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The majority of loans in March were used for debt consolidation.

Consumers used over £155 million in second charge lending during March, registering a month-on-month increase in value of over 12%.

This is according to the latest research from Loans Warehouse, our preferred loans broker, which also found that lending in the first quarter of the year was up by more than 82% when compared to the same period in 2021.

Not only was the value of loans on the rise, but the number of completed second charge loans broke records too. For March, over 3,200 second charge loans were completed, beating the previous record held in November last year. 

Much of this lending was used for debt consolidation, where borrowers take a loan to pay off their various existing debts and therefore owe one specific lender.

The benefits of this type of consolidation are that in some cases it can reduce the overall interest you have to pay on your debt, and with your debt all in one place it can be easier to manage.

The second biggest use of second charge lending during this month was for home improvements, for which demand has been on the rise. 

Those who are looking to renovate their home to gain extra space should be aware of certain factors, according to our Finance Expert Rachel Springall.

These include reviewing their insurance policy once the works are complete, and the rising costs of both labour and goods for any projects.

In addition, a further £1.4 billion worth of fraud was prevented by banks and card companies.

Over £1.3 billion was stolen by criminals through authorised and unauthorised fraud last year, according to UK Finance. Compared to 2020, this was an increase of over £400 million.

Of this £1.3 billion, over £730 million was lost to authorised fraud, where the account holder is tricked into approving a payment to an account controlled by the criminal.

“Authorised fraud losses rose again this year as criminals targeted people through a variety of sophisticated scams, with much of the criminal activity taking place outside the banking sector, often involving online and technology platforms,” said Katy Worobec, Managing Director of Economic Crime at UK Finance.

Conversely, the rest of this figure was classified as unauthorised fraud, where the account holder does not provide authorisation for the scam.

“Unauthorised fraud losses fell last year, but this type of criminal activity remains a major problem,” said Worobec.

Interest rates are rising within the equity release market. The average lifetime mortgage, otherwise known as an equity release product, now stands at 5.63%, the highest it has been since August 2016.

In fact, the average rate today has now breached 5% for the first time since April 2019.  

Rising in tandem with these rates are the number of people looking to use some form of equity release. Figures from the Equity Release Council for this year’s first quarter saw customers unlock £1.53 billion of property wealth in total. This was up 14% from the fourth quarter of 2021 – previously the busiest quarter on record.

Much of this could be owed to retirement plans hindered by the rising cost of living, forcing some consumers to consider new ways to plug the gap, such as by releasing wealth tied up in their home.

Indeed, further research from the Equity Release Council found that the majority of new customers have chosen drawdown over a lump sum option.

Last updated: 1st July 2022 12:00pm

All best fixed rate offers increase over the past week.

Short-term fixed rate bonds appear to be popular right now. In particular, there has been an increased interest in six to nine month bonds on our consumer website, which could be the result of savers expecting further base rate hikes in the short-term.

While this may be where consumers are most interested, there continues to be movement across the overall fixed rate market. Compared to last week, the top providers on the fixed rate bond market have all changed this week, with better rates. In the easy access market, Al Rayan Bank and Gatehouse Bank both changed their offers this week, as they attempt to offer the best expected profit rate on the market. Meanwhile, Secure Trust Bank also appears on our notice roundup.