Recent weeks have seen extraordinary interventions in financial markets by authorities. The latest move was this week’s announcement by the Federal Reserve that it would buy mortgage-backed securities and lend against assets such as consumer loans.

Cost of loans up despite rate fall
The gap between the average cost of a personal loan and official interest rates has nearly doubled during the past two months, research has showed.

Cost of personal loans soars in two months research shows
The cost of personal loans has increased in the past two months despite the sharp fall in interest rates new figures show.