Tax bills drive second charge lending surge

The specialist packager reported that 25% of the total loans arranged were partly or fully being used to cover self-assessment tax bills, payable before the Jan 31st 2019 deadline.

The number of new agreements grew by 13% to 1,792 compared to 1,584 in December 2017, with a value of £80m — 6% higher than the £76m recorded in 2017.

Mark Dyason, managing director at Thistle Finance, commented: “It's common knowledge that the seconds market is thriving and the fact that people don't want to jeopardise extremely low mortgage rates is certainly a key driver in this. What stood out in the fourth quarter, however, is how a far larger number of people than usual were using second charges to pay off their tax bills.

"You can only speculate as to why, but it could be that a protracted period of high inflation has had an impact or Brexit uncertainty has reduced income or work flow."