Firstly, what is a homeowner loan? In fact, it is exactly the same as a secured loan and as the name suggests, you need to own your own home to be able to borrow money from a lender in this way. This means that you must have a mortgage on the property you live in and nearly always, you will be need to have a proportion of equity available in the property, to secure the loan against.

In this way, the lender has guaranteed that in the event of you defaulting on the loan and in the worst case scenario, they have to force a sale of the property, they will be able to get their money back.

In today's modern, consumer-oriented world, the vast majority of homeowners have a mortgage and therefore, there are many people who will qualify for this type of loan. The lender will take into account a number of factors from the application, which may include the affordability of the loan, whether there is enough equity as we discussed earlier and how much (if any) adverse the applicant has.

Whilst the level of adverse is an important factor, it may not necessarily stop you from taking out a secured homeowner loan in the future. Examples of types of adverse are:-

- Loan arrears or defaults

- Mortgage arrears or defaults

- Late payments

- CCJ's

- A high number of loan applications in recent days, weeks or months leading to a lowered credit rating

There are others of course, but these may be amongst the main ones.

Adverse suggests that you may be a higher risk for the lender than an applicant who has a clean payment record. The lender can still offer to lend you the money you need but you may expect that the level of equity that you have in your property may need to be higher than would otherwise be the case or that you may be asked to accept a slightly higher interest rate or even a lower amount than you originally wished to borrow.

It all very much depends on the circumstances and the lender's criteria as some are more strict than others. You will need to apply in the first instance, to see whether you are accepted or not.

What Could I Use The Money For?

There may be different rules for loans for commercial or business use, these aside, you should be able to use the money for any personal purpose. Things like:-

- Debt consolidation

- Home improvements

- A new car, motorbike or caravan

- A luxury, far-off holiday

- A wonderful wedding with all the trimmings

You could probably think of a number of other amazing uses for your loan, but your lender will normally be absolutely fine with any of the above and many more besides.

In fact, it's very easy to apply for a homeowner loan. There are many online lenders and brokers to choose from. Just complete the online enquiry form which will be accessible on their site. This should only take a minute or so. Then submit the information and you may well find that you will have a loan consultant calling you with a decision in principle within only a few minutes. They will then send a credit agreement out in the post for you to sign and return together with a number of other documents to assist with your application. These may include:-

- Proof of ownership of the property

- Proof of income

- Proof of citizenship of the UK

- Proof that you live there (a utility bill for instance)

There may be other things as well of course, but these may depend on what you are looking to do and on the criteria of your chosen lender.

Either way, you may well have the funds within a couple of weeks, so don't let the fact that you have adverse stop you from applying. It's always worth asking the question. You never know, you may have been worrying all of this time completely unnecessarily.

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