Figures released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show that consumer finance new business grew by 18% in January to £5.6 billion, compared with the same month in 2013.

Second charge mortgage lending grew by 47% to £44 million and personal loans and credit cards were also up by 13% to almost £3.2 billion over the same period.

Retail store and online credit grew by 21% to £482 million in January, compared with the same month last year.

Geraldine Kilkelly, head of research and chief economist at the FLA, said: “January saw the strongest rise in new business for more than a year.

“Private consumption growth will continue to be an important component of the economic recovery in 2014, supported by consumer credit.

“New FLA sponsored research by Oxford Economics suggests that there will be growth across most of the main consumer credit sectors this year.”