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, bank, pension provider or intermediary. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Pension Ombudsman yourself for free if the firm is still trading. For eligible failed firms, you can refer a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for free.

0345 544 1563

Terms Of Engagement – Unaffordable Lending Claims

Signing this document makes a legally binding contract between you and Allegiant Finance Services Limited.

If you change your mind about using our service, you have a 14-day cooling-off period during which you can cancel the contract without charge (see below).

When you enter into the contract, you are confirming that you have read our pre-contract information and the chance to read our Privacy Policy at allegiant.co.uk/compliance/privacy-policy. You are also confirming that you are aware that:

  • we charge for our service;
  • you do not need to use a claims management company to make your claim and that if your claim is unsuccessful, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (financial-ombudsman.org.uk) for free.

Terms of Engagement

  • Print
1. What we mean

In this contract:-

  • where we say ‘you’, we mean the person who took out the loan or credit and who is appointing us to make a claim or a person who is authorised to act for that person and is entering into this contract on their behalf;
  • where we say ‘lender’, we mean the credit provider, anyone who legally takes over its rights, whose rights it legally took over, or who is authorised to act for it (including any insolvency practitioner who may be appointed from time to time);
  • when we say ‘our service’, we mean the claims management service we provide to you to claim compensation from your lender. This service generally includes providing advice, investigating the facts of your complaint, making a claim and negotiating a settlement, and other related activities;
  • when we say “compensation payout”, this is the money the lender transfers to you or us in response to our complaint
  • When we say ‘settlement offer’ we mean a lender offer to make a compensation payout to you or a recommendation or decision made by the Financial Ombudsman Service (or other body with the power to make settlement recommendations).

2.1 We will take reasonable skill and care when providing our service.

2.2 When you have given us the information and documents and where we think your lender might have mis-sold credit to you, we will draft the complaint and send it to them (your claim). The claim will allege potential or actual mis-selling of the credit product the lender gave to you.

2.3 If the lender does not reply or disagrees with your claim, we will consider the information again. Where reasonable, we will send your claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service (or a similar service if appropriate – but we will discuss this with you first).

2.4 We will keep in touch during your claim. We will do this by one or more of the following: email, letter, text message or phone or through our website portal.

2.5 We will let you know when your claim has key developments. This can include:-

  • when a lender
    • acknowledges your claim
    • asks for more information
    • makes a final decision.
  • If your claim is referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (or similar)
    • when we make the referral
    • when they acknowledge it
    • whenever there is an important development.

2.6 We will take instructions from you when necessary and always about any settlement offer (an offer of compensation from the lender or a recommendation or decision made by the Financial Ombudsman Service or another organisation authorised to award compensation).

2.7 We will assume that account information and calculations provided by the lender are the best evidence of lending, are accurate, are not misleading, and are not ­provided in bad faith unless you provide evidence to cast reasonable doubt on the accuracy of the information and calculations.

2.8 We will not provide financial or debt advice as we are authorised and regulated only to provide claims-management services.

3.1 You confirm that you either:

  • have not made the same claim before; or
  • have told us about any previous claim.

3.2 You agree to send us all relevant correspondence and documents as soon as reasonably possible.

3.3 You agree that we are the only firm or person providing representation to you, and while the contract between you and us is in force, you will not:

  • enter into a contract with another representative in connection with your claim; or
  • try to make a claim separately.

3.4 You agree not to contact the lender, the Financial Ombudsman Service or any other relevant third party to withdraw our authority to provide our service without first cancelling your contract with us.

3.5 You confirm that you are not, and have never been, declared bankrupt (in Scotland, been sequestered) or had an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) or debt relief order (DRO) as a result of unaffordable debt. You must tell us immediately if you may enter into an arrangement relating to bankruptcy, insolvency or unaffordable debt.

3.6 You agree to give us the information we need about your personal details and financial situation as soon as reasonably possible and immediately tell us about any change of information (for example, a change of address) whilst in a contract with us.

3.7 You must fill in and sign all paperwork you must provide to give us authority to make your claim.

3.8 You agree to give us the documentary evidence we reasonably need to investigate your complaint and make your claim, including bank statements, credit reports, and relevant documents and correspondence from your lender.

3.9 You must tell us immediately if the lender contacts you directly to discuss your claim or pays you.

3.10 If the lender pays you directly, you must still pay our success fee (see section 4).

3.11 You understand that making your claim may lead to the lender withdrawing your access to their lending and credit facilities.

4.1 Our fees become due only if your lender makes a compensation payout.

4.2 The success fee depends on which band your compensation payout falls into and will the amount calculated using the percentage rate of charge for that band, up to the maximum band charge.

Band Compensation payout Percentage rate of charge (including VAT) Maximum band charge (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% £9,000
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 Our success fee Compensation payout Our 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 above are for illustration purposes only. They are not an estimate of the likely outcome or the success fee you will need to pay. Each claim depends on its own merits.

4.4 You agree to pay us the success fee as soon as reasonably possible after the compensation payout is made by the lender, even if any other actions set out in the settlement, such as the lender correcting your credit record, still need to be completed. We will continue to pursue those actions on your behalf, and our commitments to you will not be affected by your payment.

4.5 If your lender makes any part payments or pays in instalments (for whatever reason), we can raise a separate invoice for each compensation payment you receive.

4.6 If we believe that you are withholding information relating to a settlement offer (including details of any compensation payment made by your lender), we can raise an invoice based on the previous 12 months’ aggregated win statistics relating to the lender your claim is against. We will change or cancel the invoice as appropriate in light of any information you provide later.

5.1 Where the lender makes a compensation payout, we will hold the funds in a dedicated client account (as authorised by the FCA). We will give you an itemised breakdown of the settlement and give you notice of the invoice prior to taking our success fee from it.

5.2 We will pay you the compensation, less our success fee, by bank transfer to an account you nominate. If you ask for a cheque, we will only send this to an address registered with the lender or your address on the electoral register. We can ask you for proof of address and documents we need under anti-money laundering regulations to meet our fraud-prevention obligations.

5.3 If you do not nominate an account for us to transfer the compensation to or fail to cash a cheque we send you after we have made reasonable efforts to contact you, we reserve the right to return the funds to the lender, or crown estate. We will only do this in line with our regulator’s expectations about the handling of unclaimed funds.

6.1 You can cancel the contract for our service, without charge, within a 14-day cooling-off period, which starts the day after we receive your signed terms of engagement.

6.2 After the 14-day cooling-off period ends, you can ask us to end the contract for our service. There is no cancellation fee, but you will have to pay a success fee if you have received a settlement offer, regardless of whether or not the compensation has been calculated or the offer yet been communicated.

  • If there has been no settlement offer, you will not pay a success fee.
  • If there has been a settlement offer, but you have not accepted it, you will have to pay a success fee calculated using:
    • the highest settlement offer made; or
    • the compensation you go on to receive without using our service; whichever is lower.
  • If you have accepted a settlement offer, you must pay the success fee, calculated in clause 4, as usual.

In either case, you would not need to pay the success fee until your lender makes the compensation payout.

6.3 You can give us notice to cancel by:

  • writing to Allegiant Finance Services Limited, Freepost RTYU–XUTZ–YKJC, 400 Chadwick House, Warrington Road, Birchwood Park, Warrington, WA3 6AE;
  • emailing helpdesk@allegiant-finance.co.uk;
  • phoning 0345 544 1563; or
  • going to co.uk/compliance/cancellation/.

We may ask why you are cancelling and use this information to improve our service. However, you are under no obligation to tell us why you want to cancel.

6.4 If you cancel, we will ask whether you want to withdraw your claim or continue it yourself. We will then update the lender and, if necessary, the Financial Ombudsman Service and any other relevant person, business or body.  If you are continuing the claim yourself, you are responsible for finding out about relevant deadlines and steps that need to be taken.

6.5 We may cancel the agreement between you and us if:

  • we do not think your claim has merit;
  • your claim is uneconomical for us; or
  • there is (or could be) a conflict of interest (that is, where acting in your best interests would work against ours).

If we cancel the service under this clause, 6.5, there will be no charge.

7.1 You can make a complaint by:

  • writing to Allegiant Finance Services Limited, Freepost RTYU–XUTZ–YKJC, 400 Chadwick House, Warrington Road, Birchwood Park, Warrington, WA3 6AE;
  • emailing allegiantcomplaints@allegiant-finance.co.uk; or
  • phoning 0345 544 1563.

7.2 If you are dissatisfied with our response, or if we do not settle the complaint with you after eight weeks, you can ask the Claims Management Ombudsman (part of the Financial Ombudsman Service) to assess your complaint independently. You can do this by:

  • writing to Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, Harbour Exchange, London, E14 9SR;
  • emailing complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk; or
  • phoning 0800 023 4567.

There is further information about the Claims Management Ombudsman available at https://cmc.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/).

7.3 Time limits apply to complaints. You have six months from:

  • the date of our final response; or
  • the date which is eight weeks after you first sent us your complaint;

to approach the Claims Management Ombudsman.

You can see our full complaints procedure at allegiant.co.uk/compliance/complaints-regulated/, or you can ask us for a copy.

We will not be responsible for any costs or losses caused due to the following.

  1. Your lack of co-operation.
  2. Where you fail to read the documents provided to you or to understand them if they are reasonably clear, or you could have taken steps to clarify information.
  3. You fail to give us accurate or up-to-date information in good time.
  4. Delays or loss of information caused by postal, telecommunication or email service providers.
  5. Circumstances that we cannot reasonably control.
  6. Losses which could not reasonably have been predicted or expected or which you could have taken steps to avoid or keep to a minimum.
  7. Deadlines being missed due to previous complaints you have made unless we expressly agreed to work to those deadlines and you gave us all reasonable information about the previous complaint.
  8. Wrong information provided to us by a lender, which we reasonably rely on.

The contract between you and us will end when you pay all fees, charges and any other amounts due to us following the final result of your claim. You agree that we may contact you if there is a legitimate reason for additional compensation possibly becoming due to you (for example, as a result of a regulatory change, court order, audit, or the lender making a mistake or withholding information). When this happens, you will need to enter into a new contract with us for any further claim.

10.1 We can recover solicitors’ fees, tracing fees, court fees and enforcement-agency fees we must pay to enforce our right to the success fee. If you need a replacement cheque, or we need to make an extra attempt to send a bank transfer, and this is not due to our fault, we can deduct any related fee or charge from the replacement cheque or new transfer.

10.2 If there is a legal dispute between you and us in connection with our service, this agreement will be interpreted in line with relevant UK laws and regulations that are in force at the time.

10.3 Nothing in this agreement is intended to benefit anyone other than you or us.

10.4 We may assign or novate (legally transfer) or subcontract any or all of our rights and benefits and/or liabilities arising under this contract by giving you 21 days’ notice in writing (or less notice if required to meet a legal or regulatory requirement).

10.5 If any part of these terms of engagement is found to be invalid or cannot be enforced, the other terms of this agreement will not be affected and will stay in effect in line with the intended spirit of the agreement.

10.6 These terms of engagement will continue to apply after the service ends when necessary to give effect to the agreement, its purpose and intention.

10.7 The laws of England and Wales govern this agreement, and any legal action in connection with it will be dealt with in the courts of England and Wales.

Claiming for Free Yourself

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, bank, pension provider or intermediary. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Pension Ombudsman yourself for free if the firm is still trading. For eligible failed firms, you can refer a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for free.