Amid the many ways COVID-19 has brought about new business opportunities, financing fintech company Wisr (ASX: WZR) continues to benefit from Aussies being more financially responsible through the pandemic, reporting a 35% increase in loan originations, driven by vehicle financing.

For the quarter ending 31 December 2020, Wisr continued its upward momentum to deliver its highest ever loan origination with $83.8m written which represented a 35% increase on the September quarter. It further brought Wisr’s total loan book to $390.5m as customers have used spare time through the pandemic consolidating their debts, with Wisr offering some of the industry’s most competitive rates.

“The consumer sentiment shift we witnessed from COVID-19, for better financial products and services, has certainly not slowed down,” said Wisr CEO, Anthony Nantes.

“Our new secured vehicle product has also significantly increased the total addressable market for Wisr. Combined with our differentiated business model, consumer proposition, technology platforms and funding capability, we’re in prime position to continue to aggressively grow our new loan originations, with significant room to scale in the second half of the year and beyond.”

Without any brick-and-mortar retail locations, Wisr is well adapted to pandemic conditions which has led the lender’s loan book to surge from $163.3m at the end of 2019 to $390.5m at the end of 2020 – a 239% increase.

While customers were offered interest-free periods through the pandemic to assist with repayments, Wisr has maintained the quality of its loan book to increase the average credit score of its customers from 732 in the September quarter, to 757 which is well above the national average of 600.

The growth follows Wisr’s launch of a vehicle lending up to $60,000 in September 2020 which provided access to a $33 billion addressable market at a time when Australians are shunning public transport in response to the pandemic.