Finance & Leasing Association4 December 2014
New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew by 7% in October compared with the same month in 2013, and by 11% in the twelve months to October 2014.
Credit cards and personal loans new business grew by 2% in October compared with October 2013. Retail store and online credit new business grew by 6% in the same period, and point-of-sale car finance by 16%.
Commenting on the figures, Fiona Hoyle, Head of Consumer Finance at the FLA, said:
“Consumer finance has played a key role in supporting economic growth, by helping households make essential purchases. Forecasts suggest this will continue in 2015, with gross consumer lending increasing by 3.3% compared with 2014.
“It has been a challenging year, as consumer finance providers got used to a new regulator and a new rulebook, but they have maintained the supply of responsibly-provided credit.”
| Table 1: New consumer credit lending |
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| Oct 2014 | % change on prev. year | 3 months to Oct 2014 | % change on prev. year | 12 months to Oct 2014 | % change on prev. year | |
| Total FLA consumer finance (£m) | 6,113 | +7 | 18,822 | +8 | 72,481 | +11 |
| Data extracts: | ||||||
| Retail store and online credit (£m) | 546 | +6 | 1,533 | +7 | 6,327 | +9 |
| Credit cards & personal loans (£m) | 3,152 | +2 | 9,334 | +2 | 37,661 | +5 |
| Second mortgages (£m) | 49 | +11 | 147 | +27 | 553 | +32 |
| Car finance (£m) | 2,059 | +16 | 6,817 | +16 | 24,335 | +21 |
Note to editors:
- FLA members in the consumer finance sector include banks, credit card providers, store card providers, second-charge mortgage lenders, motor finance providers, personal loan and instalment credit providers.
- In 2013, FLA members provided £89.0 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £66.6 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit representing almost a third of all unsecured lending in the UK.
