Over the course of the past few years, it has become increasingly more difficult for someone to obtain the loan they require, whether it is for a relatively small unsecured loan, or a secured loan for large purchases or projects.

But one loan broker company has just announced the addition of a new provider or secured loans to its panel of lenders, with a new product for the secured loans market.

The secured loan broker, Loans Warehouse, have said that they are now offering a new loan product to customers from the provider Equifinance, who are offering a market leading secured loan deal for borrowers, even those with a poor credit history.

The new secured loan deal is now available through Loans Warehouse and offers secured loans of up to 75 per cent loan to value, even for those individuals with an impaired credit history, including County Court Judgements (CCJ’s), unlimited past arrears on home owner loans and mortgages and loan arrears on unsecured loans and credit cards.

The loan deal is available to any owner occupier, even on a semi commercial property and will ignore any previous loan defaults, CCJ’s and current arrears on unsecured loans and cards. The product is also open to self employed borrowers who are able to show adequate income for the loan.

The new loan product is only available through the services of a loan broker or financial adviser, therefore anyone looking for an adverse credit secured loan will need to seek professional advice on the matter.

Matt Tristram of Loans Warehouse said “The secured loans market has for some time offered clients with poor credit a way of borrowing money not available through re mortgaging but our new product from Equifinance offers something extra.”

Although the home owner loan and mortgage market has been struggling to keep its head above water for some time now, one area which is showing significant growth is that of equity release loans and lifetime mortgages, as retired people use the value locked up in their home for a variety of reasons.

A recent survey from the equity release loan broker, Responsible Equity Release, has found that somewhere in the region of 36 per cent of all equity release loans being taken out at the moment are being used to repay existing debt on outstanding home owner loans and mortgages.

The number of people using an equity release loan to repay their previous loans and debts has seen an increase of 31 per cent over the course of last year, compared with the figures for the previous twelve months.

Responsible Equity Release said that the main reason for this trend was due to the fact that more people are getting to the end of their home owner loan to find that their endowment policy or other investment vehicle has not performed well enough, leaving a shortfall on their loan. The other main reason was due to higher living costs which have meant home owners have not been able to afford to make overpayments on their loan.

A further 23 per cent of equity release loan customers said that they were using the funds to help family members who were struggling to pay off their own loan debts, or to help fund a larger deposit for those looking for a new homeowner loan.

Responsible Equity Release said that the number of enquiries they receive had increased by 91 per cent over the course of the past twelve months.

Steve Wilkie of the loan broker said “Five or six years ago, the majority of people releasing equity did so to improve the quality of their retirement, but these days a growing number of equity release loans are bein used simply to make ends meet.”

Cheap Loans.co.uk, along with several other companies, has been targeted by criminals operating a loan scam.

These individuals are contacting people who have applied online for a personal loan, claiming to be from Cheap Loans and telling people that they have been accepted for a loan and that the money will be in their account within a short time. THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT FROM CHEAP LOANS!

The applicant is then asked to send a money transfer voucher, such as U Cash, Moneygram, or Western Union, for example. The explanation for this could be for various reasons such as: admin fee, first repayment amount, tax, or to prove that the applicant is able to pay the loan.

These people may seem very convincing, but if you receive a call of this nature it is a scam- you have not been approved for a loan and they will just take your money and possibly come back for even more.

Cheap Loans will only pass client details to a reputable loan broker, who will then contact you and will not ask for any fees in this manner. Cheap Loans will NEVER contact you directly or charge up front fees for a loan.

If you have been contacted in this manner DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY!

You may contact Cheap Loans directly via the contact page on our website if you require more information and you should contact the police immediately, giving them as much information as possible.

For some time now, many individuals in the UK are living on loans and credit cards to make ends meet with their finances and pay their bills, with Christmas being a particularly busy time for people applying for a new personal loan or using their credit card.

But the latest figures from the Bank of England have shown that many people seem to be taking their personal loan and credit card debts more seriously, as the amount of outstanding consumer credit on unsecured loans and credit cards actually fell over the course of December last year.

Although the levels of consumer credit increased by around £0.4 billion as a six month average up to the end of last year, the figures for the month of December alone showed that the overall amount of unsecured loan and credit card borrowing fell by £0.4 billion.

This shows that many people were making a serious attempt to reduce their personal loan and card debts in the run up to Christmas, at a time when people are traditionally taking out new loans and running up large balances on their credit card.

Within the consumer credit market, which includes unsecured loans and credit cards, the twelve month average growth rate fell by 0.7 per cent to reach just 1.8 per cent.

Within these figures, the amount of credit card borrowing for the month of December remained around the average figure for the whole of the year, however, the amount of borrowing through unsecured loans fell by £0.4 billion.

At the same time, gross lending on home owner loans and mortgages increased by £13 billion throughout the month of December, which is significantly more than the six month average figure of just £11.9 billion worth of new loans.

A large number of potential first time buyers across the UK are currently stuck in rented accommodation, due to the fact that they are unable to afford to buy a house of their own and manage the monthly repayments on a home owner loan or mortgage.

But new research from the Halifax has shown that buying a house and making repayments on a home owner loan is actually significantly cheaper than paying rent each month for the equivalent type of property.

In fact, typical repayments on a home owner loan or mortgage are around 16 per cent, or £116 a month, cheaper than paying rent on a similar property, according to the figures from the Halifax.

In December last year, the average cost of paying a home owner loan on a three bedroom house was £600 per month, whereas the average rent on the same type of property stood at £716 per month.

The Halifax have said that the reason for the drop in the cost of buying a house is largely due to the fact that house prices have fallen significantly since 2008 and that, due to the particularly low base rate of interest from the Bank of England, there is now a wide choice of cheap loans available for potential buyers to choose from.

However, although the monthly loan cost of buying a house is much cheaper than renting, the problem for many would be buyers is still that of being able to raise a suitably large deposit to meet lender’s strict criteria on maximum loan to value levels.

In addition to the large deposit requirement, other fees also include solicitor’s fees and things like valuation fees and stamp duty, which all add to the cost of the home owner loan when buying a house.

However, whilst home owner loan rates remain low and are expected to do so for some considerable time, the average rent has increased at a rate of 9 per cent since 2009.