FCA Bans Claims Management Company's Misleading Advertisements

The FCA has banned adverts which used edited, unauthorised clips of Martin Lewis to make misleading claims about average motor finance compensation and used the FCA logo without permission. The FCA said that the adverts are also clickbait-style adverts. Their tone, editing and the accompanying 'check now' directions created a false sense of urgency.

The FCA has required Conclusive Financial Ltd (Conclusive), a claims management company (CMC), which also trades as PCP Refunds, to remove its advertising and update or take down its website until it complied with the FCA's rules. Conclusive has now removed the offending ads.

The FCA was also concerned that some of the firm's adverts stated consumers would receive £1,846 on average for compensation for motor finance claims, with no explanation of how they reached this figure.

Conclusive also promoted a 'No Win, No Fee' service on its websites, without a proper explanation of the fees, including any exit fees, people would be charged. It did not tell consumers that they could make claims for free to their lender or to the Financial Ombudsman Service without the need to use a CMC.

Following the FCA's action, claims management companies have removed or amended 899 misleading adverts since January 2024.

The FCA, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the ASA and the ICO recently formed a joint taskforce, which aims to deal with poor handling of motor finance claims by some claims management companies (CMCs) and law firms, especially unsolicited and misleading advertising, meritless claims, multiple representation, and unfair exit fees.

Alison Walters, director of consumer finance at the FCA, said: 

Consumers should be wary of adverts that overpromise or give the impression they are endorsed by the FCA or well-known individuals. We will take swift action where rules are being broken. Our scheme is free and people don't have to use a CMC or law firm. If they do, it's important that they can trust them.