Startline Motor Finance secures £375m J.P. Morgan credit facility

Startline Motor Finance has secured a £375 million credit facility from J.P.Morgan in what is the third renewal and upsize of the facility between the two companies.

Startline said the company had created a market niche with its flexible approach to the motor finance sector and reported seeing record levels of business, despite the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Paul Burgess, Startline Motor Finance's chief executive, said: "We’re very pleased to sign this deal. Even since the last facility from J.P.Morgan last year, we have seen our workforce increase from 80 to 130 and our new business volumes increase by 20%. Startline is very much in a growth phase.

“The specific lending philosophy that we have pioneered in the motor finance sector is increasingly coming into its own, thanks both to greater understanding of our proposition from introducers such as dealers and to current economic conditions."

Startline says its flexible approach to lending had increased relevance amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dealers need to be considering their lending panels to ensure they are fit for the Coronavirus era used car market, said Starline. 

Burgess said: "We’ve always believed that it makes no sense and is unfair that buyers who fall slightly below prime lender requirements that they very often end up using sub-prime offerings, with the poor costs and conditions that implies. There should be other options. 

“In recent years, with a shifting social and economic landscape signifying changes in home ownership and employment patterns, we’ve heavily promoted the fact that a move towards products like ours makes absolute sense.

With the likely negative economic effects of the pandemic on the economy and car buyers, this will become even more apparent."