Secured Loans for Homeowners


Obtaining the correct secured loan to suit your circumstances is an important decision, there are many loan lenders and providers to choose from, most of which will also provide free secured loan advice and also, give you no obligation secured loans quotations.

Always check that the loan company or introducer are a registered UK company (you can check this at the goverment Companies House website at http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk by using the "Webcheck" function, simply enter the company registration number to see the latest information. All UK companies must by law be registered here, and their present status including annual returns is shown.

Also, the loan company should hold a valid UK Credit license which they should quote on their correspondance and show on their marketing, advertising and website or internet services including email and newsletter distribution. The secured loan company must comply with the regulatory body, FSA (Financial Services Authority) http://www.fsa.gov.uk/ who are the regulators of the financial services industry in the UK

If you find that the company who are supplying your secured loan does not fit all these basic requirements, then it would be ill advised to continue dealing with them and you would be much safer and secure to find a provider who does.

If you are searching for an on-line secured loan, and you are using a website to apply, then double check that the company is a valid one, again check the details, and as a safety check look for their contact information and phone the number provided, then telephone to confirm that they are a genuine company. Also, if you apply via a form on their website, make sure that the form is secure, that is, a secure connection is created and encryption is used so that no-one else can see your data. You can check this by looking at your internet browser address bar, the website name should change from the suffix "http:// .........." to "https:// ......" and a padlock symbol should also be shown. A good secured loan provider will inform you that you are being directed to a secure webpage to submit your form.

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Home Owner Loans for Employed and Self Employed


The easiest and most popular way to obtain a secured loan is to secure the loan on property your currently own. This is called a homeowner loan and is available to employed applicants as a standard loan and self employed applicants as a self employed homeowner loan or sometime simply called a self employed secured loan (usually secured on your home)

Unusually, it is easier to find a suitable secured homowner loan if you still have an outstanding mortgage on your house, (this is called a 2nd charge secured loan) than it is if you own your home ouright and have no mortgage !

Loan companies normally impose limits on how much you can borrow depending firstly on your LTV (loan to value) and this is simply the ammount of money you still own on your property against how much it is worth. i.e if your home still has £60,000 outstanding on your mortgage and your home is worth £100,000 then your loan to value is 60%. The maximum LTV that most lenders will loan to is 85%. The rules for self employed home owner loans are often slightly different and you may find the maximum LTV is lower.

Your ability to pay is also an important factor, but this can often be offset by extending the loan term to suit your own circumstances, and since debt consolidation is one of the main reasons people chose to apply for a home owner loan, then very often the overall monthly outgoings go down, leaving more expendable income after the loan completion.

Homeowner loans and secured loans have advantages in that the loan rate (APR) is often much lower than an unsecured loan and this low interest rate loan can comnpare very favourably with most other types of loans lending services, although it is worth to note that if taken over a longer term then the actual sum repayed may be higher, thus it is worth discusing this with your secured loan provider.

Other advantages of secured loans for homeowners is that poor or bad credit history will not prevent the applicant from being considered and even missed mortgage payments or CCJs do not prevent you from obtaining secured lending although all circumstances are taken into consideration and of course may result in a larger interest rate being applied over the term of the loan.

Finally, it important to point out that secured loans and homeowner loans are secured against your home, and you are at risk of losing your home if you do not keep up your payments. Again it is advisable to fully discuss this with your lender when applying for your loan.