Loans are a way to raise money you need today – but won’t necessarily have until a later date. Used wisely, a loan can be a good way of spreading out the cost of an expensive purchase, making it affordable.There are two main categories of loans: secured loans and unsecured loans.

Secured loans are loans which are secured against something of high value. For example, a mortgage is one kind of secured loan – the borrower will use their house as ’security’ which the creditor could, if necessary, force the sale of if they failed to repay the mortgage as agreed. Mortgages aren’t the only form of secured loan, though – a homeowner may be able to secure a further loan against their property if they have enough equity (basically, if their home is worth significantly more than any mortgage / loan they already have secured against it). (more…)