The FCA has fined Volkswagen Monetary Providers UK (Volkswagen Finance) £5,397,600 for ‘failing to treat its customers in financial difficulty fairly’. This problem was uncovered through the FCA’s supervisory work to evaluate how lenders help debtors in problem.
Volkswagen Finance has agreed to pay over £21.5m in redress to round 110,000 clients.
Therese Chambers, Joint Government Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, mentioned: “For a lot of, a automobile is just not a pleasant to have however a necessity for work or for household life. Volkswagen Finance made robust private conditions worse by failing to think about what these in problem may want.
“It is right it compensates those who suffered. This fine and redress should send clear signals to lenders that they need to properly support those in financial difficulty.”
Between 1 January 2017 and 31 July 2023, Volkswagen Finance failed to know clients’ particular person circumstances or to supply help tailor-made to their wants.
These failings had been ‘compounded by poor templated and automated communications’.
The FCA’s work resulted in Volkswagen Finance organising a redress scheme. It has made enhancements to its coaching for customer support workers and communications and launched a brand new debt collections mannequin.
