The number of homeowners taking out secured loans is set to slow down over the next five years according to analysts at Datamonitor. Over the past five years the market for secured loans has increased by over 50%, however predictions indicate that loans secured against property will only increase at a rate of 5.3% a year up to 2009. Last year, £32.6bn was borrowed by homeowners secured against the value of their property but according to Datamonitor this will rise to £35.4bn a year by 2009. Datamonitor stated that the slowing demand for loans reflected a public perception of an ongoing "soft landing" for the UK housing market. Maya Imberg of Datamonitor said “The rapid growth rates the secured lending market has enjoyed over the last five years are set to cool"
The slowing in house price inflation that has been experienced over the past few months is seen by analysts to have discouraged homeowners from taking out loans secured against the increased value of their homes. Secured loans are normally seen as a sensible way to borrow for certain expensive items, such as home improvements, due to the higher borrowing limits and cheaper interest rates that are generally charged compared with an unsecured loan.
In the past it has been common to see that while the value of homes has risen, many families have increased their mortgage borrowing to release money tied up in the property, to pay off other debts or make expensive purchases. This mortgage equity withdrawal generated approximately £150 billion for homeowners’ between 2001 and 2004. The recent perceptions that a return to the risks of negative equity occurring as a result of buyers needing to obtain increasingly large initial mortgages to purchase property combined with the slowing down in house prices, has caused many to be more cautious in their borrowing.
In July 2005, the total UK personal debt stood at £1,114 billion and has been spiraling out of control at a rate of £1m every four minutes. The number of bankruptcy applications and home repossessions is also on the increase.
According to mortgage-arrears counselors White Horse Mortgage Services, the main reasons for people falling behind on their loan repayment include:
* Absorbing: a reduced income such as loss of overtime 26% * Financial mismanagement: 25% * Redundancy and unemployment: 14% * Accident, sickness or injury: 12% * Relationship breakdown: 7% * Over-indebtedness: 5% * Others: 11%
UK website moneynet has evolved its range of services to integrate the societal changes in debt management, by bringing out a price comparison service for debt consolidation loans, as part of its loan awareness campaign. Whilst moneynet offers a comprehensive loans guide, moneyfacts has also taken account of consumer behaviour and concern, with a dedicated loans glossary. In the US, lowermybills provides a loan price comparison service.
If you are thinking of taking up one of the many offers that you see on the television or in the daily newspapers. Offering to give you a personal loan that will consolidate your debt into one manageable monthly payment, then before you take them up on their offer, sit down and think it through. This is because they are not as super and as painless as they would like you to believe.
Most of us when it comes to special deals will have a natural thought process of saying that there must be a catch. Though with the consolidation loans, many seem to have a blind spot and only look at the loan amount column and the monthly payment column.
This is the trick that the loan companies only want us to see, as by putting it in as straight forward as this means that we only look at the payments, to decide that we can afford to pay this amount back. Due to it being less than what we are paying in total, to our individual debts.
By paying back the consolidation loan, we will look upon it as paying back the monthly repayments easier. Though what we fail to see past is the other trick that the loan company will install, in the look of the loan and that is the timescale in which you have to pay the loan back. By putting the payments against the amount of months that you have to pay the loan, many will feel that the term of the loan is not too bad. But the simple fact of the matter is that if you are paying the loan for 60 months, therefore simple arithmetic of 60 payments.
What you really must do is put it into years and your whole thinking will change and you may ask yourself, “Do I really want to still have this debt 5 years down the line?" If the answer is still “yes" then maybe you should look at what this consolidation loan is going to cost you over the term of repayments and maybe your answer may not be so stead fast.
The interest rate on most of these loans is “variable" so can change from one year to the next. Ok they may go down but more than likely they will rise, so if you do go for a consolidation loan make sure that the interest rate, is lower than that of your current debts. With another must do is make sure that you work out if you could pay off your existing debts in under the period in which you are taking the loan out for, then do so.
If you cant then the idea of having all of your other debts cleared in one fell swoop, is appealing, but comes with a word of warning.
DO NOT in any circumstances use the credit cards or store cards that you have cleared, as this will only mean that you will build up more debt, sinking you further into a financial swamp that you may find you cant get out of this time.
Both Rachel Lane & Peter Kenny are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Rachel Lane has sinced written about articles on various topics from Family Concerns, Finances and Unsecured Loans. About RachelRachel drives a Fiat Punto and also writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla:. Rachel Lane's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.
Peter Kenny has sinced written about articles on various topics from Credit Cards, Finances and Best Money Market. Peter Kenny is a writer for creditcards-gbFor additional articles and an extensive resource for everything about credit cards, please visit us at