The year of the comeback

The green shoots of recovery definitely came through last year and the latest figures from the Secured Loan Index provided compelling evidence, revealing secured loan lending in 2012 totaled £351.9m- a 23% increase on the overall amount lent in 2011.

Matt Tristram
21st January 2013
Matt Tristram - LW
Last year included six months where lending tipped over the £30 million mark, levels not reached since 2009, and made the message clearer than ever; specialist lending is becoming more mainstream.

Things are already moving in the right direction for the secured loan market. We’ve witnessed some positive moves from lenders this month. First was Nemo, kick-starting 2013 with the huge announcement that it will now offer rates from as little as 5.59% - the lowest rate I’ve ever seen. The lender made changes across its entire product range; offering a secured loan at 90% LTV - the first since the credit crunch to have such a high LTV and increasing it’s maximum loan size to £200,000. Criteria has also opened up to cater for more self- employed borrowers.

Blemain was next to reduce rates and increase LTVs across its range followed quickly by adverse lender, Equifinance, announcing it has increased its loan size by 50%.

It’s only January and there’s already some renewed competition in the sector and borrowers will only benefit from the greater choices now available to them.

2012 was all about consistency but 2013 will be a year of significant growth. If last year was anything to go by , I expect that secured lending will peak to 2009 levels in the last two quarters of 2013 and reach £50,000,000 per month. The secured loans market is in better shape than it was a year ago and with historically low rates and higher LTVs, there is no reason why growth won’t accelerate in the second charge market over the next twelve months.
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