So you need a remortgage but you're worried about your poor credit history? Well, maybe you're worrying unnecessarily.

For a start, you won't be on your own in wanting to use your mortgage as a vehicle to borrow additional money. In fact, remortgaging is one of the most common methods by which homeowners raise finance for all sorts of things.

Literally thousands of people every week enquire about a remortgage although it's true that many who first enquire will not carry on until the loan is completed.The housing market has changed quite significantly over recent years. There are a number of key reasons for this:-

• Just prior to the start of the boom, the stock market was experiencing something of a blip in performance for investors and that meant that for the rest of us, pensions began to under perform since much of the money in the pension funds was invested on the world's stock markets.

• Ordinary people and investors began to transfer their money into property which had shown lower but more reliable growth in value.

• The buy to let market emerged and more and more available housing began to be snapped by people whose only purpose was to let it out.

• The same number of first time buyers were also looking for their entry level property but were being outbid by investors as gazumping rocketed.

• A shortfall of available building land meant that the value of the land each property (including existing properties) was built on increased.

• All of the above factors helped to raise property values which in turn excited more investors enough to join in the party which fuelled still more rises in value.

Naturally, homeowners began to realise that there was a good chance that their own property had increased in value which meant that they had gained a level of equity in their bricks and mortar that simply hadn't been there 5 years earlier. Coupled with the advent of numerous TV shows relentlessly advising people how to improve the look and value of their property, and how to use their equity to achieve this, the remortgaging boom took hold.

Now, it's almost common knowledge that equity will exist in your property if you've been there for any lengthy period of time during which you have been studiously paying off your mortgage (subject to your home remaining in at least the same condition as when you purchased it). The question is, do you want to use it to finance something you've been wanting to do for ages but were unsure how, or would you prefer to leave it for a rainy day?

Remember that although history tells us that in the long term, property rarely does anything except grow in value but there have been many short term situations where property values have dropped and fallen below the current amount outstanding on the mortgage. This situation is called 'negative equity' so you must always be aware of this possibility.

What Can I Spend My Money On?

Well, there are special rules if you intend to remortgage and use the money for commercial or business purposes but as long as this is not the case, lenders are generally happy for you to use the money you borrow on anything you choose. This means that you could use the money for:-

• Home improvements, including extensions and conservatories etc

• A new car, motorbike or caravan

• School fees

• A wedding with all the trimmings

• or even to pay off existing credit to reduce your monthly outgoings by extending the term of the money you owe on secured loans, unsecured loans, credit cards and store cards etc, over the length of your remaining mortgage repayments.

There's quite a lot of choice but it's almost certain that you can think of many more reasons for borrowing via this type of loan.

It's a fairly straightforward process as well these days. Just take a few moments to complete an online enquiry form and you may well have an offer in principle within a couple of hours or so. You will need to complete an application form of course and you will need a valuation of your property so that the lender can confirm how much they can let you borrow against it's value. The whole process usually takes around 3 months and your broker will be doing an enormous amount of work and will be utilising a number of outside agencies to help them to complete their work on your behalf which means that you can just sit back and relax.