Second charge lending totalled £77.6m in April, a £13.8m decrease compared to March, according to the latest Secured Loan Index from Loans Warehouse.

However, this figure is an increase of 242% on April last year when the UK went into the first national lockdown.

Loans Warehouse also reported that the number of completions dipped below last month’s 2,000 headline, with 1,908 second charge loans completed in April 2021 – although this total was still 278% up on April 2020.

While there was a month-on-month dip in lending from £91.4m to £77.6m, Loans Warehouse managing director, Matt Tristram, suggested the figure “doesn’t give a true reflection” of the growth month-on-month, with March having 23 working days compared to April at 20.

Tristram said: “Working day completions were up significantly with the daily completion volume for April at £4.57m compared to £3.97m in March – an increase of 5.2% per day.”

The index also indicated that higher LTV products have continued to be a popular use from second charges, with an increase of 2.69% month-on-month.

“Year to date we have now recorded £300m in second charges and, whilst May is an even shorter month than April, growth is widely predicted month-on-month in Q2,” Tristram added.

The monthly Secured Loan Index from Loans Warehouse takes information from the biggest second charge lenders in the UK including Optimum Credit, Oplo, United Trust Bank, Together Money, Masthaven, Norton Home Loans, Equifinance, Evolution Money, and Clearly Loans.

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