So your financial circumstances dictate that you take out a secured loan. But how confident are you that you will get one? Do you require special terms or rates? Are there black marks in your past that may make things awkward?

Whilst it is untrue to say that anybody can get a secured loan these days, there are a number of different variations of the standard secured loan that cater for those with special circumstances.

For example, you may have made unwise financial judgements in the past and wound up with bad credit. In a sense this is the perfect situation for a secured loan as the borrower is taking out insurance against you doing the same thing again. An unsecured loan would leave the borrower high and dry if you defaulted on your payments, which is why the interest rate on unsecured loans is so high. With a secured loan they can sell your house should that eventuality occur. A Bad Credit Secured Loan is ideal for those with mortgage arrears or County Court Judgements and is becoming increasingly easier to obtain. An estimated one in five people in the UK have poor credit and lenders are starting to wake up to this fact. Whilst the APR may well be higher on Bad Credit Secured Loans if you shop around it should still be affordable. The same goes for Bad Debt Secured Loans.

Another reason you might want to take out a loan is to consolidate various debts from a number of different sources such as credit cards. Rolling these debts into one is the prime objective of a Secured Consolidation Loan. The APR on secured loans is likely to be considerably less than the interest charged on credit card balances so it makes sense to take this step financially as well as being a means of keeping track of your debts. However, it is vital that you learn from past mistakes and do not become as blasé about your loan as you have done about your unpaid bills. There is always the danger that by defaulting on payments you will end up in a worse position with even more crippling debts than you would have done before taking out the secured loan.

It can take a little while to get a secured loan set up, as there are various stages that need to be negotiated such as credit checks and applicant interviews. However it is sometimes possible to get a Fast Secured Loan, which bypasses a number of these steps. In order to obtain this you would really need to be a prime candidate for a loan, i.e. have a good credit rating and minimal debts, as the lender is taking a chance by not being as thorough in their research.

One of the chief reasons that people take out secured loans is as an alternative to re-mortgaging their house, and this is where a Secured Home Equity Loan comes into play. Re-mortgaging your house can be a time consuming and stressful business and call for various fresh surveys and valuations that many homeowners can well do without. There is also the matter of solicitors' fees and redemption charges from current lenders to take into consideration. Compared to this a Secured Home Equity Loan is relatively hassle-free and straightforward to apply for.

With this type of loan the collateral for security is not the entire property of the borrower but the amount that is not tied up in the mortgage. Say your house was worth £250,000 and the mortgage is £180,000 then the available equity would be £70,000. This is the amount that would be put up as collateral. Essentially a Secured Home Equity Loan frees up as cash the part of your house not tied up in mortgage repayments.

There are, however, issues with this form of loan. Because the secured loan is a second loan taken out on the borrower's property (the first being the mortgage), should the borrower fail to meet the schedule of payments it will be the primary loan, or mortgage, that will take priority and be settled first. This can leave the lender with little return on the initial loan or at least result in them having to wait a considerable amount of time for it whilst the primary loan is attended to. This added element of risk means that most lenders will charge substantially higher interest rates for a Secured Home Equity Loan.

Secured Loans are designed for people who, for whatever reason, are unable or unlikely to get an unsecured loan. This means that there are many variants available to fit the majority of requirements and circumstances. It may take time and effort to hunt out the best deal but there are numerous comparison sites and specialist firms on the Internet that can help do the job for you.