March 2014 marked the 28th month in a row of year-on-year growth in secured lending.
Matt Tristram, director of Loans Warehouse, said: “With 10 lenders reporting increased lending in March; £56,382,296 marks the best lending figures since 2009.
“And these positive figures surpass last October’s ground breaking news of the first £50,000,000 month since the onset of the credit crunch.”
Regulation of the secured loan market passed from the Office of Fair Trading to the Financial Conduct Authority on 1 April, along with the rest of the consumer credit industry estimated to contain more than 50,000 firms.
And while this does not pose any immediate changes for the secured loan sector Tristram said he has already seen a tightening of criteria around lending to self-employed borrowers.
“Shawbrook Bank announced it will no longer be able to accept bank statements as evidence of the primary source of income for self-employed applicants,” he said.
Secured loan lender Equifinance has also made changes to its criteria for self-employed borrowers.
