Secured lending hits another milestone in July

The Secured Loan Index has reported yet another milestone in secured lending in July, with the £45m barrier being broken for the first time in nearly four years, after nine of the twelve lenders reported month on month increases.

June’s figure was a slightly lower-than-expected £41,994,482 but the longer month of July has proved positive with lending figures jumping up by 10.2% to £46,305,181.50.

July 2013 shows a monthly year on year growth of 44% compared to July 2012 figure’s of £32,000,000 – in 2013 it took until October to lend as much.

Matt Tristram, director of Loans Warehouse & co-founder of Clearly Loans, comments:

“Despite the continued growth, new figures released by the FLA earlier this month show that the number of repossessions in Q2 of 2013 continues to be at an all-time low, just 183.”

Geraldine Kilkelly, Chief Economist at the FLA, said:

“While the volume of repossessions has risen in the second quarter from a very low base in 2012, the possessions rate has actually fallen from 0.08 per cent in Q1 2013 to 0.06 per cent in Q2 2013.”

Despite the size of the sector, the secured loan industry is one of the few financial areas where the broker has the responsibility for instructing and paying for a valuation.

The much reported valuation issues of recent months have seen appointment times for London and some Home Counties in particular taking weeks, even months in the worst affected areas.  This has led to some of the industry’s surveying firms using the situation to increase valuation fees.