Secured Loans Secured Loans are available to home owners only. This type of loan is often popular due to the advantages it has. With a secured loan the lender has security on the loan amount as it is secured on your house, hence it is for home owners only. With this confidence of security the lender can be more lenient with this type of loan and so are more likely to consider adverse or bad credit applicants and so these loans often have an easier acceptance rate over Unsecured loans. With a secured loan the lender will need to asses the equity available in your house. The more equity you have the larger loan amount you may be able to apply for. Equity is worked out by taking away all loans and mortgages etc secured on your house, from the value of your house. You could opt for two arrangements when considering repayments. You could opt for a shorter term for the loan and so reduce the overall cost of credit, or you could take out a longer term for the loan which will spread repayments out over a longer period and so reduce the monthly repayments; this is a great advantage of a secured loan as it allows for easier management of repayments.   There are many reasons why people opt for a loan which can include biying a car, home improvements which in turn can raise the value in your house, going on holiday and (especially after the festive season) consolidation debt. Debt consolidation loans are often more benifitial to the borrower than credit cards which can all to easily help you build up your debt, especially after the initial "0% interest period" when the high interest rates take affect. Other Useful Sites www.studentloan.com Student Loans from Citi Bank - US Visitors Secured Personal Loans - Debt Consolidation UK www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov - US consolidation site