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 Secured Loans in Focus
The UK secured loans industry has seen unprecedented growth over the past few years with hundreds of new companies entering what proved to be a lucrative marketplace.
Much of the growth has been fueled by the prominence of internet channels and people's willingness to use them now for important transactions like arranging a loan or renewing a life insurance policy.
With the internet providing easy application forms that can be completed in the comfort of ones home without the pressure of a salesperson, the option has proved very attractive to many people, hence the massive growth potential for any business that can operate effectively in the space.
Not that that is too easy to accomplish as many of the bigger banks have found. Some have been hampered by their inability to move quickly, something they have never had to do in the past when their marketplace was largely controlled by a few large and traditional loans and mortgage players
However the secured loans business itself is now facing threats from the regulatory lion that is the FSA. Many firms have been found wanting when it comes to customer fairness and sticking to the rules and some have already been hit with huge fines for not acting properley.
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British Banks loose customer confidence
Anyone looking for a loan or a mortgage right now or with some savings to invest will be treading slightly more carefully this month following the Northern Rock crisis which put the wind up many investors and saw huges queues of people outside NR's branches desperate to retrieve their savings, fearing the worst.
The run on the bank was the first such event for over a hundred years and Northern Rock's management have both the task of salvaging the loans and mortgage business that got them quickly to where they were and restoring the confidnce of savers who trusted the bank with their life savings.
Many people agree that Northern Rock cannot continue as the finance organisation it once was, but as to what exactly will happen to them next is a matter of much speculation.
Several financial vultures are already hovering, hoping for some cheap pickings, but the knock-on effect may not just be a bleaker future for Northern Rock. Other lenders of loans and mortgages have been rapidly re-organising their product ranges in an attempt to minimise their exposure to the factors that brought Northern Rock down to the ground with such a bump!
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