The FCA has confirmed the new complaint handling deadline limits for motor finance-related complaints.
The current pause on all motor finance complaints expires imminently, and the FCA has now confirmed that:
- there will be no extension for complaints around motor leasing agreements, as these will not be covered by any redress scheme, so firms must start sending final responses from 5 December 2025;
- the complaint handling extension for all other motor finance commission complaints, whether relating to DCAs or not, will now end on 31 May 2026. This is earlier than the end of July date the FCA originally suggested, and it says this will help to ensure consumers don’t wait any longer than necessary for a response “if we decide not to go ahead with a scheme, or if we implement a scheme with a more limited scope”.
The FCA also says that if it goes ahead with a scheme, it will align it with this date. It has written to CEOs of firms that may have been involved in motor finance lending, leasing or broking since 2007, updating them on the new deadlines, and explaining that the May 2026 date will be superseded for complaints that fall within the scheme by the deadlines set in the scheme, and that firms will have 8 weeks from the May date to respond on complaints that fall outside the scheme (or all complaints if there is no scheme – but it does say in the letter that it is “likely” there will be a scheme). The letter also notes that firms have had since October to be prepared to start responding on leasing complaints, and so the FCA expects them to have identified all relevant complaints so they can process and respond to them within the deadline. It also expects firms to carry on their preparations in relation to other complaints, and stresses that it expects firms to have got as far as they can under existing rules with all complaints.
Consumers will again have 6 months to refer a complaint to the FOS, in relation to final responses send after 29 January 2026.
The announcement also confirms that the FCA will announce whether it will go ahead with a redress scheme by the end of March.