Secured loans

A secured or homeowner loan is a type of loan suitable for people who own a home with a mortgage. This loan is separate from your current mortgage. You can borrow between £10,000 and £500,000+ over 1 to 30 years, subject to an affordability assessment.

This type of loan uses your home as security. This means the lender could take your home if you don’t make repayments. Since it’s less risky for lenders, you can often borrow more compared to unsecured personal loans. You may also receive lower interest rates and have longer to pay it back. People often use secured loans to pay off other debts or to make home improvements.

How getting loan works with our partner ClearScore:

1. Eligibility check: fill in the online form and ClearScore will run an eligibility and soft credit check. This will not affect your credit score.
2. Loan options: if you pass, you will see a list of loans showing how much you could borrow and the costs. If you choose a secured loan a qualified adviser will call to go through your application.
3. Payment: if you get approved for a loan, the money will be sent directly to your account. For unsecured loans this is normally on the same day you apply. For secured loans this might take several weeks.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR)

The Annual Percentage Rate, or APR, includes both the interest rate and any fees over the year. This gives you the overall cost of borrowing, making it easier to compare different loans.

Representative APR

Representative APR is the rate lenders use to give you an idea of the APR most people get with their loan. It is calculated from the APR that 51% of accepted borrowers receive, or lower. However, it's important to note that not everyone will get this rate.

Personal APR

Personal APR is the APR offered to you based on your personal circumstances and credit history. Your Personal APR might be higher or lower than the Representative APR. As this depends on your financial situation, loan amount and loan terms.

Annual Percentage Rate of Charge (APRC)

The Annual Percentage Rate of Charge or APRC is the total cost of a secured loan over its entire term shown as an annual percentage. The APRC is provided to help you compare different offers.

Interest rate

An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money and is shown as a percentage of the amount you borrow.

Secured loan

A secured loan is a type of loan where you use something valuable, like your house, to help get the money. If you do not pay the loan back, the lender can take that item. This makes the loan safer for the lender, so they might let you borrow more money or charge less interest.

Unsecured personal loan

An unsecured personal loan means if you miss payments you are unlikely to lose your assets, like your home or your car. If you do miss payments this will affect your credit score.

A secured loan is money borrowed or ‘secured’ against an asset, such as your home. An unsecured loan is not tied to an asset. For more details, see our guide on secured and unsecured loans.

There are risks involved in getting a secured loan. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage or any other loan secured on it. So, even though it’s called a secured loan, the lender has the security, not you.

You might also face early repayment charges, which could make it more expensive overall.

Missing payments can also harm your credit score, which might make it harder to get credit in the future.