Mortgage News
Second-charge mortgage borrowing up 21%
Figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) showed consumer borrowing grew by 7% in April year-on-year with second charge mortgage borrowing up by 21%.
However, clearly evidencing price rises, the number of new second charge mortgage contracts fell by 2% compared with the same month in 2013.
Credit card finance and personal loans grew by 3% in the same period, as did retail store and online credit.
Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, said: “Growth rates in April across the main consumer finance sectors were more modest than in recent months.”
The FCA began regulating the consumer credit industry from 1 April this year and promised tougher sanctions against payday lenders and other short-term, high cost lenders.
FLA members in the consumer finance sector include banks, credit card providers, store card providers, second-charge mortgage lenders, motor finance providers, personal loan and short-term credit lenders and instalment credit providers.
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FLA members lent £88.9bn of new finance to UK businesses and households in 2013. Some £66.5bn of this was in the form of consumer credit representing almost a third of all unsecured lending in the UK.