Consumer Credit Solutions (CCS) has announced that retailers received £10 million in loan approvals in just one week.
CCS, which provides point-of-sale finance options across the home improvement market to retailers, managed loan approvals of £10,051,029 in the week commencing 18 August.
Commenting on the uplift in approvals, CCS managing partner, Andy Wallace noted that the performance was “good news” because the sector is traditionally seen “a good barometer for the economy as a whole”.
CCS states that renewables have accounted for a large amount of the new growth. Wallace explains: “We’ve seen significant increase in the number of loan approvals for the renewables market.”
But it has been the solar PV market that has exhibited the strongest growth: “By the end of the year we expect a third of all lending to be for domestic solar PV,” added Wallace. “Being able to offer credit to customers looking to purchase solar panels has been a real game changer for the sector, and we expect it to continue to drive sales volumes up.”
The company said that it is the first time in its 15-year history that the business has exceeded £10 million in one week. “To achieve this level of approvals is unprecedented, because typically July and August are quieter months,” noted Wallace.
“Even though it’s not a true quarter, the upcoming trading period of September, October and November are traditionally the strongest period of the year across the home improvement sector. So given that business is so buoyant in the summer months that makes us extremely confident for the rest of the year and into 2015,” Wallace concluded.