How Much Can I Borrow With a Secured Loan?

Last updated: 11 September 2026

The two things that set your maximum secured loan

A secured loan, also called a homeowner loan or second charge mortgage, is assessed against two separate limits, and your maximum borrowing is whichever of the two comes in lower. The first is equity: how much of your property's value sits above your existing mortgage and any other secured borrowing already against it. The second is affordability: whether your income comfortably covers the new monthly payment on top of everything else you already pay out each month.

You can have plenty of equity but still be offered a smaller loan than you hoped for if your income and outgoings don't stretch to a bigger monthly payment, and equally you can have a strong income but a smaller maximum because there simply isn't much equity left in the property to lend against. Lenders always work to the lower of the two figures.

It's worth saying clearly that no single lender sets the market maximum. Different lenders weigh equity, income and credit history slightly differently, which is one reason it's worth comparing more than one lender rather than assuming the first figure you're quoted is the best available. A broker who works across a panel of secured loan lenders can usually show you a range rather than a single number.

Working out your equity: a worked example

Equity is your property's current value minus everything already secured against it. Lenders then apply a maximum combined loan-to-value (LTV), the total of your existing mortgage plus the new secured loan, expressed as a percentage of your property's value. Many secured loan lenders in this market will lend up to around 85% to 90% combined LTV, though this varies by lender and by your credit profile.

	Amount
Property value	£280,000
Outstanding mortgage balance	£160,000
Equity (value minus mortgage)	£120,000
Maximum combined borrowing at 85% LTV (85% of £280,000)	£238,000
Room left for a secured loan (£238,000 minus £160,000)	£78,000

In this example, the equity-based ceiling for a secured loan is around £78,000, assuming the lender's affordability check also supports that amount. If it doesn't, the actual offer would be lower, capped by what the monthly payment shows is comfortably affordable instead.

How the affordability check works

Alongside the equity calculation, lenders run an affordability assessment similar in principle to any mortgage affordability check. They look at your income, your regular outgoings, your existing mortgage payment, and the new secured loan payment you're applying for, to check there's a comfortable margin rather than the payment stretching your budget to the limit.

This is one reason a smaller, shorter term loan can sometimes be a more straightforward fit than a larger one even where the equity would technically support it, because the monthly payment on a smaller amount is easier to fit comfortably within your income. A broker will usually explore a few different loan sizes and terms with you to find a payment that's genuinely manageable, not just the maximum figure a lender might technically offer.

The term you choose also affects the affordability outcome. Stretching a loan from, say, 10 years to 15 or 20 years lowers the monthly payment and can help a larger amount pass the affordability check, though it also means paying interest for longer and increases the total cost over the life of the loan. Your broker will usually show you a couple of term options side by side so you can see this trade-off in pounds and pence rather than in the abstract.

How credit history affects the amount you can borrow

Your credit history mainly affects the rate you're offered rather than the raw maximum amount, though the two are connected because a higher rate means a higher monthly payment for the same loan size, which can in turn reduce what the affordability check will support. Homeowners with a clean credit history are generally offered the more competitive end of the rate range, while those with missed payments, defaults or a CCJ are usually offered a rate further up the range to reflect the additional risk.

Importantly, having a less than perfect credit history doesn't automatically rule out a secured loan the way it might for some unsecured lending. Because the loan is secured against your home, many lenders in this market specialise in adverse credit applications and weigh your equity position alongside your credit file rather than treating credit history as an automatic barrier. Our bad credit hub covers this in more detail.

Typical minimum and maximum loan sizes in this market

Most secured loan lenders set a minimum loan size, commonly somewhere between £5,000 and £10,000, below which the fixed costs of arranging the loan (valuation, legal and lender fees) start to outweigh the benefit. At the upper end, secured loans can run well into six figures, sometimes £150,000 or more, for homeowners with substantial equity and an income that supports the payment, though the specific maximum always comes back to your own equity and affordability figures rather than a single market-wide ceiling.

Turning the £78,000 equity figure from the earlier example into a monthly payment shows why affordability, not just equity, sets the real ceiling. Here's how that amount looks as a secured loan repayment, using fixed illustrative figures rather than a live quote.

	Amount
Current monthly payments (cards, loans and overdraft being cleared)	£520/month
New secured loan payment (£78,000 at 7.9% over 15 years)	£731/month
Total repayable over the 15-year term	£131,580

In practice, most homeowners consolidating unsecured debt borrow a good deal less than their maximum equity allows, because the priority is a monthly payment that's comfortably affordable, not the largest loan a lender would technically approve. To see how a specific amount would affect your own numbers, our secured loan calculator lets you try different amounts and terms using the same illustrative rates shown throughout this site.