What is a secured loan?

Simply put, they are a loan only available to property owners (or mortgage holders), where the lender can forcibly sell your house to get its money back if you can't repay. The 'secured' bit means the lender gets 'security' not you, as if there are problems, it can repossess your home.

When we normally talk about personal loans from a bank or building society, these are unsecured, which means there's no automatic link to your home (so non-homeowners can borrow this way too). While technically it is possible for an unsecured loan lender to get what's called a 'court charging order' on your home (which could lead to repossession) if you can't repay, this is much more difficult and less likely for it to do.