Consumer finance new business grew by 6% in 2025
New figures released today by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew by 10% in December 2025 compared with the same month in 2024. In 2025 as a whole, new business in this market was 6% higher than in 2024.
The credit card and personal loans sectors together reported new business 9% higher in December than in the same month in 2024, while the retail store and online credit sector reported a fall in new business of 2% over the same period.
Commenting on the figures, Geraldine Kilkelly, director of research and chief economist at the FLA, said: “The consumer finance market reported a strong end to 2025 with growth across most of the main finance products in December. For FLA members, new lending of over £122bn was a record year.
“With inflation and interest rates on a downward path this should support further growth in 2026 as FLA members continue to support households make essential purchases.”
Table 1: New consumer credit lending
| Dec 2025 | % change on prev. year | 3 months to Dec 2025 | % change on prev. year | 12 months to Dec 2025 | % change on prev. year | |
| Total FLA consumer finance (£m) | 10,388 | 10 | 30,672 | 7 | 122,465 | 6 |
| Data extracts: | ||||||
| Retail store and online credit (£m) | 1,040 | -2 | 2,932 | -3 | 9,095 | -4 |
| Credit cards & personal loans (£m) | 5,930 | 9 | 16,460 | 6 | 64,143 | 5 |
| Second charge mortgages (£m) | 182 | 41 | 608 | 33 | 2,142 | 24 |
| Car finance (£m) | 2,817 | 15 | 9,212 | 7 | 41,119 | 6 |