Best Home Improvement Loans
Best Home Improvement Loans
When done correctly, making home improvements can not only make your home a more enjoyable place to live, but can also add value for when it’s time to sell. Whilst making improvements to your home is often a cheaper alternative to buying and moving home; there are still a number of costs associated with it, which is why it’s common for people to require finance to fund these home improvements. So if you are one of these people, you might be wondering what funding options are available to you.
Home improvement loans tend to be available in two forms:
Secured Loan
To a certain extent, secured loans can be used for pretty much any purpose (including home improvements). A secured loan requires you to use the equity that you own in your home as collateral against the loan. You can often expect to receive larger loans, more attractive interest rates, and more flexible lending criteria with secured loans as there is less of a risk to lenders of not making a return on their money. However, as your home is used as collateral against the loan you run the risk of losing your home, should you not be able to keep up with repayments.
Personal Loan
Many lenders offer unsecured personal loans designed specifically for funding home improvements. An unsecured personal loan is taken over the short term (typically between 1 and 5 years). Unsecured loans are often favourable over secured loans as they do not require that your home is put up as collateral. Additionally, these loans can provide funding for improvement projects of up to £25,000. Whilst the time it takes to process an application is usually far shorter with unsecured personal loans, they tend to have higher interest rates and are harder to obtain if you suffer from bad or adverse credit.
Requirements
Like any financial product, the set of requirement criteria will vary depending on which lender you use and whether you are applying for a personal or secured home improvement loan. Generally, when looking to take out a home improvement loan, lenders will ask that you:
- You’re at least 21 years old
- You’re a UK homeowner
- You have a regular gross annual income of at least £6,000
- You have a bank or building society with a direct debit facility
- You have not been declared bankrupt, nor had a CCJ or an IVA within the last 6 years.
Find the best deal on your home improvement loan
As there are a number of different funding options available to you, it’s important to shop around. Additionally we also recommend that you contact a mortgage broker who can evaluate your situation, give you access to exclusive deals and help you choose a package that suits your personal circumstances.
To compare the latest homeowner loan deals with other leading loan rates we have partnered with Fluent Money who are the largest UK independent homeowner loan broker.
Click here for the best UK homeowner loan deals from £3,000.