Not upheld: irresponsible lending complaint against Blue Motor Finance Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr B complained that Blue Motor Finance Limited provided him with a £29,995 motor finance loan in 2019 irresponsibly. The loan was repayable over 85 months with monthly repayments of £544. Mr B had existing credit of £15,000 and three previous defaults on his credit file, though the most recent was two years prior to the application. The ombudsman conducted an affordability assessment using Mr B's declared income of £4,000 per month and confirmed committed expenditure of £2,700, finding sufficient margin for the loan repayment. The ombudsman concluded that BMFL did not lend irresponsibly and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman conducted an affordability assessment using a worst-case scenario approach, including all of Mr B's committed expenditure (£2,700) against his declared income (£4,000), without including his partner's income. Based on the available evidence, there was nothing to suggest Mr B would be unable to sustainably repay the loan. The ombudsman noted that while full details of BMFL's pre-lending checks could not be verified, the credit decision itself appeared fair given the circumstances. The ombudsman also considered whether the relationship was unfair under s.140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 but found no basis for such a finding.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website