Brightstar Financial believes the second charge market as a whole will benefit from Shawbrook Bank’s announcement of a £200,000 maximum loan size.

The loan size on Shawbrook’s Platinum plan has been increased to £200,000, with rates from 7.5%.

The deal also includes the facility to make monthly or lump sum overpayments without penalty and an early repayment notice period of only 28 days with a £195 fee, means that clients are free to pay down or pay off at any time.

“We are getting a lot of calls from brokers used to remortgaging clients, who need to raise capital and keen to help clients either locked into their mortgage or facing the loss of their interest only status if they move to a new lender,” said Bradley Moore, Brightstar Financial’s director of secured loans.

“Shawbrook’s secured loan facility, with its increased loan size ceiling, will enable our brokers’ clients to raise capital without being tied into a fixed term thanks to the flexibility inherent in the product. I can see second charge lending becoming an increasingly viable option to remortgaging, with products like this being made available to help clients caught in the mortgage trap.”

Maeve Ward, head of sales, secured lending, at Shawbrook Bank, added: “We have listened to feedback from our partners and increasing our loan size was one of the requests that we considered.

“We are delighted to be working together with Brightstar and for the right applicant, our new £200,000 secured loan size now makes capital raising an even easier, cost effective and flexible way to access funds.”