Get Your House In Order With A Home Improvement Loan
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Planning on some home improvements? Whether it’s a new kitchen or bathroom, a loft conversion, or extension – it’s becoming an increasingly expensive business. And, while using savings to fund the cost is ideal, many homeowners simply don’t have enough cash put aside.
What are the best home improvement loans?
This is where a home improvement loan can help. We rounded up the cheapest rates we could find (July 2022) for home improvement borrowing of between £7,500 and up to £25,000. You can find more about how we ranked the loans in our methodology, below.
Something to bear in mind is that the annual percentage rates (APRs) on these top loans are representative. This means you could be offered a much higher APR depending on your circumstances and credit score. However, your application will be processed through an eligibility checker which means your credit score won’t be affected.
What’s our methodology?
We focused on the cheapest representative APRs available for the biggest loan amounts. We’ve ranked the deals according to the following criteria:
- Interest rate: measured by representative APR (these are fixed)
- Loan size: what borrowing amounts the top rates apply to
- Borrowing term: the repayment terms available against the cheapest representative APRs
All loans allow penalty-free overpayments but charge an interest penalty if you clear the loan in full ahead of the agreed term.
If you have less than 12 months remaining of your loan, providers can charge up to 28 days’ interest, while up to 58 days’ interest can be applied if there’s more than 12 months remaining.
What is a home improvement loan?
A home improvement loan (both most commonly, and for the purposes of this guide), refers to an unsecured personal loan which enables you to borrow a fixed amount of money that you repay over a fixed term at a fixed rate of interest. A home improvement loan is also an ‘unsecured’ loan because it is secured against an asset, such as your home.
With a secured loan, the lender has the right to repossess your property if you are unable to keep up with repayments.
You can typically borrow anywhere between £1,000 and £25,000 with an unsecured home improvement loan, although some providers offer loans of up to £30,000 or more in some circumstances.
You can choose to repay the loan over a term of between one and five years – but in some cases, longer.
What are the advantages?
Taking out a personal loan to fund work on your home comes with several advantages:
- Interest rates are competitive, particularly for loan amounts of £7,500 or more
- Monthly payments are fixed which can help with budgeting – you know how much to set aside
- You can decide the length of term over which you want to repay the loan
- You can usually borrow more than you can through a credit card or overdraft
- Once you’ve been accepted for a loan, funds are can be paid as quickly as the same day
- You can usually make overpayments free of charge
- The work may add value to your home (although this is in no way guaranteed).
What are the disadvantages?
Here are the potential downsides:
- You’ll need an excellent credit score to be accepted for the lowest APRs
- Monthly payments are not flexible so it’s essential you make payments on time and in full each month
- Missed payments can have a negative effect on your credit score and make it harder for you to access borrowing in the future
- If you are able to pay off your home improvement loan early, you will probably incur an early repayment fee equivalent to one to two months’ interest
- If you’re carrying out extensive home renovations, borrowing limits may not be high enough.
What to consider before applying
If you’ve decided to apply for a home improvement loan, you’ll need to consider exactly how much you need to borrow and how much you can afford to pay back each month.
Keep in mind that if you choose a longer loan term, your monthly repayments will be lower, but you will pay more in interest overall.
When you apply for a loan through our comparison service, you will be entered into our Eligibility Checker. This provides an indication of how likely you are to be accepted for a loan and on what terms, without the need for making an official application.
The advantage of this approach is that it doesn’t show up on your credit score. This, in turn, means you can avoid the ‘multiple application trap’ which can result from being turned down. And a series of multiple credit applications can deter future lenders from giving you credit.
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