The latest credit card market analysis from uSwitch.com has revealed that almost 2 million consumers have been rejected for balance transfer deals in the last year.

More and more people are trying to manage their credit card debt the easy way by moving it to another credit card, using the 0% interest until the next card comes along. But the credit merry-go-round is coming to a halt and more people than ever are finding that they are saddled with their debts. For many people, the 0% party really is over as they have reached a dead end.

As a result of lenders saying no, these consumers will have to fork out £535m in interest payments in the next 12 months as they are unable to switch to a new provider. In total, £3.5bn of credit card debt is now stuck on interest bearing credit cards as consumers cannot switch to their next 0% deal.

Across all types of credit card, more than one in ten consumers, totalling 3.32 million, has had an application declined in the past twelve months. This is a clear sign that providers are still acting on the air of caution and only lending to those with a squeaky clean credit record.

Louise Bond, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com comments: "We can't ignore the fact that the country is in economic turmoil - a situation which has been catalysed by bad consumer credit. The knock on effect for credit card customers is that those with a less than perfect credit history could find themselves being turned down for the next best 0% deal, forcing them to pay interest. This is a huge problem for switchers as these people have accumulated debt based on the fact they do not have to pay interest on it."

Remember - the knock on effect of rejected credit applications is that it will appear on your credit report and, in the long term, have a negative impact on your score. With this in mind, it's important to check your report before applying for products to make sure you stand a good chance of being accepted - constantly reapplying to different suppliers will make the situation worse.

If you can't get another credit card because your debts are too high or your credit score is simply not good enough, seek out some professional financial advice.

SOURCE: uSwitch.com, 24/06/09

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Right now, a mere 10% difference in a loan to value can be the difference between an affordable mortgage and one that is simply unworkable.

Moneynet.co.uk has been assessing at the financial impact facing homeowners who may suddenly be looking to lock into a fixed rate mortgage. It found that several fixed rate mortgage deals are being priced higher in the last couple of weeks, with those on a higher LTV having to shell out hundreds of pounds a month more than those with a little more equity.

Some 18 months ago it didn't matter if you had 40% or 10% equity in your property as you'd get the same rate, but it's a totally different landscape now. Lenders are demanding security and that means more equity. Whilst the customer with an 85% mortgage will pay extra as they are borrowing more money than a 75% LTV customer, they now also now face having to pay an additional hefty premium for the higher borrowing ratio.

Moneynet.co.uk says the extra you need to pay for needing to borrow an extra £20,000 or 10% LTV is quite staggering - more than £14,000 over five years or £236 per month extra in some examples - it found that some lenders are charging a whole 1% for 10% less equity.

This is proof that equity is crucial for those looking to remortgage or to find a new mortgage. Simply, the more that you have, the less you will have to pay for the next few years.

But what if you are equity poor? Many homeowners used their equity when times were good in the form of secured loans or remortgages. Others have had to see their homes lose thousands in value over the last year. The only way to get round this clever financial planning and good financial advice.

Talk to a financial adviser about how you can increase your equity. It may mean saving, it may mean investing - whatever it takes, get the advice before looking to plan your long-term financial future.

SOURCE: Moneynet, 19/06/09

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The Bank of England recently revealed that as many as 1.1 million people in the UK could be in negative equity - but if you are in negative equity, there is nothing to be concerned about.

Negative equity is where your home is worth less than your mortgage, and it's becoming a common problem for those who took out high loan to value mortgages or secured loans a few years ago. House prices are as much as 11.3% lower than they were a year ago, so those who only had 90% or less equity now own none of their own home.

This isn't anything to be worried about. The media may link negative equity with arrears and repossession but it couldn't be further from the truth. A lender will not repossess you if you are in negative equity nor will they charge you any more for your mortgage or secured loan each month.

Negative equity is something that can be perfectly manageable, even in this tough period. As long as you keep up with your mortgage repayments, and any other debt payments such as secured loan repayments then there is no reason why a lender would be unhappy with you.

Of course negative equity does mean you will find it very difficult to get hold of any more credit - if you are in negative equity then you will have nothing to secure credit against. But, with some careful financial planning and some saving then there is no reason why you cannot begin to combat the negative equity by investing back into your home.

Talk to a mortgage adviser about what you can do while you have negative equity. You may not have many options, but as long as you are fully aware of your situation and willing to do something about it then there is no reason to fear negative equity.

SOURCE: Bank of England, 12/06/09, Nationwide, 29/05/09

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No one is too big to be repossessed it seems as news reports revealed that a £20m home has become the UK's most expensive repossession.

A £20m luxury home in London belonged to Austrian millionaire Cevden Caner, who has owned 28,000 residential properties, plus 400 commercial properties in Germany. Level One, his firm, went into administration last September and bailiffs repossessed Caner’s home last week.

The house in Mayfair was bought in July 2007 for £16m. Caner refurbished it for a further £6m, and now the estate agents in charge are hoping to sell it for £20m. The property has seven bedrooms and a swimming pool and is nearly twice as valuable as Britain’s previous largest repossession, an £11m home also in London.

So no one is too big to be repossessed. The rich and the poor can be hit by debt problems, thanks to business failure or unemployment or even too much debt. They key is to deal with it before it's too late, taking the bull by the horns and doing all you can to avoid the worst.

So if you are a billionaire business mogul or a hard-working regular person, make sure your situation is tenable. Go over your finances, take out protection and talk to a professional financial adviser to make sure your home, or homes are safe.

SOURCE: News reports

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While secured loan options dwindle there is always an opportunity to remortgage your home and reap some of the rewards from your existing equity.

It is true that house prices have, on average, fallen by as much as 16 per cent in a year, according to Halifax. But that's just an average of houses that are on the books of that bank - there may be plenty of houses in the UK that have not reduced in value by nearly as much, and your home might be one of them.

And if it is, you have more options than you might think. The more equity you have in your home, the better deals you can get and the lower rates you will have to pay. You may find that by remortgaging, and freeing up a little equity, you save yourself a lot of money in the long run.

But any equity unlocked from your home cannot be spent frivolously. It's a precious commodity in this housing market and should be treated as such. If you unlock any money from your home you must have a plan for every penny, and it must be a plan that will help reduce debts or improve your standing in the long run, making your life easier.

Talk to a mortgage broker about what options you have for remortgage. You may be limited in what you can secure and what you can unlock, or you may find that it is still beneficial to stick with your current rate for the time being. The only way you will be able to find out is by talking to a professional. Then, and only then should you be ready to go forward and get hold of a new loan and some new capital.

To keep up with the latest news and comments on current financial affairs please visit the Secured Loan Blog.

Last week George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, said that Britain must become a country of people looking to stop spending and start saving - but what can you do to become a saver instead of a spender?

Osborne said: "The long term priority is to re-focus from the rush for short term gains to the pursuit of long term returns - because in short, you cannot build lasting prosperity on a mountain of debt.

"Our households have become the most indebted of any major economy, more even than America's, with debt to income standing at 175% for the average British family compared to 140% for the average American family."

Anne Young, savings expert at Scottish Widows says: "We must be encouraged to save more. Research from Scottish Widows reveals the nation's savings behaviour is being severely affected by the current difficult economic environment. Over four out of five Brits say having no money is a major barrier to saving. The burden of debt on people's pockets impacts people's savings, as 42% cited it as a barrier to saving this year.

"It has become more of a priority for people to reduce their current debts and simply get by on a day to day basis rather than saving for their futures. However while paying off debts should still be a priority, in climates like these, it is important to save even a small amount now to get into a saving habit and build up some capital. And we should all regularly review what we are doing as our ability to pay debts and save can change."

So debt must be cut before saving can begin, and that's tough when people are struggling with rising credit card rates, soaring personal loan fees and financial responsibilities in all other directions. It makes it impossible to think of the long-term when your short-term debt is holding you down.

So get rid of the debt using your home's equity and get on with becoming a saver instead of a spender. Using a second mortgage's low rate you can consolidate and save every month, giving you the room to move in the right direction for the long-term.

SOURCE: Conservatives, 08/06/09, Scottish Widows, 09/06/09

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The over 60's are the fastest growing age group for divorce right now, but it is also the age group which could be the most challenged financially.

The number of divorces in the over 60 age group has rocketed by 49% since 1981, so many more elderly couples are having to sell their family home to pay for their new lives alone, says Safe Home Income Plans.

But its the women divorcees over 60 are losing out financially due to the recession. SHIP says there are 13,678 people over 60 who divorce annually, but due to the housing market crash, couples who sell their property to divide their assets could lose up to 22.5% of the value of their home when it's time to sell, having serious consequences for their retirement income.

The trade body estimates that women are losing over £18,200 in lifetime income after a split. When it comes to divorce, a woman's pension income will fall from £254 a week to £240 a week according to SHIP - a drop of 6% of annual income. This drop can potentially be linked to a variety of factors including many women having less retirement provision than men and fewer sources of additional income. The equity release body also says this dip is exacerbated by the higher costs of running a household alone.

So if it's not time to sell, but time to find cash, one of the areas that divorcing couples could discuss with their broker is equity release. Many brokers will be able to discuss with couples in this complex legal situation a plan which should allow one partner to remain in the property, whilst providing a steady income that can pay the rent on another property for the other partner.

Andrea Rozario, director general of SHIP, says: "Clearly, pensioner divorce is a pressing issue as growing numbers of older people are deciding that they would prefer to spend their retirement alone. In the current uncertain financial climate, older people should consult with their financial adviser before making any large financial decisions, in order that they consider all available options and ensure the best retirement for both parties."

SOURCE: SHIP, 05/06/09

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The Government will begin to regulate the sale and rentback market, meaning it will crack down on any sharks looking to buy up indebted people's homes and then evict them.

Sale and rentback is a system where people who cannot afford to hold onto their house sell the property to a company, who then allows them to pay rent to stay in the property. Unfortunately this has been abused, and many people have had their homes effectively stolen away from them. The Financial Services Authority has published the details of the regime that it aims to introduce on July 1 to tackle immediate problems for customers in this market.

This follows the recommendation made last year by the Office of Fair Trading, following a market study which found that sale and rent back deals had the potential to cause serious harm to homeowners who are often already in a vulnerable position.

Ed Harley, FSA head of mortgage policy, says: "We know that some consumers enter into sale and rent back arrangements without understanding the costs and risks involved. This can be a source of real distress for people in already difficult circumstances. Firms entering our regime will need to run their business in a way that means customers are treated fairly. This includes making clear to customers important details, such as the length of time they can stay in the property, before they enter into the arrangement."

Under the new regime, firms will need to meet FSA threshold conditions including the requirement to have adequate resources and to be run by fit and proper people.

Peter Tutton, Citizens Advice social policy officer says: "We have seen where the sale and rentback sector has caused considerable detriment in the past. While sale and rentback agreements might be the right thing for some people, Citizens Advice Bureaux have reported numerous cases where bad practice has resulted in people losing both substantial sums of money and where they were not permitted to remain in their home in the longer term, finding themselves homeless within a year.

"This will provide much needed protection for consumers, stop cowboys and provide controls on who can provide these agreements and what they can do."

SOURCE: FSA, Citizens Advice, 03/06/09

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If you are still spending with plastic as a means of running away from your problems rather than tackling them head on, now is the time to ditch the cards and get serious.

The UK is slowly weaning itself off of its obsession with spending. For the last five years credit has been cheap and mortgages have been plentiful, so Brits were given a carte blanche to spend and keep spending. Now, unfortunately, the music has been turned off and the party is over.

You may have lived life on credit for years, but for a while that worked. You could buy clothes, go shopping, buy cars, go on holiday and go for nights out all on credit. It would stack up and up and up and then, a few years down the line you simply walked into your mortgage broker's office and found that your house had increased in value and you were eligible for a sub prime mortgage. You took the mortgage, it consolidated your debt and you were free to continue.

If needs be, you could have also taken out a second mortgage inbetween times. Times were good, spending was easy. But now the tables have turned; there are no sub prime mortgages, there are no second mortgages and house prices are not increasing.

So if you are still living in 2005, its time to ditch the cards. Whatever unsecured debts you have right now, you are stuck with them; a broker cannot come and save you now - now is the time to get sensible with your credit.

By all means, visit your broker, but do not expect miracles. A broker will now offer you chances to pay off your debts, through saving or through sensible consolidation. they may be able to offer you a remortgage or they might even be able to offer you a new deal - but it won't be able to clear your debts and give you another instant chance to spend again. Now is the time to save, to look to the long-term and to face the fact that the credit party is well and truly over.

To keep up with the latest news and comments on current financial affairs please visit the Secured Loan Blog.

There is no doubt that secured lending has taken a battering in the credit crunch, with most lenders exiting the market thanks to a lack of funding and an overall aversion to risk - but there are alternatives.

Where once people could seek out a second mortgage to consolidate debt, for investment or even to reinvest back into their home, now they must face a choice of a few secured loan lenders who are offering just a handful of deals to only the best customers.

But if you need a lump sum to consolidate some of your debts, to maybe invest in a new business, to help your children or to even improve your home itself where can you turn?

One option is offset account mortgages. These are deals where essentially you are given a huge overdraft, secured on your property. So you pay off the overdraft as you would a bank overdraft, paying less in interest as you pay off more of the debt. You can also increase the overdraft past the initial figure, allowing you to pay of unsecured debt or to pay for repairs, renovations or extensions to your home also. This is a secure and sensible alternative to secured loans and one that will see you paying out a whole lot less than a personal loan.

You could also take out a remortgage, increasing your home loan. This a a very traditional way of raising cash, taking advantage of any rise in your home's worth. This has limited options in these tough mortgage times, but there are still some good remortgage products and a lot of equity in people's homes.

There is also, for older borrowers, equity release. One form of this is called home reversion; this is a form of secured borrowing where the lender takes a lump from your home and then owns that part of your home, until you die. There are also lifetime mortgages, where you take out a large mortgage for the rest of your life which then offers withdrawals like a bank account. These loans are not perfect for everyone, but they are a valid and safe form of secured lending.

If you need cash from your home, there are options. Talk to a mortgage adviser today to see what you can do with your home's equity today.

To keep up with the latest news and comments on current financial affairs please visit the Secured Loan Blog.