Key facts
SafetyNet Credit ceased lending to new customers in September 2022. The figures below describe the business as it operated and the outcome of the administration that followed.
Administrators: Joe O'Connor, Clare Kennedy and Simon Appell of AlixPartners. Indigo Michael Limited served over 800,000 customers across the lifetime of the SafetyNet and Tappily products. All outstanding loan balances at 9 April 2024 were written off, with credit files marked partially settled. Source: AlixPartners outcome statement. FCA notice, January 2023.
Timeline
The firm's nine-year UK trading history compressed into the events that defined it. Each milestone is sourced to FCA notices, AlixPartners administrator communications or contemporaneous reporting.
SafetyNet Credit launched
Indigo Michael Limited launches the SafetyNet Credit product. The proposition is an app-based revolving credit facility that monitors the customer's bank account and advances funds automatically when the balance falls below a chosen threshold. Interest accrues only on amounts drawn.
Direct FCA authorisation
Indigo Michael Limited becomes directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Tappily, a sister product with a longer interest-free window, is added to the operating book under the same legal entity.
Affordability complaint volumes rise
The Financial Ombudsman Service begins upholding affordability complaints against Indigo Michael in significant volume. Complaints centre on the structure of the line-of-credit product, where customers drawing the facility for short stretches each month effectively pay interest year-round despite advertised forty-day interest-free periods.
FCA Voluntary Requirements imposed
The FCA imposes Voluntary Requirements (VREQs) on Indigo Michael. The firm cannot use a Continuous Payment Authority where there are reasonable grounds to believe the account holds insufficient funds or that the payment would push the customer into hardship. Before opening any new account or raising any credit limit, creditworthiness must be assessed assuming the full balance plus interest will be repaid without further borrowing.
Lending to new customers stops
Indigo Michael ceases lending to new customers. Existing customers continue to draw on their facilities under the restricted regime. A second tranche of FCA restrictions follows in late 2022.
Administration
Indigo Michael Limited and sister company Account Technologies Software Limited enter administration. Joe O'Connor, Clare Kennedy and Simon Appell of AlixPartners are appointed Joint Administrators. Existing facilities continue to operate under the administrators for a transition period.
Continued lending under administration
Unusually for a UK consumer credit administration, the joint administrators allow existing customers to continue drawing on their facilities for several months. The firm maintains positive cash flow and immediate cessation would have caused acute hardship to customers actively reliant on the facility.
Write-off announcement
Administrators announce that collections will cease on 9 April 2024. Customers are advised to cancel any standing orders. Affordability complaints must be received before 15 April 2024 to be assessed.
Loan balances written off
All outstanding SafetyNet Credit and Tappily loan balances are written off. Affected accounts are marked partially settled on credit files at Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Loans previously sold to debt purchasers before January 2023 are not covered by the write-off.
Complaint deadline closes
The deadline for submitting affordability complaints to the administrators passes. Claims received after this date are not assessed.
AlixPartners outcome statement
AlixPartners publish a formal outcome statement, describing the administration as a successful resolution. The statement notes the firm served over 800,000 customers across the lifetime of its lending and that the structured wind-down preserved value for creditors that an immediate insolvency would have destroyed.
What went wrong
SafetyNet's collapse was driven by structural concerns about the line-of-credit product itself rather than by a single regulatory event. Three factors combined to create the conditions for administration.
The advertised interest-free period rarely applied in practice
SafetyNet advertised forty days of interest-free use from each draw, with daily interest at 0.8 percent thereafter, equivalent to a representative APR of 68.7 percent. The product was designed to monitor the customer's bank account and top up the balance whenever it dipped below a chosen threshold. In practice, many customers used the facility close to continuously each month. The advertised interest-free window therefore seldom completed before another draw triggered. The Financial Ombudsman Service viewed this combination of automated repeat draws and a rarely-realised interest-free period as misleading on the marketed total cost of credit. The Service upheld a high proportion of complaints on that basis.
FCA Voluntary Requirements as the operational turning point
The July 2022 Voluntary Requirements changed the economics of the business. Indigo Michael could no longer underwrite new accounts or raise existing limits without first assuming the customer would repay the full balance plus interest without further borrowing. This single change removed the loop in the product that drove the bulk of the firm's contribution margin, since most account-opening decisions had been calibrated against the assumption of continuous facility use rather than full repayment.
Complaint redress liability outpaced operating cash flow
Even with the September 2022 cessation of new lending and the operational simplification that followed, the cumulative pipeline of upheld affordability complaints created a balance-sheet problem. AlixPartners later confirmed the firm continued to generate positive cash flow during the early administration period. They also confirmed that the volume of historic redress claims could not be serviced from operations alone. With no realistic prospect of new equity, administration became the only mechanism that could deliver an orderly outcome for both customers and creditors.
If you had a SafetyNet Credit or Tappily loan
The Indigo Michael administration is closed to new claims. The complaint window passed on 15 April 2024 and outstanding balances were written off six days earlier. The reference summary below covers what each customer category should expect in 2026.
Outstanding balances on 9 April 2024
All such balances were written off. The credit file entry was updated to partially settled to reflect that the loan was not fully repaid in full. Borrowers seeking new short-term loans in 2026 should expect lenders to apply additional scrutiny to applications where this marker is present. No further repayments were owed. The administrators advised affected customers to cancel any standing orders, since attempted collections after the write-off date would bounce.
Loans sold before January 2023
Loans that had been sold to a third-party debt purchaser before Indigo Michael entered administration are not covered by the write-off. The new owner of the debt continues to manage collection. Any complaint about original mis-selling would now be directed to the debt purchaser, subject to time-bar provisions and the limitation period for the underlying contract.
Compensation
The complaint deadline of 15 April 2024 has passed. No further redress will be paid through the Indigo Michael administration. The Financial Ombudsman Service is unable to consider new complaints against the firm because of the administration. High-cost credit firms, including those that historically offered bad credit payday loans, are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
If you are in current financial difficulty
None of the services below charge for help with debt or credit. All four are independent of any lender, broker or claims management company. Each can advise on disputed historical balances, dealing with debt purchasers and the formal options open where a balance cannot reasonably be repaid.
The regulatory legacy
The SafetyNet administration is one of the few in the UK consumer credit sector where the FCA permitted continued lending during the early phase of administration. AlixPartners explained the decision on the basis that the firm maintained positive cash flow and immediate cessation would have caused acute hardship to customers actively reliant on the facility.
Voluntary Requirements as a supervisory tool
The case is sometimes cited as an example of how the FCA's Threshold Conditions can be exercised through Voluntary Requirements rather than through formal supervisory action, with the same end result. The July 2022 VREQs were technically agreed rather than imposed. The practical effect on the business was the same as a Variation of Permission or formal direction would have been.
Continued lending during administration
The decision to allow drawdowns to continue post-appointment is unusual and reflects the specific structure of the line-of-credit product. Customers had committed direct debits, scheduled household expenses and ongoing budget plans built around the SafetyNet auto top-up. Sudden cessation would have triggered cascading consequences that immediate insolvency was poorly placed to manage. AlixPartners' subsequent outcome statement framed the structured wind-down as having preserved value that immediate cessation would have destroyed.
The active line-of-credit market
The line-of-credit product category survives in the UK regulated market under operators including Drafty and Polar Credit. Both operate within the FCA price cap framework and offer revolving credit facilities at lower headline cost than the original SafetyNet model. Borrowers needing one-off rapid access rather than a continuous facility now typically use same-day loans from FCA-authorised direct lenders.
Where former SafetyNet Credit customers borrow now.
Three FCA-authorised firms covering both the line-of-credit category that SafetyNet operated in and the adjacent small-loan market. None are connected to Indigo Michael Limited. All operate within the FCA price cap framework.
Revolving line-of-credit direct lender at £50 to £3,000, daily interest at 0.06 percent on amounts drawn. The closest current peer to the original SafetyNet model in product structure, although Drafty does not auto-advance funds based on bank balance monitoring.
Revolving credit account at £150 to £1,500, fixed minimum monthly repayments rather than auto top-up. Sister brand to CashASAP under the same FCA authorisation. Suits borrowers wanting a defined credit limit they can manage manually.
Direct lender for fixed-term short-term loans of £50 to £1,500 over up to 6 months. GAIN Credit LLC, FCA authorised since 2008. Different product structure from a line of credit but the closest active peer for borrowers needing rapid access to funds.
Sources and verification
Administration appointment, administrator identities and procedural milestones verified against the FCA news statement of 9 January 2023 and the AlixPartners outcome statement of 12 September 2024.
Loan write-off mechanics, the 9 April 2024 effective date and the 15 April 2024 complaint deadline sourced from contemporaneous reporting at Debt Camel and the administrators' email communications to affected customers.
FCA Voluntary Requirements of July 2022 and subsequent restrictions of late 2022 verified against the original Debt Camel article on the SafetyNet administration and contemporaneous trade press reporting.
Combined active customer figure of approximately 150,000 across SafetyNet and Tappily at the point of administration verified against the MoneySavingExpert news report of 11 January 2023. Lifetime customer count exceeding 800,000 sourced from the AlixPartners outcome statement.
Representative APR of 68.7 percent and the forty-day interest-free product structure verified against archived SafetyNet Credit product disclosures and contemporaneous Financial Ombudsman Service decisions.
Indigo Michael Limited Companies House record verified against the active filing register on 28 April 2026.
Swift Money Limited is a credit broker, not a lender. This page is an editorial record published by Swift Money. Inclusion does not imply commercial relationship between Swift Money and any entity that operated under the SafetyNet Credit or Tappily brands. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, FRN 738569.