Consumer finance new business fell by 1% in January 2015 compared with the same month in 2014, according to the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA).

However, it remained 7% up in the 12 months to January.

While the value of second charge mortgage new business grew by 13% in January, the number of new second charge mortgages fell by 10% in the same period. Second charge lending totalled £51 in January, the FLA said.

Point-of-sale car finance grew by 5% in January compared with the same month a year earlier, but there was a modest fall in retail store and online credit of 5% over the same period.

Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, said: “FLA’s consumer finance sectors reported a relatively quiet start to 2015, but our latest research suggests that UK gross consumer credit will grow by about 7% in 2015 as a whole.”