There are many reasons people have for taking a loan, some more personal than others (plastic surgery being one of the more unusual loan purposes we have come across in the past).

The most popular loans purposes for homeowners are however much less obscure - loans for debt consolidation, car loans and home improvement loans are constantly the most requested loans with home improvement becoming increasingly popular in view of the credit crunch.

Since the credit crunch hit the UK in 2007, moving home has become more difficult and the number of people taking a mortgage has dropped substantially due to the lack of liquidity in the mortgage market.

This seems to have had an interesting effect on the cheap loans market as people are less inclined to move – and are instead looking to stay and improve their current homes by taking cheap loans for home improvements.

Many people view borrowing as a bad thing but in many cases loans, when carefully considered and used sensibly can actually be used to enhance what you already have (both plastic surgery and home improvements are prime examples of this).

Where a breast enlargement may improve your quality of life an extension or improvement on your home such as a conservatory or new kitchen may actually increase its value.

The average extension in the UK costs £35,000 but may increase your homes value by £65,000 making intelligent borrowing an interesting proposition.

As long as you weigh up the figures and make sure that you can afford the repayments by finding the cheapest a loan that really suits your circumstances a home improvement loan could actually make you money (or will at the very least improve your quality of life while you are living there).

Home improvement loans are nearly always for homeowners as tenants will not normally wish to increase the value of a property that they do not own (although some long term tenants will take personal loans for improvements and some lenders will offer tenant loans for this purpose).

Homeowners however have many loan options for improving their homes as both secured loans and personal loans are available to homeowners.

While some homeowners take personal loans for home improvement, secured loans are the more common loan type. This is because the loan amounts available with secured loans are higher and the typical APR’s and loan durations available are often longer with secured lending which can make them more affordable.

Also because the loan is secured on the home which is to be improved, people see taking some of the properties equity as an obvious way to finance the project.