The first 6 months of 2014 saw secured loan lending volumes increase by 32.8%, the latest Secured Loan Index has revealed.

During the first half of the year lending volumes hit £74,860,000 which marked the highest 6 month period of sustained lending since the end of 2008.

Matt Tristram, co-founder and director of Loans Warehouse & Clearly Loans, said: “The sector has definitely found a level it’s comfortable at, which at present is around the £50m per month mark.

“However we believe there is about to be a potential game changer with the launch of Optimum Credit.

“There is some mystery around the Cardiff based lender as there is no published matrix and a purely score based system, something the industry has always steered away from, priding itself on manual underwriting, so it will be interesting to see how brokers react to a new way of working.

“Is the secured loan industry going to compete with mortgage lenders on rate in the coming years?”

In a statement last week, RBS announced they would be providing a £20m funding line to Optimum Credit.

Michael Murray of RBS said: “The provision of the facility to Optimum Credit reinforces RBS’s support for the secured loan industry and the positive fundamentals we see over the coming years. We remain committed to supporting existing clients and open to looking at new opportunities.”

“Optimum was an exciting transaction for the team given it is a start up who are doing things a little bit differently and is backed by an experienced management team who have an in depth knowledge of their market.”