Second charge lending returns to pre-pandemic levels

Second charge lending totalled £104.3 million in June 2021 - a post pandemic high, data reported from lenders to Loans Warehouse's Secured Loan Index shows.

The increased lending did impact completion times, with the average time increasing to 17 days in June.

Matt Tristram, managing director of Loans Warehouse, commented: Lending increased 16% month-on-month and highlighted an incredible 365% record breaking year-on-year increase but let's remember, this was one of the pandemic lows for second charge lending. A more realistic comparison would be lending figures from June 2019 which incredibly were all but identical to June 2021 with £105m reported by the FLA.

"This is also a landmark month with Optimum Credit posting lending figures of £37.9m which is believed to be the most lent by a single lender since the Credit Crunch of 2006!

"In the year to date we have now recorded £493m in second charge lending and monthly new lending figures continue to improve."

To see the full report, visit https://www.project-insights.co.uk/securedloanindex/june-2021.