Go back a couple of years and you couldn't read a newspaper, open a magazine or turn on a television without seeing a loan advertisement.

 

How times have changed and what was once a flourishing and expanding industry is now one of contraction and uncertainty.

The UK loans industry which provided a variety loan types and hundreds of companies to choose from has been hit hard by a plethora of events, some planned but many unexpected.

The fact that loans companies were doing very well, employed more and more people and were making healthy profits brought it into the spotlight of the finance regulators. They piled on more and more rules and operating processes that served to protect vulnerable customers but also strangled the life out of many businesses.

 

Then came the double hammer blow of restricted credit lines and falling house prices. The loans industry of two years ago was able to serve just about any customer, whatever their credit profile. The part of the industry that offered secured loans had the benefit of rising property prices to de-risk their loans. But now no-one wants to fuel a lending market that carries so many additional risks and, with house prices falling, the attraction of secured loans has also lost it's glow.

 

Big names of years gone by, like Easy Loans, have disappeared and bold new entrants like Picture came to a shuddering halt when they stopped advertising at the start of the year and stopped lending altogether in March. Pictures Loans say they are in negotiation with new investors but having been closed for new business now for almost 3 months the prospects for the firm are still uncertain.