Average consumer credit card balances and revolving debt balances continue to rise to new highs in the UK. More and more, consumers are relying on credit to fund purchases of items that they cannot afford to pay for with funds or cash on hand. While the access to credit card and personal loan funds can often be useful, excess spending with these often higher rate loan products can be expensive to finance.



Just as consumers are using more debt, more consumers are finding themselves in situations with unmanageable loan and interest payments. As debt balances increase so do monthly payment requirements, and interest payments. Higher rate credit card and personal loan balances can have large total repayment costs when calculated for the life of the loan repayment. This is why consumers are more often looking for debt consolidation loans and options.

Homeowner loans are a common technique used by consumers faced with expensive and high debt. A homeowner loan is one in which funds and rates are obtained by securing the loan with personal property. The borrower offers the lender a lien or right of repossession against his property in order to reduce the lender’s perceived risk in making the loan. Lenders are in the business of making loans so they are always trying to find ways to award financing. However, they must balance this desire to award credit with an assessment of the borrower's risk of non-repayment. Having recourse against the borrower in the form of their property helps reduce the risk of loss to the lender.

Because their risk is reduced with a secured homeowner loan, lenders typically give their best interest rate offers and repayment terms to borrowers who have secured debt. This is true whether the borrower has excellent or bad credit. Some lenders require bad credit borrowers to secure personal loans. Since homeowner loan rates are regularly lower than credit cards and other non-secured personal loans, consumers turn to them as a lower cost source of funds.

This method of using secured homeowner loans for debt consolidation offers many benefits to consumers. First, their number of creditors might be reduced. Having multiple creditors can be overwhelming. Second, monthly payments might be substantially lower as homeowner loans are usually paid out over longer periods, perhaps ten years. Third, monthly interest and total interest payments on the loan are dropped, which also lowers the total repayment costs of the loan.