20 May: Increase Reflects Rising Costs Of Home Improvements
Nationwide, the UK’s largest building society, has doubled the size of its personal loans from £25,000 to £50,000 to help customers plug the gap between borrowing availability and rising construction and labour costs, writes Laura Howard.
The loans, which represent the largest unsecured borrowing on the market, are available only to Nationwide’s current account customers.
Over a third (35%) of those taking out personal loans of between £20,000 and £25,000 with the society plan to use the money for home improvements.
But costs for a typical house extension range from £45,000 to £75,000, according to trade website, MyBuilder and are predicted to rise by a further 15% over the next five years, according to the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS).
Half of those carrying out building projects (57%) have had to already ‘shave or shelve’ their plans due to lack of finances, according to Nationwide.
Darren Bailey, head of personal loans at Nationwide, said: “With the impact…