BMW Financial Services UK Reviews 168

Serious mishandling and unlawful credit reporting by BMW Financial Services

BMW Financial Services has admitted in writing that they wrongly advised me to cancel my Direct Debit, attempted to take payment in error, and then unlawfully placed a late payment marker on my credit file — even though my account was fully settled.

They’ve since acknowledged their mistake and confirmed that the credit marker is being removed, yet they’ve offered only £250 in compensation for the reputational and financial harm caused.

As a professional lender, my credit profile is integral to my work. This error has impacted my credibility, caused unnecessary stress, and potentially cost me business opportunities. BMW’s handling of the issue has been slow, dismissive, and far below the standards expected of a regulated financial institution.

I strongly urge anyone considering BMW Financial Services to be cautious. Their internal processes and customer care are clearly failing — and even when they admit fault, they minimise the impact on the customer.

My case is now with the Financial Ombudsman Service, and I will update this review with the outcome.

My wife and I decided to renew our BMW, sadly they turned us down not because of bad credit, history or anything else financial but because her husband a retired veteran chose the car! They decided it was for him nor her? I served 14 years for my country this is how how BMW disrespect you

Requested a settlement figure and duly sent payments by recorded post. Did not hear anything. I emailed a chaser, and was informed they had not received the funds. This was incorrect, as the post was tracked. Funds took some time to be cleared, however no confirmation received from BMW FS. Made a complaint about the lack of service, but not upheld.

Does this company NOT understand that these are large sums of monies involved, and customers should be informed when these things have been processed.

FoS here we come.

Appalling service. They continued to take monthly payments for 6 months after the finance was unwound. They owe me over £1500. Only when you threaten to go to their offices in Farnborough and request a meeting with their CEO does anything seem to happen. Still waiting on the refund. Apparently be the end of this week. If not, I'll be popping down next week! Stay posted for an update on X, Twitter etc....

BMW FS UK have no concern for their customers. They slapped a default on my credit file, and when legally they should have removed it they chose not to. When raising a formal complaint with them, they did not follow their own policy, and even to date have not bothered to respond. Their conduct had a direct result on me being blocked for a mortgage 4-months longer than legally needed causing a house purchase to fall through. Use BMW FS UK at your own risk, they have no morals, if they did they'd treat their customers with respect.

They stated ‘ I can see that we have provided you with the Final Response Letter to your complaint and confirmed what is required to continue with our investigation.’

Yet I have provided this time and time again and now will take the matter to court they are cowboys!!!

Returned my 5 series back to them in March, and a month later got an amount back from them which was a lot less than it was worth, as they sold it through an auction. However, i put it down to experience, and paid the small amount left to clear the account.
Last week however, they sent me a letter from a subsidiary company of theirs, Alphera,stating I owe them a further £7800, as when they put their car through their workshop when it was returned, they claimed I had clocked it by over 50000 miles. Funny that, considering all the service and MOT history of the car showed that this was not the case, but after proving this to them, they said they cannot overrule it.
Even stranger was the car sold for less than this at auction, meaning that they get my car for free, plus another £420!
Be careful if you return a car back to them, as it sounds like they are trying to scam customers out of more money with no proof or substance whatsoever. Reading other reviews on here, it sounds I am not the first person they have tried to defraud.
Anyway I will now be filing a report to the FSA about them in the hope that they can be brought to justice.

Shawn has helped me from start to finish. A very easy process with being accepted on finance to then doing different finance for different cars.

Once we found the car we liked it only took 3 business days to have everything wrapped up.

Will be using again in future

In February 2023, I raised an initial complaint regarding a fault with the vehicle's sunroof. Although this issue was subsequently repaired and a settlement was offered, the same fault has reoccurred twice more, in October 2024 and again in June 2025. I raised another complaint in June 2025 concerning this reoccurrence. However, since then, I have experienced a significant lack of communication, multiple failed follow-ups, and overall poor handling of my concerns.

Despite several attempts to chase the status of my complaint, I was either cut off, provided with no substantial information, or informed that my complaint had not even been opened. I was then told that I needed to submit a diagnostic report, which I did via email. I was then informed they hadn't received it so I had to re-send it.

I subsequently I raised a new complaint specifically about the appalling level of customer service I had experienced. This complaint was upheld, and I was offered compensation, which I have not accepted due to the ongoing issues. I also do not understand how this complaint can be dealt with within a few days but my original complaint is still ongoing!

Since then, I have submitted further documentation and continued to chase the status of my original complaint. Despite repeated assurances that my case handler would be contacted and that my complaint from February 2023 was re-opened, I have yet to receive any formal, proactive communication from BMW Financial Services to confirm the current status or next steps.

I am honestly appalled at the Customer Service I have received and to also be told that you can not speak to a Manager because they are not Customer Facing is absolutely ludicrous!

EDIT - in response to your response, I have submitted the information you requested however to be clear the csescalations team are the team that I am having issues with and are fully aware of my complaint!

Consider this as ZERO STARS.
Absolutely terrible company. My husband had finance with them more than 6 years ago, payed EVERYTHING, NO LATE PAYMENT. Till date his credit reports shows he has current late payments; therefore messing up his credit reports and any credit application (i.e mortgage). Been chasing for this to be cleared off for more than 3 months; everyday it’s an excuse, offering £250 for the delay but not solving the issue? Never seen my husband this frustrated!! TERRIBLE AND UNPROFESSIONAL COMPANY. AVOID!!!!!!

AWFUL EXPERIENCE HASNT REPLIED TO OVER 50+ EMAILS

SHOCK HORROR STILL NO OUTCOME AND WHEN THEY DID RESPOND THEY HAVEN'T EVEN LOOKED AT THE FILE

My BMW had recall work undertaken June 2023 and then developed a major drive train error which two garages were paid approx £2000 to be able to not diagnose the fault but were able to tell me if needed a new engine at cost of 11 k. I returned the vehicle as unwilling to pay finance on top of this . I have written evidence which I sent to BMW complaints that the work done at the recall could have caused this error they fobbed me off . Lo and behold I’ve just saw the same vehicle was MOTd with no issues weeks after I returned and it and clearly sold for a large profit a couple of months later . I am significantly out of pocket and also had my credit rating ruined due to returning the vehicle . BMW complaints have been completely useless and unhelpful the full time .
Over a month later and still no reply to this !

A follow up review having now been contacted by BMW finance and my issues resolved i would just like to say thank you.
The four stars are purely for the fact it took four times to get any direct response.

Still no update from BMW. Absolute rubbish that someone will reach out to you. Sent a legal letter on 20th June still no reply within 7 day timeframe. Will post in the press next as this is shocking. Acknowledgement on trust pilot but no follow up as usual.

If I could give a lower score I would.

I am the executor of my late brother in laws will. He had a vehicle contract with BMW Financial services. I contacted them to inform them of his death and after they had received all the documentation they explained that we would receive settlement options in 5 working days. It took them 11 weeks to send the information and in the meantime they continued to take monthly payments when they knew the family were in financial difficulties at that time. After complaining about the time delay in receiving the options I received a final outcome letter where they failed to address the core of the complaint, why 11 weeks instead of 5 working days. No detail in the outcome letter and no contact with the family prior to their decision. The investigator made assumptions which are wrong. They failed to include documentation about referring our complaint to the Ombudsman even though they said they had.

I wrote asking for more details about the investigation and highlighting that they had not addressed the core of the complaint. After two weeks and no reply I sent a further email, after another week I sent a further email, after no reply again I phoned to ensure my emails had been received. I spoke with a nice gentleman, Raj, who tried to put me through to the Customer Escalations Executive who were dealing with my complaint, I have a name and reference numbers. They refused to speak with me and told the gentleman to tell me that the complaint had been finalised.

Honestly, how embarrassing, they are dealing with a grieving family. I’ve now referred my complaint to the Ombudsman. This could have been settled very quickly with a simple apology and explanation as to what went wrong and what they had put in place to ensure it wouldn’t happen to another grieving family. If we had received the options on time we could have stopped the payments until the Estate was finalised averting additional financial hardship for the family at that time.

To be transparent BMW Financial Services did offer £150.00 as a gesture of goodwill, it hasn’t been accepted.

Be aware if someone dies and they have a Contract Hire with BMW Finance, BMW want the car back straight away and they want FULL payment for the entire contract once the deceased Estate is finalised. We were 6 months into a 2 year contract. You can’t transfer the contract, the only option is they take the car back and the Estate pays for the full contract. It isn’t really an option.

BMW, unbelievably poor customer service and as for the Customer Escalations Executive who refused to speak to the family you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself (name know but decided not to publish).

Update 17/11/25

BMW Financial Services did review my complaint, they offered over £700 this time but didn’t explain how we got that and didn’t reply to my follow up emails, no surprise there. As probate has not been resolved as yet they cannot take the car back, so whilst we have to pay for it at least we can use it.

At the end of October 2025 BMW sent an email to the deceased saying that they could look at different options as he approached the end of his contract. Obviously they don’t update their records as they have known since February 2025 the contract holder had died.

Please, if you don’t want an awful experience avoid contract hire and definitely avoid BMW Financial Services.

Anyone looking to lease a BMW through BMW financial services, beware that unlike other (much better) leasing companies where you have the option to adjust your annual mileage, BMW have quietly taken this option away (even my broker was not informed!). So if your personal circumstances change and you want to adjust the annual mileage during the lease period, you cannot do this. 3 months into a 3 year lease, I asked if it was possible to INCREASE my miles per year (which would be more money for BMW), the answer was NO, as it is fixed for 3 years, regardless. All other lease/finance companies are very flexible with changes to annual mileage, so if you looking to take out a car lease - look somewhere else!!

Update to review: 23 June 2025
Following the above review, I was contacted by BMW Financial services to provide additional information to their escalations team. I provided the above information in more detail and.... the response was exactly the same! BMW do not allow changes to annual mileage once you have signed a lease agreement. What a waste of time asking me to provide additional information to give me the same answer. My original review still stands - if you want flexibility, DO NOT use BMW Financial services.

Horrendous treatment from this company. Have sent a legal letter to Bmw escalations. Wasn't even told about a PG and have copied in & spoken to my local MP who is taking this forward. Letter will be published in the media if no resolution.

My BMW X6 went in to the BMW dealership for it's first service. This included a mandatory software update in relation to the Integrated Brake System (IBS).
Several days later, I approached the vehicle to find all side windows half way down. I thought that I may of accidently pressed the key button. I started the vehicle to drive off, and all screens went off. The screens reset into basic mode. This was repeated a few days later. The technician was called out, and after looking at the diagnostics, the vehicle was recovered as it was deemed unsafe to drive. The software updates have randomly affected a number of BMW's and critically the safety systems of the vehicles, such as lane assist, advance crash protection, distance/parking control etc. plus the autohold. Here we are 20+ weeks later. BMW's response; "new software will be rolled out shortly that should resolve the issues"? When I ended up in the middle of on-coming traffic because the autohold had turned itself off again, enough was enough. There is No explanation in writing from BMW customer Services, an uncomfortable secret for them. Buyer be aware. BMW support for these issues is almost none existent.
Update: As per below, the message stated that they would contact me within 48 hours. 72 hours later, no response or attempt to contact me. BMWFS are as reliable as the software they are installing in their vehicles. The IBS software update is breaking BMW's. A very poor standard from CSM's sat with no name and no accountability in ivory towers.

I borrowed £13,000 against a £50,000 car. Due to a change of circumstances, I requested a settlement figure to pay off the finance after 2 and a bit months. Taking into account the 2 payments made, settling the fiance cost me £530. This is an extrapolated APR of 24% (assuming the same 2 monthly cost across 12 months - quoted APR for the term of the finance term was 11%)! The agent said the high settlement charge was because the costs are front loaded, the capital being paid off towards the end of the finance. This was not explained to me when I took out the finance. I must have purchased more than 15 new or nearly new BMWs over the years. This is my last ..

Re BMW Mini- has developed major fault after 3.5years (bought brand new)
Nobody I called could book in to diagnose the fault (intermittent cluster failure not displaying the speed/mileage etc) this was a part that I didn’t originally order either but was put on my new car.
I was advised to get diagnosed elsewhere and two BMW specialists advised me there was no fault and to raise with BMW as it was a manufacture issue that should be covered under consumer rights act. I called BMW finance who asked me to raise it as a complaint which I did and have now after two months been told they aren’t doing anything and I need proof the issue was developing at time of sale which I don’t have as it failed in the last 6 months. No apology or anything and I haven’t been able to resolve this. Luckily Volkswagen have agreed a part ex and I’ve bought a new Polo instead of purchasing another mini or resolving issue and buying this Mini. Won’t be returning as a mini or BMW customer- really disappointed with literally no satisfactory response :(