Self- employed people consist the majority of the workforce in UK. They control a vital part of the country’s economy. A self-employed person works for himself/herself. Not joining any organization as an employee, he or she doesn’t draw regular salaries. The trade or business they profess individually or by forming a small business derives the income of the self-employed people. Though, it gives an entrepreneurial gratification, and higher rate of returns than those having a salaried employment, but the payments are irregular and one often has to go without work for days or even months. The financial condition can deteriorate very fast, if a self-employed person with a shaky bank balance runs into rough weather. Secured loan for the self-employed can bail out such an aggrieved person.
Many situations can demand urgent financial inputs from self-employed persons. It could be some vital investment, or to meet some temporary cash flow crisis, to buy a car, or take that much needed vacation – it could be anything, which financially bothers the self-employed person. The most pressing problem is the urgent need of money. The major impediment, which the lenders feel while they consider lending to self-employed people is the lack of a regular income. Unlike salaried people, they do not get monthly paychecks. So, in many cases, their repayment capacity is very much subdued. The collateral clause satisfied by a secured loan for the self-employed, pacifies the average lender and he provides the loan despite a lack of regular income.
The collateral can be the house, the car, a property, the business premises or any home equity held by the self-employed person. Since the collateral is offered, the interest rates on secured loans for the self-employed are lower than the unsecured ones. Secured loans for the self-employed can provide a large sum to the borrower provided the lender is satisfied with the value of the collateral offered. A diverse spectrum of professionals like doctors, painters, writers, mechanics, florists, beauticians, hairdressers etc. take such loans. The profession of the self-employed is not given much importance while giving a secured loan for the self-employed as long as the collateral satisfies the lender. However, the credit history of such borrowers carries a lot of weight with the lenders. Any self-employed person who offers the sufficient collateral and has a good credit record to supplement his case can get a good loan offer within the minimum possible time. Whereas, a borrower with insufficient collateral and poor credit rating is more or less doomed to get a curtailed offer with high interest rates and tougher repayment options.
The drawback of secured loans for self-employed is that if the borrower is unable to meet the repayment schedule and persistently defaults on payments, he might loose his home or the collateral to the lender permanently. So, to mitigate the occurrence of such a tragedy, the borrower should go for the minimum possible loan amount and that too after considering his repayment capacity and doing a cash-flow analysis.
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