A secured loan is a convenient way of borrowing a larger sum of money and repaying it over a longer period of time than is usually possible with an unsecured personal loan. In simple terms a “secured” loan gives security to lender, not to you, borrower. It is any loan which requires borrower to provide lender with some form of security other than just a promise to pay.

A secured loan is usually provided with a lower interest rate than an unsecured loan because you will have secured your property against it. They are normally quicker to arrange because lender has some security to offset against loan should you default on repayments. A Secured loan enables homeowners to borrow capital and offset risk against value of their property. This means that you are effectively using your property to guarantee loan.

Secured loans have a range of distinct benefits over other types of borrowing. Because of lower risk to loan provider, they pass on reduced interest rates to property owners. However, they've got more to offer than just attractive Annual Percentage Rates (APR).

Secured loans come with all sorts of flexible repayment terms that will make it easier for you to repay, so it's important to read small print. Clauses to keep an eye out for include: ‘payment holidays' whereby you can halt repayments for an agreed period of time, and favourable redemption charges - so you won't be penalised if you want to pay loan back early.

If you find you have several monthly payments on a number of different loans you can make things easier for yourself by bringing them all together and taking out one single loan to pay off total debt. This would mean that you only have one monthly payment. Paying off one large sum of money rather than lots of smaller debts is easier to manage.

You will make one monthly payment where you had been making multiple payments before your Debt Consolidation loan started. You only have to remember to make one repayment each month, rather than trying to juggle and keep track of several different ones.