site.

Go back to them and tell them that you have never knowingly entered into a contract that a complaint has already been lodged by you to the dealer and you want them to cancel the contract as you do not believe it has been entered into fairly.

see the following if the CMC starts playing up.

https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/fca-sra-warning-motor-finance-commission-claims

and

https://www.fca.org.uk/news/press-releases/regulators-join-forces-tackle-poor-claims-management-practices

flossymcfly

It would also be worth checking with HMRC if you have an agent shown on your record. I remember instances a few years back where PPI firms included something in the T&Cs basically saying that you authorised them to be your agent in other matters. This meant they could legally appear on your tax record as an agent and receive any refunds you were due…deducting their fee of course.

Nasqueron

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81916912#Comment_81916912

They didn't get cuts of a normal tax refund but they tended to do stuff like putting in the claim for interest refund from the tax taken off PPI claims as well as married couples allowance, uniform rebates and stuff like that