The interest rates for unsecured loans have been rising until now at the beginning of 2010 they are at their highest rate for nine years.Why this is surprising news is that in 2001 the Bank Of England Base lending Rate was 6% and now, as everyone knows, it is at an all time low of 0.05%.Unsecured loans therefore should be, if anything, less expensive than they were nine years ago but this is however not the case.A major reason for this is that unsecured loans are, as their name clearly suggests. require no form of security and as such the grantors of these loans can find themselves faced with a serious arrears situation when the borrowers are in a financial situation where they find it difficult if not impossinble to make their loan repayments every month.This has happened a lot over the past three years as many people have seen their firms close down at the cost of their job.The underwriting criteria is strict as regards unsecured loan in addition to the fact that interest rates are now higher than at the start of the decade. to have any hope of being granted this product.Homeowners are eligible to apply for a secured homeowner loan which are obiously secured products for which only homeowners are eligible.As a secured loan is naturally secured on a solid asset, the secured loan lender is more certain that his loan will be paid back, and as such a secured loan is more readily obtainable than an unsecured one.Unsecured loan lenders need definative proof as to the purpose of the loan.If a an unsecured loan is to pay for home improvements for example the lender will require proof that this really is the purpose of the loan in the form of several estimates.With a secured loan, the borrower simply states the purpose of the loan on an application form and no additional proof is required, and this allows the applicant to have cash in hand in advance to obtain the best deal for his new kitchen.Another advantage with the secured loan is that repayments can be spread from five years to twenty five years making the repayments comfortably affordable to most, compared to unsecurd loans with maximum repayment periods of nomally three years and sometimes five years.Secured loans have less strict underwriting than unsecured loans.Remortgages have all the same advantages as secured loans making a remortgage another suitable alternative when a homeowner wants to borrow a flexible financial product at a good rate of interest.Remortgages start with an interest rate of 1.98% and can be repaid up to twenty five years and with some lenders such as the Halifax uo to forty years.Therefore when a homeowner wants to borrow, a remortgage or a secured loan are often the best choices.