Motor finance commission complaints fall to 21,500

The Financial Ombudsman Service processed 21,500 new complaints about motor finance commission between April and June 2025, down from 36,000 in the last three months of 2024/25, the service said in its quarterly complaints data published on 7 August 2025¹.

Overall the service processed 68,000 new complaints in the quarter, against 74,600 in the same period a year earlier¹. It upheld 31 per cent of the cases it resolved across all financial products in favour of the consumer¹. Hire purchase (motor) was the most complained about product, with 24,300 new complaints, most of them about motor finance commission¹. The next four were current accounts at 7,800, credit cards at 6,600, conditional sale (motor) at 3,300 and car or motorcycle insurance at 2,800¹. The exact figures in the published table are 24,289 for hire purchase (motor), 7,803 for current accounts and 6,591 for credit cards, with a grand total of 68,029¹.

Complaints about lending that consumers felt was irresponsible or unaffordable halved, to 10,000 new cases from 21,600 a year earlier¹. Fraud and scams complaints fell to 6,800 from 8,800 in the first quarter of 2024/25, and around half of those, 3,400, concerned authorised push payment scams, where people are tricked into sending money to a scammer¹.

The service also reported that 30,800 cases this quarter were brought by professional representatives, against 36,600 a year earlier¹. It said it had recently introduced charges for professional representatives who bring more than ten complaints a year, describing this as one of the measures introduced to modernise its service¹.

Why it matters for households

The figures cover complaints the service received, not the number of people who may be owed money, and they say nothing about the outcome of any individual case. Anyone who has already complained to a lender about motor finance commission and is unhappy with the response can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to consumers. There are deadlines for doing so, including the six-month limit that normally runs from a firm's final response, set out in the time limits guide. The service publishes separate information on how long it takes and on how much compensation it can award.

The fall in commission complaints follows a period of unusually high volumes, and the service says it expects fewer cases in the coming months as representatives bring better-evidenced complaints¹. Households with an existing complaint are unaffected by the quarterly totals, which describe new cases only. The wider context of the commission issue, including how redress has been discussed, is covered in the guide to the motor finance redress scheme. Consumers who want to complain directly rather than through a representative can find the process in complaining about a lender or finance company, and those considering using a paid representative can read about using a claims firm for a car finance commission claim.

What happens next

The service said it anticipates fewer cases in the next few months as professional representatives bring better-evidenced complaints¹. It also referred to a joint consultation with the Financial Conduct Authority on further measures to modernise its service¹. No date for the next quarterly complaints publication is given in the data.