If your credit is not excellent, and you would like to improve it, a second mortgage gives you the option to consolidate your credit card debts and other payments you might have into a single loan, with a single payment each month, and you won’t have to refinance your original mortgage. Be aware the amount a lender can give on a second mortgage will not usually exceed the amount of equity you might have in your home.

Unlike a home equity credit line, the second mortgage is a one time loan with a regular scheduled payment amount that is due each month. Second mortgages can be taken with the same lender as the original mortgage or with a different lender. The amount of money that could be loaned, or the ease of getting the loan, will be dependent on the amount of equity in the home you have and your credit report.

Most of the bad credit mortgage lenders will look at the most recent two to three years of your credit report before they make a decision. How you have been making your payments and your income to debt ratio are the two most critical factors that determine who can get a bad credit second mortgage.

The other serious factor taken into consideration will be how you intend to use the money if the loan ends up being approved. Paying off higher interest debts and consolidating your position to make payments easier to handle is more likely to get approval for a bed credit loan than other projects or plans.

Remember when you are applying for a bad credit second mortgage, it’s important to have the necessary information for a loan officer in your hand when you walk in his office. A copy of your credit report, along with any discrepancies noted and how you plan to alleviate them (in writing) is a good idea. If no errors exist, bring along a statement of how you intend to improve your credit score with the loan application.

The best thing to do is be totally upfront with your loan officer about any indebtedness and your current situation. Remember it’s important that you include all of your income in the calculations you make about your debt to income ratio. The bank does not want to loan money that will not be repaid, forcing them to foreclose. Therefore, it is important to show exactly why the money is needed and how it will be used.

Bad credit second mortgages (called 2e hypotheek in Dutch) are not easy to obtain, but they can be the best option for improving one’s credit score in these trying times. You can improve these scores legally and quickly by putting numerous high interest rates together into just one lower interest rate loan without refinancing your original mortgage.

It’s impossible to predict exactly when the credit market is likely to recover, but most economists agree on what will trigger a recovery.

What is happening now?

At present, the mortgage market is very slow compared to previous years, although it is by not completely stagnant. £5.5bn of mortgages were offered in November 2008 – suggesting that lenders are cautious, rather than ruling out mortgage lending altogether.

The main difference between now and the peak of the mortgage market in 2007 is lenders’ ability to offer mortgages. Not only are mortgage lenders more cautious than they used to be, but the funds required to provide mortgages have become more expensive.

The main indicator of this is LIBOR (London Inter-Bank Offered Rate). The LIBOR rate is a measure of the average rate at which banks lend to each other. In recent months, LIBOR rates have remained relatively high in relation to the Bank of England’s base rate, meaning that despite the Bank of England’s efforts to encourage higher levels of lending in the form of base rate cuts, the cost of lending has been slow to fall.

What could trigger a mortgage market recovery?

The Government have now introduced measures to encourage higher levels of lending, most notably pumping billions of pounds into banks in order to improve their ability to lend. This in itself has not yet caused a measurable increase in lending, but it’s quite possible that it will aid banks as confidence increases amongst lenders.

The main factor affecting availability of mortgages is lending between banks. If lending becomes cheaper for the financial institutions themselves, lenders will be in a better position to offer mortgages and loans more freely.

However, it is unlikely that mortgage lending will return to anywhere near the levels seen at the peak of the market. Even when lending returns to healthy levels, lenders are likely to be more cautious about the credit history of borrowers, as well as deposits put down on new mortgages.