Second charge lending falls 13% in March: FLA

The drop in lending follows five months of growth in the market.

Over Q1 2018, new business held steady with a 1% increase on the same quarter in 2017, however lending remains 15% higher than the previous year over a 12 month period.

Fiona Hoyle, head of consumer and mortgage finance at the FLA, said: “March was a quieter month for the consumer credit markets in general. These latest figures show a stable picture for new business volumes in the first quarter overall.”

Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, added: “The latest consumer finance new business figures were in line with recent trends in the wider economy, with household spending likely to have been adversely affected by poor weather conditions."

Tim Wheeldon, COO at Fluent for Advisers, commented: “I don’t think some of the headlines I have read so far, highlighting the monthly fall in volumes, is the real story here. One month’s figures are not representative of a trend and while the month on month comparison shows a drop, the first quarter shows that the sector is ahead of last year’s figures. Our own experience at Fluent is that over the same period, we are registering record months with increasing volumes from our intermediary business.”