Bad Credit Home Loans are ideal for individuals who have had credit problems in the past, but that need a loan for a new home purchase, mortgage refinance, debt consolidation loan or a home equity loan. If you do not qualify for a bank loan or a subprime loan, you may still qualify for a private loan -- also known as a hard money loan or bad credit loan.

Typically, you will need at least 25% equity in a property to use as collateral in order to qualify for a bad credit home loan. Your real estate collateral allows a private lender to feel less risk about making a bad credit home loan with your low fico score and/or bad credit.

Without this equity, hard money lenders will not take on this loan because of the risk that the borrower will default on the loan.

Bad credit home loans are a good fit for anyone who has income and equity to secure a loan, but not the credit score to convince a bank to give them a loan. For these people, you may need to go with a private bad credit home loan lender for a 12 to 18 months period. The goal for any borrower at the end of this period should be to move into a subprime or conforming loan.

Bad Credit Personal Loans vary only slightly from bad credit home loans. A bad credit personal loan is typically $50,000 or less and is used by an individual to help pay off credit card debt, home equity lines of credit or any number of additional financial encumbrances.

Bad credit lenders will require collateral for a bad credit personal loan -- either real estate or other liquid assets. The loan rate and terms for a bad credit personal loan will vary and you should allows speak with a bad credit lender to learn about their programs and rates.