How to reclaim over £3,900 ahead of summer from mis-sold car finance to energy bills

GET extra cash in your pocket ahead of summer with our guide to reclaiming cash. 

You could be in line to get over £2,600 back – and there are some key dates to mark in your diary. 

Lucy Andrews explains what to do.

PRE-PAYMENT METER CLAIM £1,000

Tens of thousands of prepayment meter customers will get compensation and their debts written off by energy suppliers.

Ofgem has found that energy suppliers have broken rules when installing prepayment meters to collect debt.

Some £18.6 million in compensation will be paid by eight energy suppliers to at least 40,000 customers.

They are: Scottish Power, EDF, E.ON, Octopus, Utility Warehouse, Good Energy, Tru Energy and Ecotricity.

There is no need to take action – you will be contacted directly by your supplier if you are affected.

The amount you could get will vary depending on which rules were broken in your case, ranging from £40 for failures like poor record keeping, to £1,000 if you were forcibly switched.

But you should make a complaint now if you think you were treated badly. 

ENERGY BILLS CLAIM £215 

It’s normal for customers to build up energy credit during the warmer months, but ask for a refund if you’ve accrued too much.

Consider claiming your money back if you have built up more than two months’ worth of bill payments, said comparison site Uswitch.

The formula for working out how much to ask back is to look at your credit balance, and minus two months’ payments.

Energy suppliers are sitting on £3.3 billion of customer’s money, while the average customer racked up £215 in surplus credit last year, according to watchdog Ofgem.

Each company has its own refund process, so ask yours how to claim.

Get an up-to-date meter reading ready, as this will be needed in order for your supplier to process the refund. 

Claiming credit back is a good idea, otherwise you are losing out on any interest you could make on your cash. 

Put your refund in a high interest easy access savings account, so you can easily dip back into it when bills go up in the colder months.

Atom Bank offers the best rate at 4.75 per cent, according to comparison site Moneyfacts.

CAR FINANCE CLAIM £1,100

If you bought a car, van or motorbike on finance between 2008-January 28, 2021, you could be in line for a payout worth £1,100.

The Financial Conduct Authority is investigating hidden commissions earned by car dealers who negotiated deals with high interest rates for customers.

This week it issued an update on compensation. It said it could be an opt-in or opt-out redress scheme.

Opt-in means that you will need to sign up for compensation, so you could miss out if you don’t register.

Opt-out means you are automatically included, but the downside is that you could have to wait longer for your money.

The watchdog has estimated that on average, people paid £1,100 more in interest on a typical £10,000 four-year car finance.

The scandal could cost lenders as much as £16 billion, according to the consumer site Which?.

You can make a claim now by contacting the lender who you signed the finance agreement with, not the car dealer. Check your paperwork if you don’t know how your lender is.

You will have to wait for any potential payout. The Supreme Court should decide by next month what the final bill for compensation will be. 

Then, the FCA will respond in six weeks with a plan of action as to how people can get their payout.

“Consumers should expect compensation early next year,” said Alex Neill from the consumer group Consumer Voice.

TAX OVERPAYMENT CLAIM £1,562

IF you are taxed through PAYE, make some important checks to see if you have overpaid.

The average tax refund was £1,562 in 2023, according to Rift Refunds.

You might be on the wrong tax code if you changed jobs, signed up to employee benefits like a company car, or your HR department has made a mistake.

You should have recently received an important slip of paperwork, a P60, from your employer.

Check your “final tax code” on the form. If it’s wrong, then you could end up underpaying, or overpaying, tax.

The most common tax code is 1257L, which is used for most people with one job.

If this code also has W1, M1 or X on the end, you are on an emergency tax code and paying more than you should.

If you think you are on the wrong tax code, phone HMRC on 0300 200 3300 for a quick response.

If you have overpaid, you will be reimbursed and paid 3.25% interest on top.

Depending on your situation, you will either be able to claim a refund online, get a cheque in the post, or the tax will be refunded back to you through your wages.

MASTERCARD CLAIM £70

Around 47 million Mastercard customers are in line for a compensation payout of up to £70.

Make a claim if you bought anything from a shop or supermarket that accepted Mastercard between 1992 and 2008.

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has approved a settlement for Mastercard to pay £200 million to affected customers.

It was accused of wrongly slapping fees onto transactions made over a 15-year period.

Although retailers paid the fees, shoppers lost out because retailers passed the cost on by hiking prices.

You are eligible to make a claim if you bought anything from a shop or supermarket that accepted Mastercard between 1992 and 2008 – even if you didn’t use a Mastercard.

You can’t file a claim yet. An online portal is expected to launch in the next few weeks on the mastercardconsumerclaim.co.uk website. Register for updates so you’ll be notified when this is live.

Payments are expected to be made by the end of this year. The amount you could get will depend on how many people register, although it’s estimated each person could get £45 to £70.