Kerry is a young professional from London who worked hard to get herself on the property ladder and secured herself a two-bedroom maisonette in the heart of London. She acquired the property utilising one of her local Housing Association schemes and purchased 70% equity of her home. Three years later, Kerry had accumulated significant credit card debt following a program of home improvements. She found herself juggling minimum repayments and making little inroad into the debt. She needed a £25,000 debt consolidation loan to combine her monthly outgoings into one comfortable monthly repayment to improve cash flow. She could then start saving towards purchasing the remaining 30% equity, staircasing to 100% ownership.

The Challenge

After approaching her High Street bank and various unsecured loan lenders, Kerry was repeatedly declined for her £25,000 loan request. Kerry was tied into a low rate fixed mortgage with high Early Repayment Charges and didn’t want to lose her low rate by re-mortgaging.

At a dead end, Kerry decided to approach a mortgage advice firm. They diligently reviewed her financial situation – lending options seemed constricted but established that Kerry’s best option was a secured Home Loan, due to Kerry having two existing charges on her property, both with her mortgage provider and Local Housing Association.

The Solution

Kerry’s mortgage advisor recommended a secured loan with 1st Stop Home Loans who were happy to lend the full £25,000 as a third charge, with a competitive rate. Kerry was a great candidate as she had good job stability, her LTV was 89.5% and she was looking to rehabilitate her finances. After consolidating three credit cards and a loan, Kerry saved £470 a month by taking a 1st Stop Home Loan. She was delighted with the outcome as we helped her achieve her goals of a fixed debt repayment schedule with a comfortable monthly repayment and enabled her to start utilising her surplus cash to staircase towards 100% homeownership.

To enquire about more innovative solutions to help your clients email us at: BD@1ststop.co.uk

1SG has announced that one of its funders, Citibank, has agreed to increase its existing facility, doubling the amount available from £75m to £150m. The increase reaffirms Citibank’s support for 1SG and the near prime specialist finance sector and means that alongside its other funders, 1SG now has total debt facilities in excess of £225m.

The extended facility will be used to fund 1SG’s consumer lending product range which includes car finance loans, secured second charge mortgages and unsecured personal loans. It will enable 1SG to continue its exciting growth trajectory having seen its loan book pass £150m last month, lending £100m in the last twelve months.

Commenting, Alex Mollart, Founder and Chief Executive of 1st Stop Group, said:

“We are delighted to have been granted this extension to our facility. This significant increase demonstrates Citibank’s positive approach and their desire to work with us to understand our business needs.”