Good to know: We are a Claims Management Company (CMC). You do not need to use a CMC to make your complaint to your lender. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free.
Fluid credit cards have been described as popular cards to transfer balances, and consolidate debt. Whilst there may be offers of no or low interest for balance transfers, spending on the card is inevitably much more expensive. With a representative 34.9% APR (variable), purchases on the card are certainly not cheap.
Fluid is a trading name of NewDay Ltd, which is authorised to lend by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Initial credit limits for Fluid cards are typically advertised as being from £250 to £2,500. Fluid say that new credit cards are given quite a low initial limit, and then the limits are increased based on the customer’s subsequent account performance. But as one Ombudsman outlined, the checks carried out by Fluid do not always go far enough:
‘I don’t think their checks could fairly be seen to be reasonable or proportionate in those circumstances as they don’t appear to have considered any increases in Mrs C’s outgoings or her income or have considered her account performance in sufficient detail.’ (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-2674170.pdf)
Also, credit limits do now always start off low. In the below case, the credit limit started at £1,500, and the Ombudsman deemed that the credit card should not have been lent at all on this basis (let alone increases to that limit):
‘I also think that if NewDay had looked in more detail at Ms H’s personal circumstances, it would not have decided to lend her £1,500. We know now that this wasn’t affordable for her. But I think it’s likely that additional checks into Ms H’s income and expenditure would’ve revealed this before NewDay’s lending decision was made, if they’d been done at that time.’ (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-3037486.pdf).
In the above case, Fluid protested the uphold by saying that it is not required to carry out detailed income and expenditure checks, and that it is normal for its customers to have fairly high levels of debt. But these protests did not dissuade the Ombudsman making an award in the customer’s favour in that case. And it is something that Allegiant is very aware of: when lenders say they have done nothing wrong, it might still end up being a valid upheld claim.
We realise that claiming against your lender can seem daunting. We aim to make the claiming process as simple as possible. We specialise in affordability claims. Our experienced team will communicate with the lender (and where required, the Ombudsman service) on your behalf. We use bespoke technology to ensure efficient claims handling. Throughout the process, we inform you of claim progress using a “stage process”, so you can track your progress easily. Please remember though, that you do not need to use a claims management company to make your complaint to your lender, and if your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free.
Pre complaint investigation and analysis
Formal unaffordable lending complaint made
Lender responds with a Final Response Letter
If appropriate resolution cannot be reached with the lender, referral to Financial Ombudsman Service.
Our success fee is due only if your lender makes a compensation payout, and is calculated on the amount of the compensation payout. We do not charge you for any part of a settlement that results in the lender reducing your outstanding balance – that is on the house!
The success fee amount is calculated using a band charging system. There are five charging bands. Each band has a maximum amount that we will charge.
Success Fee Charging Table
Band | Compensation Payout | Percentage rate the Success Fee is calculated on (including VAT) | Maximum Success Fee in band (including VAT) |
1 | £1 to £1,499 | 36% | £504 |
2 | £1,500 to £9,999 | 33.60% | £3,000 |
3 | £10,000 to £24,999 | 30% | £6,000 |
4 | £25,000 to £49,999 | 24% | £,9000 |
5 | £50,000 or more | 18% | £12,000 |
Below are examples of how this would work in practice.
Lower example | Higher example | |||
Band | Compensation Payout | Success Fee | Compensation Payout | Success Fee |
1 | £100 | £36 | £1,499 | £504 |
2 | £1,600 | £537.60 | £9,999 | £3,000 |
3 | £12,000 | £3,600 | £24,999 | £6,000 |
4 | £30,350 | £7,284 | £49,999 | £9,000 |
5 | £55,000 | £9,900 | £100,000 | £12,000 |
If you want to see how much we would charge for a specific amount, please visit our online fee calculator at https://allegiant.co.uk/unaffordable-lending-claim-fees.
Please note that the examples in the tables are for illustration purposes only. They are not an estimate of the likely outcome or success fee.
You can cancel for free at any time within 14-days without giving any reason and without incurring any liability. You can communicate your cancellation by telephone, post, email or online.
You can cancel this agreement at any time after the 14-day cancellation period. However, if a complaint submitted by us is successful, the Success Fee will apply in the usual way.
You can cancel by post: Allegiant Finance Services Limited, Freepost RTYU–XUTZ–YKJC, 400 Chadwick House, Warrington Road, Birchwood Park, Warrington, WA3 6AE; (b) by email: helpdesk@allegiant-finance.co.uk; (c) by telephone: 0345 544 1563; or (d) online at https://allegiant.co.uk/compliance/cancellation.
Allegiant Finance Services is widely regarded as a pioneer in the high cost loan claims management market.
Contactable by email, phone, or post, whichever you prefer
We will only correspond with you and keep your details secure. We’ll never sell your data.
Much more than a contact form. With our full online application process you will receive an instant automated decision on whether we can take on your claim
We are proud to have recovered over £67m for unaffordable lending claims since 2013
We’ve been claiming high cost loan refunds since 2013
Good to know: We are a Claims Management Company (CMC). You do not need to use a CMC to make your complaint to your lender. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free.