Martin Lewis explains how drivers could receive compensation as car finance decision looms

Martin Lewis has explained how motorists affected by today’s car finance compensation ruling could finally receive their compensation payouts. The Supreme Court will rule whether to uphold or reject a Court of Appeal decision around car finance discretionary commission arrangements this afternoon.

If upheld, lenders may have to pay out an eye–watering £44billion compensation bill to motorists, with some banks reportedly already stockpiling money. However, even if the Supreme Court rejects the Court of Appeal ruling in part or in full, motorists will still likely receive some compensation through the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) previous ruling. Many individuals who already believed they were affected have already logged a complaint with their lender.

However, Martin Lewis has confirmed this is likely to be no longer necessary with firms likely to be told to pay out to mis-sold "automatically".

Speaking to the BBC, Martin said: "Discretionary commission arrangement cases will still go ahead via the regulator as they planned to and they could even launch a system where people don’t have to apply to get their money back if they were mis-sold. It might just tell firms they need to pay out automatically."

This suggests that it is now more likely that firms will be asked to proactively contact affected road users if they are due any compensation. However, submitting a complaint may be necessary for anyone caught up in the scandal who has moved house or changed details since they took out the vehicle.

The Money Saving Expert website previously warned: "The regulator (The FCA) has put out a statement saying it will consult on 'an industry-wide redress scheme'. Now, 'consult' is mostly technical, this really means it's made up its mind.

"It is considering a Section 404 redress scheme that will require lenders to proactively contact all borrowers who met the mis-selling criteria, and offer them a fixed redress based on FCA rules.

"Therefore, people won't need to complain, they will be paid out an amount dictated by the FCA to firms based on the consumer's situation."

The FCA has previously confirmed it would announce details of a compensation scheme within six weeks of the latest judgement.

However, Martin Lewis has warned against motorists using no-win, no-fee claims firms in a bid to secure their compensation. He warned that these agencies can take a cut of up to 36% of anything road users receive in a secondary blow.