The latest second charge figures from the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) show a welcome rise, but the industry still needs to do more to engage a wider intermediary audience, Tim Wheeldon, Fluent Money’s COO, has argued.

The trade body reported that there was a 13% monthly increase over last January’s figures but also an 8% increase in value.

Wheeldon said: “Our own experience at Fluent for Advisers, our intermediary dedicated arm, shows that business introduced by brokers is rising strongly. This is a good sign that the negativity surrounding some of the recent second charge commentary has not derailed the growing acceptance of the wider use of second charge lending.

“However, I am sure that we, along with our peers, will not be sitting back. The fact remains that wider acceptance of second charge as a legitimate and highly user friendly alternative source of capital raising funds is still very much our goal. Our focus in 2018 is to ensure that we engage an even broader cross section of the intermediary sector to champion second charge mortgages.”