Banks ramp up mortgage lending Banks and building societies ramped up mortgage lending over the summer in a sign that efforts to boost the flow of credit are having an impact. The Bank of England said overall availability of secured credit to households increased significantly in the quarter to September, in contrast to previous expectations for little change. However, most of the products were aimed at people with big deposits and the Bank noted that credit-scoring criteria tightened over the quarter. The overall availability of credit to the corporate sector was reported to have remained unchanged for small, medium and large companies. The Bank of England and the Treasury's £80 billion Funding for Lending scheme was fired into action at the beginning of last month to unclog the flow of credit to households and businesses. Yesterday, the Bank said it had seen an "early impact" of its scheme as borrowing rates begin to come down, but warned it might not be able to prevent total lending from falling over the next 18 months as wider global economic troubles continue to weigh on markets. In its credit conditions survey today, the Bank said mortgage availability is expected to increase further over the next three months, including to borrowers spread across loan-to-value ratios.