Over the last few years, homeowner loans / secured loans have been in a state of decline.

At the beginning of 2007 there were over twenty secured loan lenders offering a vast array of loan products, but by 2010 this was reduced to only a handful.

Homeowner loans dropped by more than 80%, and as a result, not only lenders, but also homeowner loans brokers ceased trading one after the other.

In the past, there were plans to suit almost everyone, due to the lax underwriting criteria, accepted loan to value, self declarations of earnings for self employed applicants, etc.

Homeowner loans were appealing for a number of different reasons, the first of which was the low rates of interest applied, which in those days started at from 5.9%. which was as low as the rates for their close relatives, that is remortgages.

They were and still are very popular by dint of the fact that they can be used for almost any purpose, including home improvements, paying for a holiday or a wedding, car purchase or even for buying a holiday home.

Remortgages can similarly be used for all these reasons.There were equity plans to suit almost everyone, with plans of up to 125% available from several secured loan lenders, such as EPF, Paragon and First Plus, which meant that a homeowner could apply for a secured loan of up to 25% more than his property was worth.

It may come as no surprise, but with the fall in property prices, First Plus and EPF are no more, and Paragon is only granting further advances to existing customers and has not accepted any new loan business for the last two years.

Over the recession, equity margins were reduced to 70% for self employed borrowers and 75% for the employed.

The tight underwriting made many homeowners unable to apply for secured loans that could have been of so much use to them especially to use as debt consolidation loans.

The self employed were worse affected than any other sector not only due to the additional restrctiion on equity, but also due to the abolition of self declarations of income.

Before the credit crunch, the self employed were in fact in a good position as regards income, as they could self declare their income on a letter head, and as such they were never likely to fail the income calculation, as they could simply hike up their earnings to obtain the required loan, and also the remortgage.

This practice was called self certs. of income, and they were used all the time by the self employed seeking home loans of any kind.

Secured loans and remortgage lenders stopped accepting self certs, and now asked for an accountant's letter to verify income or even full accounts.

Nothing much altered for homeowner loans over the period of the recession, that is until now, with Link Loans bringing in an 60% LTV plan for the self employed on a self cert of income.The self employed can apply as long as they have been trading for at least six months and they must provide three months bank statements.

Nemo, the Cardiff based secured loans lender has brought in an increased LTV of 85% for the employed and a new 75% plan for the self employed, and so at last things are looking brighter once more for homeowner loans.