Many of us are now borrowing more than ever before. But we often don't think what would happen if our repayments went up, and if we could still afford to make the repayments.

As well as borrowing more, we often don't shop around for the best deals, so we end up paying too much for our mortgages, credit cards, loans and overdrafts.

This section aims to help you get smarter with your borrowings, by shopping around before you borrow, and by making sure you don't borrow too much.

Shorter term borrowing

Shorter term borrowing is usually for:

• Smaller amounts of money - from a few pounds to a few thousand pounds.
• Shorter times - overdrafts can be paid back in a few days, while personal loans can be repaid over a few years.
• Unsecured - you don't have to put up anything valuable, like your home, as a guarantee that the loan will be repaid.

Shorter term borrowing options at a glance. Click on each to find out more:

• Cards From credit cards to store cards and budget cards.
• Overdrafts Overdrafts let you borrow using your current account, which can be useful if you need a bit of help for a few days or a few months.
• Loans From loans where you take out a set amount and have fixed repayments, to loans which are more flexible and you vary what you borrow.
• Budget accounts An account to spread the costs of bills. You'll get an overdraft based on what you pay in each month.
• Other types of borrowing From interest free credit and "nothing to pay deals" to car finance and hire purchase agreements.

Longer term borrowing

There are two main types of longer term borrowing:

Secured

• With secured loans you give something valuable that you own, like your house, as a guarantee the loan will be repaid.
• If you don't keep up repayments on these loans, whatever you have given as the guarantee can be sold to clear your loan debt.
• Secured loans are normally at a lower interest rate than unsecured loans.
• If you want to borrow a large amount, lenders usually want security.
• Mortgages are the most common type of secured loan. Visit our mortgages section to find out more.

Unsecured

• With these loans you don't give something valuable as a guarantee the loan will be repaid.
• Personal loans are the most common type of unsecured loan. As you can take out a personal loan for six months to ten years, and sometimes longer, it is more accurate to call these a type of short to medium term borrowing.
• Unsecured loans are normally at a higher rate of interest than secured loans.

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