New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business was 2% lower in October 2019 than the same month in 2018, and held steady in the first ten months to October.

Within this overall picture, retail store and online credit new business grew in October by 1% compared with the same month in the previous year, while new business provided through credit cards and personal loans together fell by 2%.

Commenting on the figures, Geraldine Kilkelly, Head of Research and Chief Economist at the FLA, said:

“Despite some parts of the media reporting a consumer credit splurge, new business provided by FLA members in 2019 as a whole is likely to be at a similar level to 2018.  While consumer spending has continued to increase, growth has slowed over the past year particularly for non-essential goods.  

“The outlook for the UK consumer credit market in 2020 is for modest new business growth of around 3%.”

 Table 1: New consumer credit lending

 Note to editors:

1. 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.
2. In 2018, FLA members provided £136 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £103 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit representing over a third of total new consumer credit written in the UK in 2018.
3. For media enquiries, please contact the FLA press office on 020 7420 9656.