Since the slump in house prices during the early-to-mid 1990s, millions of UK homeowners have seen the value of their property rise by considerable amounts. This has made many a UK homeowner equity rich and, on paper, very wealthy. But, with all the equity tied up in their home the reality of the situation is often very different as homeowners struggle to find the money to make ends meet or to pay off other loans. If this is you then don't despair…equity loans are the answer to just this problem!

Releasing equity

Equity loans are loans secured on the value of your home minus loans already secured on your home, the most significant of these pre-existing loans secured on your home being mortgage loans. The difference between the value of your property and loans secured on your home is known as equity. Equity loans are loans secured only on the free equity value of your home. A wide selection of equity loans are available from loans companies, and the low loans rates associated with equity borrowing makes loans based on equity one of the cheapest ways to borrow money in the UK.

Loans based on equity release are very flexible in repayment duration. For instance, loans drawn from equity with a repayment duration to match the length of your remaining mortgage loans are just as readily available from equity lenders as short loans of 36 to 48 months in duration. Do take into account though that short duration loans require higher monthly repayments to equity lenders.

Equity heaven

Releasing equity tied up in your home through equity loans improves personal cash flow and really takes the pressure off servicing other loans that you've acquired. But, equity borrowing offers so much more than just paying outstanding bills and loans. With loans based on equity in your home you can move forward with your life. Maybe you'd like to use the equity-released money to buy a new conservatory? Perhaps you'd like a second honeymoon or to take regular exotic holidays using the equity? If you're looking to profit from the equity released then you can always re-invest the equity as loans to buy property to let or renovate. When you think about it, there really is no limit to what loans secured on equity in your home can do for you.

One word of caution though. Before taking out loans secured on equity in your home, do consider how you will meet the monthly repayments. You don't want to get yourself into a position where you have to sell your home to service your loans secured on equity.