Pepper Money’s second charge loan book breaches £1bn mark

The lender said it had originated £1.8bn of second charge mortgages in total and £800m worth of loans had already been redeemed.

It has also closed five securitisations under its Castell securitisation platform.

Pepper Money offers second charge mortgages between £5,000 and £1m on fixed, discounted and variable rate options. Repayment terms can range between three and 30 years.

Borrowers can access up to 100 per cent of the property’s value, minus the existing mortgage balance subject to a satisfactory valuation.

It launched a range of second charge mortgages in January this year following the completions of its integration with second charge specialist Optimum Credit.

Pepper Money bought Optimum Credit in 2018 and at the time it had a second charge loan book worth over £450m.

Matt Blake, treasurer at Pepper Money, said that Finance and Leasing Association’s figures for 2021 showed that second charge lending had totalled £1.1bn, therefore hitting the £1bn mark showed that the lender was an “important player Pepper Money is in this market”.

He added: “Throughout our lending we have maintained ultra-low levels of loans in default and repossessions, and the majority of lending continues to be for either home improvements or debt consolidation.

“With the ongoing cost of living squeeze that is motivating more customers to take a more proactive approach to managing their finances, we expect debt consolidation to be a big theme in the coming months, providing brokers with a good opportunity to help their clients take greater control of their monthly expenditure.”