Remortgages and secured loans are both form of loans secured on the equity available on a residential property, and in spite of the fact that they have many things in common it is the secured loan we are considering here.
Equity is basically the difference between the value of a property and the mortgage balance. To give an example for those not too well acquainted with the term, equity, if a house or flat is worth 340,000 and the mortgage secured on it is’0,000 the equity on this particular property would be 150,000.
In the good old days before the recession, and how far away it all seems now, secured loans were available with all secured lenders at easily up to 95% LTV, ie. loan to value, and this applied to all secured loan lenders from Sterling, FNB. G.E., Future Mortgages, and so on and so forth, and this applied throughout the UK.
There were even 100% LTV secured loans available to self employed people and they could even declare their own income on bill head with out any back up proof of their actual earnings. This loan was available up to a secured loan sum of 75,000.
Perhaps these secured loans were too readily available when we think about it now, but although it all does seem rather reckless these self employed secured loan applicants were good business for the secured loan brokers as well as the lenders, and in general they did not default in payment.
It can be very frustrating in this current economic gloom for perfectly good clean credit worthy prospective secured loan borrowers to be unable to obtain a loan because of the very strict equity margins, and other tightening of criteria.
Last month Black Horse changed their maximum LTV to 80% compared to the previous 70%, some hope was felt throughout the ailing secured loan industry.
For the past two years or so equity has been king as it were, although status also counts.
With the further announcement this week that the secured loan lender from Cardiff, announcing an increase in their LTV from 70% to 80% it is to be hoped that the secured loan industry will experience a much needed revival.
Secured loan brokers in particular will welcome this revival.