If I had eight hours to chop down a tree...

You usually learn from bad experiences.
There is nothing that teaches you as much as a failure.
That is why, if you are in a difficult situation because you didn’t "think" and just "borrowed" in the easiest way (which is usually asking to your local bank), you should learn from Lincoln: "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax".
That means that you should think twice before going in the same place and doing the same mistake.
That doesn’t mean that your local bank wouldn’t be the best solution, it just means that you have to check all the available solutions.
Research and comparison is essential, especially when it comes to your finances.

Do you really need a long term loan?
Or you could eventually be able to give back the money in a shorter time?
That usually means it will cost less in interest rates.
Also some lenders apply the same rates as if it was a high risk loan, while may be in your case it isn’t.
And what about redemption penalties?
Also in this case you should be more careful.
Imagine you win at the lottery, or more realistically you get an extra bonus, or an inheritance, or whatever (sometimes also GOOD things happen).
May be you can decide you want to repay your loan early, and you find out that it is going to cost a lot in redemption penalties.
Another expense you could decide to cut is Payment protection insurance, which in your case could be unnecessary.
There are many others details when you decide to ask for a loan that may be six hours are not even enough.
But the important is to spend as much time as necessary to sharpen "your brain".