If you have good credit, a homeowner, your mortgage is paid on time every month and you are thinking about borrowing money, the home equity route may be the way to go. What this allows is suppose your home is worth substantially more than your current mortgage, for example, your mortgage is for £100,000 but your home is worth £200,000, you will have an equity of £100,000 in the value of your home that you can borrow against.
A home equity loan can be used for many purposes:
However, it must be remembered that such loans are not appropriate for everybody in every situation. They should generally only be used for large projects of long term needs. For smaller loans, it may be better to look at other options such as personal loans. The rate and terms, as with all loans, will vary depending on your payment history and the amount and length of the loan.
The loan can be offered as a lump sum or as a credit line. The lump sum gives you the whole amount of the loan all at once and interest is payable on it immediately. With a credit line, you only use the money as needed, up to an agreed maximum, and interest only accrues on the amount you use.
You should always carefully review your finances before taking on more debt, especially if it is to be secured on your home. Using your home as security means that if repayments aren’t made on the loan, you could lose your house. It is therefore important that you are comfortable with the amount you are borrowing. You should also look at the differences in costs between a lump sum and a line of credit and decide carefully which one better suits your needs.