Strong demand for car loans propelled the value of personal loan drawdowns to the highest level recorded during the second quarter of the year.
In total 60,674 loans worth a total of €641m were provided during the April to June period.
That was up 7.6% in volume and 18.9% in value, when compared to the same period last year.
Of those, €224m were car loans, with 17,794 drawn down valued at €224m, new figures from the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) show.
“Looking more closely at key categories, car loan drawdowns in particular continued to rise by 12.4% in volume on the same period last year, while values jumped by 18.9% with the average car loan up by €683 to €12,605,” said Brian Hayes, chief executive of BPFI.
“While there was a modest increase in the number of home improvement loans, up 1.7% year on year, they were valued at €202m, 17.5% higher than the previous year and represented the highest jump in average value, increasing by more than €1,600 to €12,568.”
There was also a total of 26,794 loans worth €214m were drawn down for other reasons, up 8.3% in volume and 20.1% year on year.
They were used for purposes such as education, holidays and special occasions like weddings.
Green personal loans climbed to €30.1m, up 2.9% year on year, while the number of green loans also rose by 5.1% over the same period to 1,314.
On average a green loan was more than twice the value of an average personal loan at €22,933, compared with the average for all loans at €10,560.
“We expect to see continued growth in the category in the months ahead supported by the introduction in April of the Government’s Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme to help make home energy upgrades more accessible and affordable,” said Mr Hayes.
Article Source – Personal loan drawdowns hit highest level ever in second quarter – RTE
