Consumer lender Wisr had to absorb a very large increase in finance costs in the September quarter, resulting from an increase in its loan book and a “material increase” in funding rates.

The company said that over the near term it is cutting back its growth plans, increasing “front book yield”, reducing employee expenses “materially” and “pausing all new credit product expansion and/or go-to-market expenditure”.

Wisr released a September quarter update yesterday, detailing a 13.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase in its loan book, a 20.4 per cent increase in revenue and a 58 per cent increase in finance costs.

Finance costs of A$9.9 million in the quarter were more than double the $4.2 million of costs in the September quarter last year.

The company has funding facilities, including two warehouses and two ABS transactions, worth a total of $1.1 billion, of which $282 million is available.

It originated $186 million during the quarter and the loan book grew from $780 million in the June quarter to $885 million in the September quarter.

It was able to improve its bottom line by cutting operating expenses during the quarter. The 9 per cent reduction to $10 million was largely thanks to staff cuts.

High funding costs are not Wisr’s only concern. Loan write-offs have grown from $1.1 million in the September quarter last year to $2.8 million in the latest quarter.

It reported a cash EBITDA loss of $1.5 million for the quarter, following a cash EBITDA loss of $2.3 million in the previous quarter.