by: Gordon Goodfellow

Secured bad credit loans used to be viewed with a bit of contempt in times gone by. Now they make total sense, and consumers should be glad. Official UK statistics show us why!

According to CreditAction.org.uk 'At the end of December 2005 the total UK personal debt was 1,158bn. Total secured lending on property in December 2005 was 965.2bn. This has increased 10.4% in the last 12 months.' This is during the time the average UK household debt is 7,786, and that is excluding mortgage debt.

Average domestic borrowing via credit cards, motor and retail finance deals has grown 5 fold in as many years. Yet the median home price in the United Kingdom in Late 2005 worked out at 186,431 (source: Office of Deputy Prime Minister).

The figures tell their own story. The considerably higher interest rates levied on credit cards, motor and shopping finance (store cards and the like) bite a considerable chunk from the typical person's monthly budget. The one sensible way out of this is fairly clear. Consumers need to convert the high interest debt into low interest debt by making use of their property by way of security. Even if people's credit worthiness is quite low it makes more sense to pay off the same amount of money at a reduced interest rate by means of a secured bad credit loan.

Now new lenders are becoming available which take into account all circumstances. This fresh market for secured bad credit loans has opened up in the last decade or so, and it has grown outside of the traditional ground of the High Street financial institutions. As long as borrowers have property then they may borrow as much cash as they like to pay back existing debts. Nor do consumers have to pay the outrageous interest that used to be the case with people whose credit worthiness was not the best.

Would it not make more sense to pay 60 a month in paying off that debt than 150 every month servicing precisely the same amount? Secured bad credit loans provide that chance.

Improvements in financial credit handling assessment mean that providers are quite prepared to consider secured bad credit loans where they were not acceptable in the past. The self-employed, especially, are not treated as they used to be, notably with the fresh attitude towards self-certification. Three years of audited books are no longer mandatory from those who like to work for themselves. People with CCJs, IVAs,

Increasingly consumers are taking bigger financial risks, especially people in business and the entrepreneurial minded. The secured bad credit loans market is evolving to take account of that because it needs to. Of course, people should not consider secured loans if they are not altogether certain they can meet the repayments. Those people should consider unsecured loan products (which are more expensive).

But, as CreditAction.org.uk states, the average price of a property in the UK is '186,431 (195,319 in England). British yearly house price inflation rose by 2.5 percent. Annual house price inflation in London was 2.2 per cent.' Putting all that capital to proper use by means of a secured credit loan is an option most consumers should think about, whatever their credit standing.