Question Time: I got £5k back after calling the pod! Can I move a loan to a 0% card? Claim car finance comp for dead relative?

In our Question Time podcast, Martin Lewis gives you answers on anything and everything, including: can I shift a £15,000 loan to a 0% credit card to cut costs? How do I find any car finance agreements my deceased father had so we can reclaim them for my step-mum? Can I trick the bank into thinking I’m a higher earner to get £500 for free? We have a huge success, where one call to this podcast got our caller £5,000 back! Plus, we reveal what we’re going to call you if you ask a question or come on the podcast. What is it? You’ll have to listen to find out, of course! If you want to ask Martin a question, you now can! His Question Time podcast lets you ask Martin absolutely anything and everything (within reason!). So, if you’ve always wanted to know his ideal bathwater temperature, the highest note he can sing, or have a very complicated question about your finances, email it to [email protected] mailto:[email protected].

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

• 0:10Speaker 01

  Welcome to The Haunted Library.

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  Join me, Colin Morgan, as I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A story of science and ambition, loneliness and longing, and what it truly means to be human.

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  Listen to The Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts, or find us on YouTube.

• 0:39Martin Lewis?

  I love a loophole. I'm a big loophole fan.

• 0:42Speaker 03

  It was obviously beyond what we'd expected, so thanks again.

• 0:45Martin Lewis?

  It isn't as quick and it isn't as simple, but it absolutely is doable. Oh, just before we get into that, I think the answer is it would be a struggle. There's a little behind the scenes of the podcast. MPC and ESQ. We're going to reveal that at the end. Hello and welcome to the cunningly named The Martin Lewis Podcast. I do wonder what that's going to be about. And this is our question time edition, where you get to ask me your questions on absolutely anything and everything, open brackets within reason, close brackets. And this week, you ask me, can I shift a £15,000 loan to a 0% credit cards in order to cut my costs? Then we go on to a big success. Just one phone call to this podcast and he got back £5,000.

• 1:29Martin Lewis?

  Then, how do I find out what car finance agreements my deceased father had so we can reclaim for him? And finally, can I trick the bank into thinking I'm a higher earner in order to get them to give me a free £500? Play the theme tune.

• 1:59Martin Lewis?

  Hello and welcome to this Question Time edition of the podcast. Now, I know many of our listeners have a weight problem. They just can't wait for the man I'm about to introduce. Yes, it's Professor, Sir, Doctor Matthew Burnham Esquire, our podcast producer, the curator of questions himself. Hello, Matt.

• 2:20Speaker 04

  Hello. Thank you very much for that.

• 2:22Martin Lewis?

  You like the big intro, don't you?

• 2:23Speaker 04

  I love the big intro.

• 2:23Martin Lewis?

  Can we just say, as I should always say legally, Matt only has those titles within the canon of the Question Time podcast. He hasn't actually earned any of those titles.

• 2:33Speaker 04

  Literally none of them.

• 2:34Martin Lewis?

  Literally none of them, but he still gets called them here anyway. And we're delighted to have you. It is Matt who you need to butter up if you want your question to be asked. Because it is he who decides what questions are going to be asked. Although, to be fair, I've heard you're taking some weeks off.

• 2:48Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm taking...

• 2:49Martin Lewis?

  I think they call that dereliction of duty.

• 2:50Speaker 04

  A few, yes.

• 2:52Martin Lewis?

  You might have to lose a title or two.

• 2:53Speaker 04

  No, definitely not. If anything, I should gain them when I come back.

• 2:56Martin Lewis?

  I'm not sure how that works in any way. But many of you will know, last week, we told you that we're giving you the choice of what our contributors to the podcast would be known on as from going on in future. And we'd be launching the new badge that anyone who calls up gives. Matt, don't tell us the answer, we'll do the answer at the end. How many votes have we had?

• 3:16Speaker 04

  We have had, drumroll please, 176 votes.

• 3:25Martin Lewis?

  That's not bad, actually, because we did just ask people to email in.

• 3:27Speaker 04

  Yeah, and we've only given them a few days as well.

• 3:29Martin Lewis?

  I know, and my daughter wanted to email in because she was very into this. So if it's a tie, she gets the casting vote. Is it a tie?

• 3:36Speaker 04

  It's not.

• 3:37Martin Lewis?

  Okay.

• 3:37Speaker 04

  Not by a long shot.

• 3:40Martin Lewis?

  Oh, there's a dominant winner. The choice was between MPC, Martin's Podcast contributors, also the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, and ESQ, Extremely Savvy Questioners, which will be known as Esquires. That was the choice that you've got. We're going to reveal that at the end. Let's get on and do some proper stuff with the first question.

• 3:59Speaker 04

  Okay, we'll start with a question from Arvind. They've emailed in to [email protected]. Dear Martin.

• 4:08Martin Lewis?

  Not even Dear Martin, Matt. By the way, Dear Martin is allowed. You're not in trouble if you do that with me.

• 4:13Speaker 04

  No.

• 4:14Martin Lewis?

  Matt does have a little droopy face that happens if you don't say, and Matt as well at the end.

• 4:17Speaker 04

  Mm hmm. Arvin says, I have a £15,000 loan at 5.6%. Can I take out a 0% credit card and pay it off?

• 4:27Martin Lewis?

  Okay. I think technically there is a way that you could potentially do this, but I think it is going to be very difficult to do in practice. For a number of different reasons. The first is that £15,000 credit limit on a credit card would be quite difficult to obtain. You need to have a pretty high income and a very good credit score to do it. The fact you've already got a £15,000 loan when you're applying will make that more difficult unless you're on a very high income. So ultimately you might be looking at needing a number of different credit cards in order to do it. And you're stymied in that because we then have to look at how do you get the debt from the loan onto the credit card?

• 5:07Martin Lewis?

  You can't do a normal balance transfer, which is where you shift the debt from an existing credit or store card onto a credit card with a loan. You could get really clever and get a 0% for purchases card. Then do all your normal spending on your purchases card, which would lead money building up into your bank account that you then pay the bank account, then pay the loan off with so that the debt is all on the credit card instead, but that would take a very long time for £15,000. So that was almost a theoretical option that I'm ruling out. Which leaves us the main route, which is what is known as a money transfer card. A money transfer card, and they are very rare, is a credit card

• 5:45Martin Lewis?

  that allows you to pay money directly into your bank account and then owe the card at 0% instead. You could then, of course, use the money in your bank account to pay off the loan. Tesco Bank has one, Virgin Money has one. Tesco Bank is 14 months 0%, Virgin Money 12 months 0%. So you can hear that the money transfer 0% lengths are much shorter than on a balance transfer where you might get three years, 36 or 38 months. So you'd have to be paying it off very quickly and you're going to struggle with the credit limit and the fee is normally about 4%. Now, just to get really nerdy, if you have a fee of 3 or 4% on a 36 months 0% card,

• 6:27Martin Lewis?

  well, it's sort of depreciating over three years, you know, you spread that cost over three years, so it's not that big a transaction cost. But a 4% fee on a 12 months 0% card is actually quite hefty. So in practice, I think the answer is no. If you have the ability to overpay parts of the loan, you could shift some of it onto a 0% card and that might be more efficient. Let's say you've got a £3,000 credit limit, you shift some of it onto a 0% card for a year, you pay off the 0% card within a year, making sure you make at least minimum payments each month, then you'd have shifted some of the debt to 0% and that's more feasible. But it is also remembering, I told you it was technically tricky, it's also worth remembering

• 7:08Martin Lewis?

  that when you pay off or part pay a loan, there can be redemption penalties. They tend not to be that big, but you would have to calculate if factoring in the redemption penalties and the money transfer fee, it was actually worth doing. So I think the honest answer, unless you're really financially sophisticated and have understood all this quite easily and know what I'm talking about, 5.6% is not that hefty for a £15,000 loan. I mean, you wouldn't, it would be very difficult to get one much cheaper. So I think the answer is it would be a struggle and you're probably better off staying where you are and overpaying, if you're allowed to overpay that loan, it's worth checking out if you've got spare money, overpaying the loan to get rid of the debt more quickly,

• 7:51Martin Lewis?

  or putting a little bit on a money transfer credit card. But it is quite a complicated thing to do, so a lot of caution in there. Did that make sense, Matt?

• 7:59Speaker 04

  Yes, I mean, you lost me halfway through, but I got it. I understand.

• 8:03Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, it is a technical answer and, you know, I have to give a full and fair answer to make sure that Arvind understands what he's doing. And I would say, anyone listening and thinking of doing that, listen to it back again and then go and do your reading on reputable sites about how money transfer cards work, because you really need to understand the process.

• 8:26Martin Lewis?

  Matt, second question in the programme is normally a caller.

• 8:30Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 8:31Martin Lewis?

  Are we playing standard format straight back today?

• 8:34Speaker 04

  Yes, kind of. A caller, yes, but with a success. And we've already spoken to him on the podcast before.

• 8:42Martin Lewis?

  I know. So now, now, this is, oh, just before we get into that, I said last week that because you're now going to be giving badges out to callers, this week was the first time that a caller who's been on the show gets a badge.

• 8:56Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 8:57Martin Lewis?

  Correct?

• 8:57Speaker 04

  Correct.

• 8:58Martin Lewis?

  Although the badges are not made yet, so they're going to have to wait.

• 9:00Speaker 04

  No.

• 9:00Martin Lewis?

  So this is our first, and he has been on the podcast before, this is our first badge recipient.

• 9:07Speaker 04

  Yes. Mark in Northumberland.

• 9:10Martin Lewis?

  Mark, are you excited you're going to get the first, you're the first recipient of our badge, which we haven't yet announced what the badge will be, but there's going to be a badge.

• 9:18Speaker 03

  Oh, wow. I can't believe it. Number one. Number one.

• 9:22Martin Lewis?

  Yeah. You are number one. I mean, you're a winner. I mean, frankly, that's your bucket list done, isn't it?

• 9:28Speaker 03

  I'm a winner all around here.

• 9:30Martin Lewis?

  Your bucket list just said, I want a badge from the Martin Lewis Question Time podcast. Once that's done, you could retire, feet up, the whole thing. Well done, mate. Congratulations.

• 9:39Speaker 03

  I'm going to have to get a frame for it and put number one next to it.

• 9:42Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 9:43Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 9:44Speaker 04

  Two-time podcast appearance and a badge, first badge recipient.

• 9:48Martin Lewis?

  By the way, I know we should be answering the question, but we are going to have to come up with a policy that if we had given him a badge last time, would he get a second badge for coming on again?

• 9:57Speaker 04

  I think it's a limit of one badge per person. You don't need two badges. They're the same thing.

• 10:01Speaker 03

  Is it not a gold badge? Do I not get a gold badge?

• 10:02Martin Lewis?

  Well, you had an argument. If you came on 10 times, maybe there's a gold badge. Shall we get on with this?

• 10:07Speaker 04

  Yes. So it's your success, isn't it, Mark?

• 10:11Speaker 03

  It is, yes. Martin, we spoke in January. I gave you, I called and asked a question because I'd made a section 75 claim.

• 10:21Martin Lewis?

  Are you bust builder?

• 10:23Speaker 03

  Yes. That's right. Yeah, yes.

• 10:26Martin Lewis?

  Yes, that's about your builder went bust. It's not about some, you're not trying to enlarge your chest, yes.

• 10:32Speaker 03

  No, definitely not. So, yeah, it went bust and we owed about seven and a half thousand pounds. And we'd had the section 75 was rejected.

• 10:41Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 10:41Speaker 03

  So it was really a cry for help in January. And you suggested as a last resort to try chargeback because about 5,000 of that seven and a half thousand was paid by credit card.

• 10:52Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, I remember.

• 10:53Speaker 03

  So I raised that with, it was M and S Bank. I raised that, that was the same day as the call. And filled the form out, gave them the evidence and within about 24 hours they said, yes.

• 11:03Martin Lewis?

  Wow.

• 11:04Speaker 03

  You've got a valid, you've got a valid claim.

• 11:07Martin Lewis?

  I've got goosebumps. I promise you, I genuinely have goosebumps. I'm so pleased to hear it. Cause it was, it was, it was my last thing scraping the bottom of the barrel that I could think of. Brilliant.

• 11:16Speaker 03

  It was, it was a last chance and what they actually, I didn't, didn't realise I did this, but they actually recredited the money. The same day.

• 11:25Speaker 03

  But you, you, I didn't know this either, but it has to go through Mastercard and you've got to wait 60 days before you can get it.

• 11:31Martin Lewis?

  Because, just to explain to people, so the way a process, a chargeback process works. It's actually, it's your card company or bank in this case. Asking the, the vendor, the, the firm's card company or bank. To, for a reimbursement because you did not receive the, the service. So there has to be time for the other people to put in an objection.

• 11:53Speaker 03

  Yes, and they did. They objected after about four weeks.

• 11:58Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 11:58Speaker 03

  But to their credit, M and S fought my corner and it, it was successfully challenged and I got a call. So I got an email a few days ago to say it had all been successful. It was all complete and they sent the money through.

• 12:15Martin Lewis?

  Oh, wonderful. I'm so pleased.

• 12:17Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's not everything that we had, but it was better than the nothing that we thought we were going to get.

• 12:22Martin Lewis?

  Five grand, five grand. You've got to look at it from that perspective, haven't you? Not what you lost. Cause you'd lost everything and this way you've got five grand of it back. I'm so pleased.

• 12:30Speaker 03

  Yeah. And so it was a big thank you from us, you know, for the, for the help. And also, well, M and S as well, they actually gave us an additional £250 in apology. Because they said they should have also told me about chargeback as well. So, so they'd, they'd missed out on that, but, but you, you caught it. So.

• 12:49Martin Lewis?

  I, well.

• 12:49Speaker 03

  I'm so fantastic.

• 12:50Martin Lewis?

  I am genuinely smiling. I love this. Why I do it, right? And absolutely wonderful. I'm just gonna, I'm just going for, for everyone listening, just want to just do a little, get a bit technical nerdy, because I think this is interesting. So you, section 75 that Mark was talking about is where if you buy something on a credit card that costs between £100 and £30,000, the credit card company is jointly liable with the retailer. So if the company goes bust, you can go to the credit card company for it. If I remember, in your case, it was over 30 grand, wasn't it?

• 13:22Speaker 03

  It was, but I was trying to argue because there was distinct stage payments in there. And but that they didn't, they didn't accept.

• 13:30Martin Lewis?

  So you could have gone to the ombudsman with that. But I'd said, I think if I remember rightly at the time, I said, I thought it was unlikely the ombudsman would award because there's a hard rule over 30,000 and you were, your transaction was over 30,000 for your building.

• 13:43Speaker 03

  Well, I did it as well, and you were right. The ombudsman rejected it. I had to try everything.

• 13:49Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, quite right. But now, what's really interesting, now, section 75 is much meatier than chargeback because it's a legal right. Chargeback is a sort of a term and condition of Visa, Mastercard or Amex, sort of like as an internal dispute resolution process as opposed to a law. But actually, if you have a chance at a chargeback, they tend to be in some cases more successful because you, if it's section 75, and if you had, let's say you had a case with section 75, M&S Bank would have had to pay, and it might have tried to fight you because it doesn't want to pay. But if you're doing

• 14:31Martin Lewis?

  a chargeback, M&S Bank suddenly becomes your agent on your side because it's going, well, actually, he's probably got a case for a section 75 if he doesn't do a chargeback. But we'd far prefer that he does a chargeback because then he gets the money, money off the vendor's bank rather than off ours, and we don't have to pay out. So there's an argument that chargeback is in the interest of your card or bank to do because they're not the ones shelling out. So often, if you have both cases, what you should always do is you should put in a note, right, this is, you've done this, I know you, Mark, I know you've done yours, but just for everyone. If you do, I would probably start with a chargeback, but say, if the chargeback doesn't work, I reserve the right to do a section 75, you know, and put that in. And I want to put a note that I would like you to try both.

• 15:16Martin Lewis?

  And that way, you actually give them a sort of a vested interest in helping you, which is exactly what happened in this case. And I am delighted. So are you, how did you get with the building work? Did, did they half do it, do I remember?

• 15:27Speaker 03

  They made a start they hadn't done very much, so we've just been waiting really to, you know, to get the outcome of this before we could restart it. So we're just about to get going again. So the job is back on.

• 15:40Martin Lewis?

  Great stuff. I wish you all joy and happiness with it. And thank you so much for getting back in touch. We love a success like this. It's brilliant. Thank you.

• 15:46Speaker 03

  I had to. I had to say thank you because it was obviously beyond what we'd expected. So, so thanks again.

• 15:53Martin Lewis?

  My pleasure. Thank you for calling. And you look forward to your badge. I mean, 5,000 is one thing. I mean, 5,000. People get money all the time, but I mean, the badge, surely, surely that trumps it. A badge, 250 from M&S. I mean, we want your luck.

• 16:08Martin Lewis?

  Cheers, Matt.

• 16:09Speaker 03

  All right. Thank you. Bye bye.

• 16:11Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 16:11Martin Lewis?

  Matt, I do not think we could have had a better caller to get our first badge. I mean, it was absolutely, Rosie's saying yes in the background. It was absolutely right.

• 16:21Speaker 04

  Honestly, just listening to that, I was beaming.

• 16:24Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 16:25Speaker 04

  I was so happy.

• 16:26Martin Lewis?

  Wonderful. Right. What we've got next?

• 16:30Speaker 04

  I have a question from Chris.

• 16:32Martin Lewis?

  It's a read. Question three. It's a read.

• 16:34Speaker 04

  He starts, Dear Martin and Matt.

• 16:35Martin Lewis?

  I wonder what people think when I say that each time. I'm getting.

• 16:38Speaker 04

  What, a read?

• 16:39Martin Lewis?

  Well, yeah, I'm saying, no, but more that, should we just stop saying what it's going to be next? Is it very obvious? Because I say it each, I don't know. It's a good podcast. It's enjoyable listening. Just ask the question.

• 16:49Speaker 04

  I think you're thinking too much into it. Right.

• 16:51Martin Lewis?

  It's literally my job to overthink. It's literally why I'm here. Anyway.

• 16:55Speaker 04

  Chris's question. Starting with Dear Martin and Matt.

• 16:59Martin Lewis?

  Nice. Well done. Well done, Chris. Matt's got, I can't, we're not in the same, have you got a little smile on for that?

• 17:04Speaker 04

  A little smile. I've just accepted it. I'm glad he mentioned me.

• 17:07Martin Lewis?

  Exactly. And I, as I say, I think that's right.

• 17:09Speaker 04

  Yes, you do.

• 17:10Martin Lewis?

  And by the way, just to say, if you want to, you know, we're here for saving anything. If you want to save characters, we're fine with an ampersand as well as an M.

• 17:17Speaker 04

  Oh, yeah. We do like an M and M.

• 17:18Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 17:19Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 17:19Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 17:19Speaker 04

  He says, I've seen the Lloyds Premier account bank switch of £500 with a minimum pay in of £5,000 a month.

• 17:27Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 17:28Speaker 04

  Could either of the possible loopholes below work, or do they need to see a minimum £5,000 go directly from your employer into the account? So could you switch an account? With the three or more direct debits as requested, then either one pay in, say a thousand pounds, withdraw it, then deposit again five times to hit this criteria, or transfer five thousand pounds from an ISA to hit the criteria each month, then withdraw back to the ISA and repeat to still fulfil the criteria each month. And he also says, "Thank you for the time, guidance and support you've given everyone."

• 18:03Martin Lewis?

  Oh, well, thank you very much for that, Chris. Short answer, I don't think it'll work. Long answer, I often have actually suggested that mode for normal bank accounts, where let's say you have to have an income of twenty thousand pounds effectively, or have fifteen hundred pounds going in a month, that if you're just below it, let's say there's a minimum criteria of fifteen hundred pounds income, and you've got income of thirteen hundred pounds, that what you could do is have your thirteen hundred pounds going in from your salary, then take that out and put it back in again. And therefore that'll hit your fifteen hundred pounds trigger. And on most normal bank accounts, that will be absolutely fine. Premier accounts, which are designed and designated for high earners, and the reason they're paying, you know, and there are about three or four of them at the moment,

• 18:48Martin Lewis?

  paying hundreds of pounds, four, five hundred pounds to switch. The reason they do that is, of course, they want to buy your custom and cross-sell you other products, and that's really quite important to them. They tend to have stricter processes and stricter monitoring. So it's much more difficult. Now, I think if you were saying to me, "I earn four thousand eight hundred pounds take-home after-tax a month, could I top it up with an extra two hundred pounds?" I think there's a chance you might get away with it.

• 19:19Martin Lewis?

  If you're saying to me, "I earn two thousand five hundred pounds take-home in a month, can I play with the rest of it to get myself up there?", I think they will spot it. It's worth saying that I believe that when you apply to Lloyds for the Premier account that gives you the five hundred pound three for switching and the other perks, it asks you to confirm that you can pay in at least five grand a month or have a hundred thousand pounds saved or invested with Lloyds. So you actually, first of all, you're making a declaration and always on a financial form, do not lie. Never lie, because it can arguably be fraud. And on top of that, I believe, and this isn't 100% confirmation, but this is my sort of generalised knowledge of how these type of things work, that they will be monitoring.

• 20:01Martin Lewis?

  And if they can see that the account isn't suitable and you're not meeting the criteria, you know, if you're putting a thousand pounds in, taking a thousand pounds out, putting a thousand pounds in, taking a thousand pounds out, and you do that five times, I think they would spot it relatively quickly, within a few months, and they would get in touch and say, we don't think this is the right account for you. Whether or not they would ask for the £500 back, I don't know, but I think they would have a strong case for doing so. So while I love a loophole, Chris, I love a loophole, I'm a big loophole fan. I started my career by finding loopholes and that was the way I started. I think this is perhaps a loophole too far. That phrase doesn't work. What would be a good phrase? A loophole too far? A loophole too big? I don't know. But anyway, I don't think it will work.

• 20:49Martin Lewis?

  Are you sitting there thinking, oh, I know what I wanted to ask him? Well, this is your opportunity. If you've got a question, then just send them in to [email protected]. And please do start them, Dear Martin.

• 21:03Speaker 04

  No, Dear Matt.

• 21:04Martin Lewis?

  Dear Martin.

• 21:05Speaker 04

  Dear Matt.

• 21:08Martin Lewis?

  Now, Matt, I'm styling it out. I've been doing the whole programme on me trying to guess whether it's a caller or a read. And so I'm going to continue to do so. And I'm saying evens, because this is question number four, is a caller.

• 21:21Speaker 04

  Close. So it's a question from Jonathan. I asked him if he could come on. He wasn't available, but he has sent us a voice note.

• 21:30Martin Lewis?

  75% of a caller. I think I get 75% right. Because a voice note is basically a caller.

• 21:35Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 21:36Martin Lewis?

  Oh, hold on, hold on, hold. Before you play, we haven't catered for this in our badges scenario.

• 21:42Speaker 04

  Does Jonathan get a badge?

• 21:43Martin Lewis?

  Does Jonathan get a badge? Is a voice note, is a voice note a caller for badge purposes?

• 21:47Speaker 04

  Would you say that because his voice has been on it?

• 21:50Martin Lewis?

  I actually am going to say, and I think, do you know what? I know you're the producer, so ultimately, this is something that you asked our editor, Tom, if you're allowed, I'm going to make, I think, do a voice note, you get a badge. Yeah. Your voice has been on it. Exactly. That's right. Let's, let's check with, with, you know, the bastion of all things moral. Rosie, nodding. Rosie's nodding. Excellent. Rosie's sitting next to me in the studio is nodding. I said in the other week, if you didn't know who Rosie was, I'd tell you in the future, I should tell you. Rosie is my researcher who works with me on everything. She's absolutely brilliant and very clever. And Rosie sits here, because we're doing so many different subjects and I'm answering off the top of my head. She basically sits here to listen and sort of live fact check me. So she can say at the end, you said this and it's not that. And I often roll my eyes at her, but I'm very, very

• 22:35Martin Lewis?

  grateful that she does it. So that's where, that's who Rosie is, if you don't know. But Rosie, I like the fact Rosie has that mystique. She's here, she's spoken about, but you never get to hear her. She's laughing at that. Right. So go on, play the voice note.

• 22:51Speaker 05

  Hello, Martin and Matt. My name is Jonathan from Portsmouth, and I was inquiring over how you would recommend going about making a car finance claim for a disticed estate. My father passed about five years ago, and I'm hoping to help my step mum make an application on his behalf for some credit agreements that we're fairly sure he will have had under those provisions. I just wanted to sort of get your feedback. We attempted the free Equifax file as you suggested. It didn't quite work in setting it up, and just wanted to grab some advice on how you would suggest going about that.

• 23:27Martin Lewis?

  What an interesting question. Thank you so much. And I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your father, but well done for helping your stepmother out on this. Yes. So let's start with the primary point. Under the FCA's mass redress scheme, you, if you had a car finance deal, specifically a PCP or HP deal between April 2007 and November 2024, then you may well have been mis-sold and 12 million agreements are believed to. The only way to find out if you've been mis-sold is to put in a complaint. But to put in a complaint, you will need to know at least the details of your car finance agreement. Now, it is absolutely plain that if somebody has passed away. Then their primary beneficiary or the executor of their estate is able to put in a claim on their behalf.

• 24:12Martin Lewis?

  So the question you're asking Jonathan is absolutely a legitimate question. And what you're talking about is really quite interesting because under the FCA's mass redress scheme, they will have to seek out people who have been mis-sold. So not only is it if you've complained, although it's always better to complain because the process is simpler and quicker if you complain and there's no issue of whether they find your details or not, but even if you haven't complained, they will have to seek out people who've been mis-sold. My concern is if someone's passed away and has been mis-sold, then for obvious reasons be difficulty in contacting them and finding out who the primary beneficiary is. So I would strongly suggest that if you're in that situation, you want to put a complaint is.

• 24:56Martin Lewis?

  But just as you're asking, and I know Jonathan knows all this, but I'm just, I'm doing it for everybody else as well, that you want to find out your car finance details, but you are right, the normal process for people to put in a complaint, if they don't have finance details, is you go to the Equifax app, it's the free part of the app, you do not need to pay. If you're paying, you haven't got it right and there's a car finance button, then it will tell you all the past car finance agreements that it's aware you had. It's not completely exhaustive because not everyone would have been on there, but I'm getting a lot of great feedback from it. And then you can go to one of the free DIY complaint tools that are available online. I can't give out where I would suggest you do because I'm not allowed to say, which you could probably therefore work out for yourself, where my view is of the free complaint tools, but there we go.

• 25:41Martin Lewis?

  And you don't need to pay anyone to do it. So what do you do in your case? Equifax says, because clearly it's very difficult to do a direct data recognition of is this person entitled to the data, so you can't sign up. How do we know? I could go and sign up and say I'm doing it on behalf of somebody who's passed away. So it makes it all the more difficult. You can't do it directly via the app, but they have says that executors and primary beneficiaries should contact Equifax by phone or letter or preferably

• 26:15Martin Lewis?

  An online help account, which is equifax.co.uk/ask. Because and then they will require a copy of the death certificate, documents confirming the name of the executor and various other ID that proves that you are the legit person to be asking and doing this. And then they can provide you with the information. So it isn't as quick and it isn't as simple, but it absolutely is doable. And I, we had that question from you in the past. And I actually, I asked Matt to hold it because I wanted to do some checking on how you did it. Thank you very much for giving, for asking the question. Thanks. So that I've now done the checking and I'm going to put that detail out in more places. So other people are going to be able to find out what to do on the back of your question.

• 26:58Martin Lewis?

  So Jonathan, thank you very much, and I hope it answers it fully. Please do let me know how easy you find it because you're, you're my, my guinea pig case study in a nice way.

• 27:08Martin Lewis?

  Okay. So Matt, normally this is the point you do the funny. Are we doing the funny this week or are we going straight into Esquire versus MPC, who are, contributions, name is?

• 27:16Speaker 04

  So I've just gone into our inbox to have a look at the votes and I found an email from Scott. He's emailed, he says, hi, Matt and Martin slash Martin and Matt. So he's gone for both. I think he's tried to cover both cases.

• 27:30Martin Lewis?

  He's hedging his bets.

• 27:31Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, fair enough. He says, love the pod. Is the end of the pod sign off argument a pre-recorded insert? Or is it a fresh argument that we do each recording?

• 27:40Martin Lewis?

  So we have a standard one that we play in the middle, which is the Matt and Martin thing. And that's, that's a standard record, isn't it, Matt?

• 27:49Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 27:50Martin Lewis?

  We've got that because once Matt's putting the pod together, I mean, you should probably answer this more than me. Once Matt's putting the pod together, sometimes we feel that we need that as a break and it's quite good to remind. And so Matt can do that without us having to pre-plan it. He's sort of got that on tap.

• 28:02Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 28:03Martin Lewis?

  But the one at the very end, we, I record the intro and the outro, which is what we call them, of the pod each week. And, and so yes, that, that is generally a fresh one, isn't it?

• 28:15Speaker 04

  And it is off the cuff as well. We don't, we don't decide what we're going to do when we do it. We just.

• 28:19Martin Lewis?

  And if you listen to the big topic podcast, where I always end that one by sort of having a go at people who. Don't like the pod but have managed to listen for an hour and so that is also off the cuff and Matt will know when I record it sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But that's the joy of a podcast as opposed to live radio because you can have a go, see if it works and then if you both afterwards go, I'm not sure that worked, we just don't put it in because therefore we can sound more polished and brilliant.

• 28:49Speaker 04

  There you go.

• 28:50Martin Lewis?

  Almost everything I do is live, so it's great for me to have a little bit polished in this pod.

• 28:54Speaker 04

  Absolutely, there's a little behind the scenes of the podcast.

• 28:56Martin Lewis?

  Yeah.

• 28:59Martin Lewis?

  Now, Matt, well, how are we going to do this? I don't, I do not know what the winner is, whether it's, whether what we're going to call our contributors is monetary policy, MPCs or ESQs, Esquires. I mean, this, this is big.

• 29:14Speaker 04

  Yeah, it is big.

• 29:14Martin Lewis?

  Have we done a press release?

• 29:15Speaker 04

  We haven't got it prepped yet. I think Rosie's in the process as we speak.

• 29:20Martin Lewis?

  Can we have words with the BBC 10 o'clock news?

• 29:22Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 29:23Martin Lewis?

  And maybe, I just think maybe, I mean, I don't want to go over the top, it shouldn't be first. I mean, it shouldn't be first on the news.

• 29:29Speaker 04

  No.

• 29:29Martin Lewis?

  You know, but maybe that and finally bit.

• 29:32Speaker 04

  Hmm, I could see Fiona Bruce reading it out and just to let you know.

• 29:35Martin Lewis?

  Clive, Clive, maybe, Clive. And finally, it's been announced that the name of contributors on the Martin Lewis podcast brackets question time edition close back that Martin presents with Matt is.

• 29:47Speaker 04

  And then a big drum roll.

• 29:48Martin Lewis?

  And a big drum roll.

• 29:49Speaker 04

  Maybe some confetti on the set.

• 29:50Martin Lewis?

  Oh, you know how they used to, do they still do the lottery programme? I don't think they do, do they?

• 29:54Speaker 04

  I don't think so.

• 29:55Martin Lewis?

  We could just have a special one-off like lottery programme, five minutes to announce it. Or shall we just tell us, tell us what the winner is?

• 30:01Speaker 04

  I think we should just tell us. So should we just do a quick background if you haven't, if you don't know?

• 30:05Martin Lewis?

  I think they've got it.

• 30:06Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 30:06Martin Lewis?

  We asked, we asked for your suggestions. We asked for everybody's suggestions, right? And we, in X Factor style, i.e. we dictated and got rid of all the ones we didn't like so that we didn't have to be called them, so that we would be happy with whatever you picked.

• 30:20Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 30:20Martin Lewis?

  We narrowed it down to two, based purely on our own selfish concerns.

• 30:25Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 30:25Martin Lewis?

  But there is some jeopardy involved in this because of the two options, ESQs was suggested by Steve, listener Steve.

• 30:34Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 30:35Martin Lewis?

  But MPC was suggested by podcast producer Simon.

• 30:39Martin Lewis?

  Who produces the big topic podcast that we do with Adrian on a Thursday? Yes. So of course, that's slightly threatening to Matt's dominance within the Question Time podcast. Matt is also going to be letting Simon in because Simon will be producing while Matt's taking those few weeks off. That's your own issue, Matt. That's your own issue. So Matt clearly favours ESQs, but we've got NPCs in there. Yep. Matt, do I have to call for an independent audit of the, or, you know, hand on heart?

• 31:10Speaker 04

  Hand on heart.

• 31:11Martin Lewis?

  Hand on heart.

• 31:12Speaker 04

  Cross my heart.

• 31:12Martin Lewis?

  I could send Rosie in.

• 31:14Speaker 04

  I have gone through and every email I've ticked off.

• 31:18Martin Lewis?

  Okay.

• 31:19Speaker 04

  So I can see that I've counted the vote. I have a tally chart on a spreadsheet. It's counted it up for me. Like, I've got my hand in the air.

• 31:27Martin Lewis?

  Rosie, let me just check. Rosie, do we trust Matt's counting? Rosie trusts you, Matt, so I trust you.

• 31:31Speaker 04

  Perfect. Do you want me to reveal the?

• 31:34Martin Lewis?

  Okay, yeah, yeah.

• 31:35Speaker 04

  Okay, so we had 176 votes as of starting.

• 31:39Martin Lewis?

  Via email.

• 31:40Speaker 04

  Via email as of starting the recording of this podcast.

• 31:43Martin Lewis?

  Yeah, and which is actually quite a lot for the method we chose. We didn't make it easy. You had to email in.

• 31:48Speaker 04

  Yeah. Um, so the runner up with 66 of the votes.

• 31:56Martin Lewis?

  Just telling you, you can't do this. You can say the vote number and if you do the runner up, we all know who the winner is. So, but you want to give the winner the, you've got to do the winner as an announcement.

• 32:04Speaker 04

  Okay, okay.

• 32:05Martin Lewis?

  So what you do, and having done this many times, as you say, as I can now do the maths because you've just told me, the runner up got 61 votes. The winner got 115 votes. Quick maths, you see.

• 32:17Speaker 04

  Well, that's just 66.

• 32:18Martin Lewis?

  What's that?

• 32:19Speaker 04

  It was 66.

• 32:19Martin Lewis?

  Oh, it's 66. I got it all wrong. Okay, the runner up got 66 votes. The winner got 110 votes and the winner. And then you did. So you would do on the winner in. Do you want me to do that again or just do the winner in? No, no, no, keep all this in. Okay, okay, okay. Rosie's enjoying it very much, which is always a good way to tell if the listeners will. I was just saying that if you tell them what the runner-up is, you've effectively announced the winner.

• 32:40Speaker 04

  Oh, I see.

• 32:41Martin Lewis?

  But you've done it on a negative. You can't do it on a negative, you have to do it on a positive.

• 32:45Speaker 04

  What I was gonna say is, the runner-up with 66 of the votes was... and that means that our winner is...

• 32:51Martin Lewis?

  Okay, yeah, but no, because then you've done the big moment on the runner-up. Because our listeners are clever enough to work out that if you've got two options and one is runner-up, they are gonna work out straight away what the winner is. So, the proper announcing etiquette is like in a boxing match. "And in a split decision, judge so-and-such scores it 10 to 8", but they don't say who got the 10 and who got the 8. Judge so-and-such scores it, you know, they just say what the score is. So, we're gonna go from the top, but we'll keep all this in, and you're gonna announce the votes, numbers, and then you're gonna announce the winner.

• 33:28Speaker 04

  Okay.

• 33:28Martin Lewis?

  Okay. Good luck, Matt.

• 33:30Speaker 04

  Thank you.

• 33:30Martin Lewis?

  This is your big moment. This is the bit they'll cut on the 10 o'clock news.

• 33:33Speaker 04

  Yes. The runner-up got 66 votes.

• 33:36Martin Lewis?

  Ooh, did they?

• 33:37Speaker 04

  The winner got 110 votes, and the winner was Esquires.

• 33:43Martin Lewis?

  I knew it. Well done, Esquires. Matt is so happy. Aren't you happy, Matt?

• 33:48Speaker 04

  Confetti cannons are going off in the studio.

• 33:50Martin Lewis?

  Sorry, pub producer Simon, and well done. That's a great way to finish. I would like to thank all the Esquires who have been in touch this week. When we come to next week's podcast, I'm going to record a new intro, and I'm gonna write a new script intro, because the intro is scripted although we recorded, which includes explaining what Esquires is, and that's gonna be the new way we go forward. And well done to our badge holders from today. If you put a question in and are an Esquire, and podcast producer Matt gets in touch with you and says, "We'd like you to ask a question", remember, if you record it, or even better, you come on live, you get a badge. What an amazing place to finish, honestly.

• 34:31Martin Lewis?

  And that is it for this week's Question Time. Don't forget to subscribe so you know when we release a new episode. We put out a new Question Time episode each Monday alongside the Big Topic Podcast with Adrian on Thursdays. Aren't you lucky? Two doses of money-saving tips and tricks a week. Do make sure you send in your questions. You can email [email protected] and do address it to Dear Martin. Dear Matt. Dear Martin. Dear Matt. You see, we record this separately each time.

• 35:17Speaker 04

  Martin Lewis is the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com. But of course, other consumer and price comparison websites are available. You can get in touch with Martin's podcast production team by emailing [email protected]. The offers and rates mentioned in the podcast are correct at the time of recording. However, if you are listening on demand, it's worth double checking as details can date. Remember to subscribe on BBC Sounds and leave us a review however you listen.

• 35:57Speaker 01

  Welcome to The Haunted Library. Join me, Colin Morgan, as I read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A story of science and ambition, loneliness and longing, and what it truly means to be human. Listen to The Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts or find us on YouTube.