Commission Complaints
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA
) has described a Discretionary Commission Arrangement (DCA
) as an arrangement between lenders and brokers (the person arranging the loan, e.g. the car dealer) which allowed the broker to adjust the interest rates offered to customers and would impact the commission the broker received. This was banned by the FCA on 28th January 2021, and they are now retrospectively investigating the use of DCAs in car finance.
A commission that was paid but didn’t involve a DCA is referred to as a non-DCA
commission.
FCA Review Information
On 11th January 2024 the FCA announced their intention to review historical DCA's in the motor finance industry.
On 24th September 2024 the FCA announced a pause of the usual 8-week deadline for firms to provide a final response to certain motor finance complaints. This pause applies to complaints about motor finance agreements involving DCA or non-DCA and will remain in place until 31 May 2026.
This pause allows the FCA time to consider whether a consumer redress scheme will be introduced and ensures complaints are handled in an orderly and consistent manner.
Consumers will also have longer than the usual 6 months to refer their DCA complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (FOS
). This longer period applies to your DCA complaint as follows:
- If you are sent a final response to a DCA complaint between 12 July 2023 and 29 April 2025. You now have until 29 July 2026 to refer your complaint to FOS.
- If you are sent a final response to a DCA complaint between 30 April 2025 and 29 January 2026. You now have 15 months from the date of the final response to refer your complaint to FOS.
- For final responses sent on or after 30 January 2026, the usual 6-month referral period will apply.
For more information click here to visit the FCA's website for further information.
Complaining via a Claims Management Company ("CMC") or Law Firm
CMCs and Law Firms can manage complaints on your behalf, and they will often charge a fee for this service. Blue will always assess your complaint in exactly the same way whether you complain via a CMC, a Law Firm, or if you complain directly. The only difference when complaining via a CMC or Law Firm is that you will have to pay a fee to the CMC or Law Firm if you receive compensation.
Data Subject Access Requests in relation to DCA
Please note that information about commission structure or commission amount does not fall within the scope of a Data Subject Access Request and will not be provided in fulfilment of a Data Subject Access Request as this information is not Personal Data.
If you want to find out whether your finance agreement was subject to a DCA, please use the contact details shown below.
If you want to obtain copies of documents relating to your finance agreement with us, you can access these at any time via the Customer Portal.
Making a commission complaint
If you want to make a commission complaint, you can contact us directly by:
Email: complaints@bluemotorfinance.co.uk
Phone: 020 3005 9330
Post: Blue Motor Finance Limited, PO Box 565, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 9RE
When writing to us, please include full details of your complaint and your agreement number.
If you submit a new complaint after 5 December 2025, we will send you an acknowledgement within 8 weeks explaining the pause and directing you to the FCA’s website for more information.