Over the past few weeks there have been announcements that are music to the ears of those homeowners who have not been able to obtain a secured loan since the credit crunch.

There are various matters that have rendered many unable to make application for secured loans of late.

A big contributory factor has been the decline in property values.

As secured loans or homeowner loans are secured on the equity of a property, they are only readily available when house prices are on the up

One of the safest investments that exist is property, as in general, property values increase annually.

The fact that secured loan lenders were confident in the fact that property prices would always rise gave them the ability to advance 125% LTV homeowner loans, feeling that the asset of the property would increase in value, and that the money that they had advanced was safely secured.

This proved not to be the case, and as house prices plunged in a downward spiral, these lenders were faced with a big problem, and this plan was quickly withdrawn.

Secured loans became restricted to 70% for employed applicants, and for a time from 60% to 65% for self employed, with some lenders such as Nemo withdrawing from granting self employed loans at all. The previously granted self employed loans up to 100%.

This relaxed a bit and secured loans became available at 70% for the self employed and 80% for the others.

Self declarations were abolished even by the lenders still accepting self employed applicants.

Improvements are now appearing in the secured floans sector, with for example, the announcement by Nemo that they are raising their LTV from 80% to 85% for employed homeowner loan borrowers.

As well as the slackening of loan to values Nemo have brought back self employed loans for homeowners at 75% LTV and an accountant’s letter is needed.

Looking to find the best deal on a secured loan, then visit www.championfinance.com to find the best self employed loans for you.