The news is not all good, as rates on personal loans are still at five year highs. However, according to reports they have now fallen to their lowest level since the Bank of England cut the base rate to its current low in March of last year.

A number of lenders are said to have cut the rates on their personal loans recently, which will prove good news for anyone that is looking to borrow money. The loan rate cuts have been applied by both mainstream lenders and some other lenders such as supermarket finance sectors, and amongst the lenders that have reduced their personal loan rates so far are Nationwide, Halifax, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco.

Based on Moneysupermarket.com tables the average rate that is now charged on the top ten loan deals is now 8.35 percent on a loan of £7500. This is the second highest rate recorded since 2005, when the average rate was 6.3 percent, with the highest being seen at the start of last year when the average rate was 8.42 percent.

It has also been pointed out that in 2005 the base interest rate was far higher, and this meant that the profit margin for lenders was only slight coming in at around 1.55 percent.

These days, however, with the base rate being so low the profit margin for lenders has soared to around 7.85 percent. Many of these loans are also only made available to those that have the best credit ratings, and those that have blemished on their credit records can expect to pay a significantly higher rate or may find that they cannot quality for a loan at all.

Earlier this month the number of married couples starting divorce proceeding peaked according to recent figures, and officials believe that there will be a rise of 2 percent in divorce numbers in the UK as a result of the strains caused by the recession and the difficult financial climate. However, officials from the homeless charity Shelter have said that the recession and negative equity are forcing couples that do not want to stay together to continue living under the same roof.

In a survey that was carried out by a charity nearly 25 percent of people said that they or someone that they knew had been forced to continue living with a partner because they could not afford to live on their own. The research also showed that 75 percent of those being forced to live together due to negative equity and finances said that the experience was very stressful.

A spokesperson from Shelter stated: “Relationships do break down, which is painful enough, but being forced to carry on living with an ex-partner, even for a short time, adds real pressure to the situation. The fact that one in four of us either have experienced or know someone that has experienced this situation means this may be more widespread a problem than we realised.”

However, some industry officials have said that there is one way in which homeowners could generate money from their properties whilst they are away on holiday, offering the double benefit of the home being occupied whilst they are away and the ability to make some money.

A couple of companies are said to have launched that deal with renting out the homes of people in and around London to tourists whilst the homeowners are away. The money that can be made by renting out the home means that you can cover the cost of your own holiday if you are heading off abroad, or if you are simply going away to stay with friends or family you can use the extra money raised to make payments on debts or pay extra towards the mortgage.

The companies focus on renting out the homes of those that are heading off somewhere to tourists, and this can work out as a cheaper alternative to hotel accommodation for the tourist and could raise hundred of pounds of even a thousand pounds or more for the lucky homeowner depending on the location and the type of property.

The founder of one of the companies, Ivy Lettings, said that he came up with the idea after losing his job, when he and his wife were spending more time away from home and with relations. He said: ‘We wanted to let our home while we were away, and I couldn’t find a way to do it. It’s nice to know, from a security point of view, that there is someone housesitting, too.’

The figures relate to sales of properties in December of last year, with the figures showing that property sales reached a two year peak during the month.

The data was released by HM Revenue and Customs, and showed that during the month of December around 104,000 sales involving properties that were £40,000 or more in value were completed. This signifies the first time since December of 2007 that property sales have exceeded the 100,000 mark.

January of last year saw property sales reach their lowest level, when the number of sales for the month slumped to a paltry 41,000. This was the lowest level of monthly sales seen since records began back in 1977. Many industry officials have been surprised at how property prices and sales have picked up in the latter part of last year, but many are still predicting that both sales and prices of properties in the UK will remain pretty static over the course of this year.

Overall the number of properties sold last year came in at slightly lower than the year before, coming in at 848,000 compared to 920,000 in 2008. However, the difference between last year and 2007, when the property boom was still in full swing, was far greater with 1.62 million properties being sold in 2007.

The data comes from the property website Right Move, and officials from the company have said that on average homeowners that put their homes up for sale via the website in January were asking for around 0.4 percent more than those that put their properties up for sale in December.

Whilst the asking price has not increased by a huge level, this could signify a trend that will continue over the coming months. The additional 0.4 percent that sellers are now asking for has pushed up the average asking price from £221,463 in December to £222,261 in January.

The property website claims that in the current climate there are large numbers of would be buyers trying to get one of only a small selection of properties for sale, and this has made it into a seller’s market and enabled homeowners to increase their prices.

Officials from the website said that in the current market buyers had little choice but to accept these asking price increases, particularly in popular areas where there are sought after properties but only a limited number coming onto the market. Some industry officials are concerned that stock levels of properties coming onto the market have sunk so low, and there are even concerns that property availability may dry up.

A spokesperson for Right Move said: ‘The rise in asking prices is an early indicator that new sellers in 2010 have the confidence to try for a higher price. We are now seeing the lowest number of properties on the market this century. Buyers have little choice in popular areas, and while this continues sellers have a window of opportunity to obtain a higher price and a speedier sale.’

For some time now Virgin has been stating that it wants to offer a full banking service, and in addition to the credit cards and various financial products that it already offers this would include things such as loans, mortgages, current accounts, savings, and investments.

Now that the company has confirmed that it has been granted its banking licence it can now start to offer banking services that will enable consumers to enjoy a better choice when it comes to financial services.

Officials have also said that in order to hit the ground running Virgin will most likely be offering products that will feature on best buy tables, and this will prove good news for consumers who will be able to get their hands on more affordable borrowing and great value savings products. Virgin will be relying on the Internet for distribution of its products initially, and most experts think this will result in the company launching a range of best buy products to generate interest.

One financial expert from Moneysupermarket.com said: “Following a period of mass consolidation in the banking and building society sectors it is great to see a serious player making a move to challenge the big banks. We have already seen Virgin Money play an aggressive role in the credit card market with their best buy products, and we can expect them to do likewise across a broader set of banking products.”

Three such schemes were brought into play in 2007, and the scheme about which many tenants and landlords are concerned in the Tenancy Deposit scheme, which is the biggest of the three independent schemes.

The schemes were set up to protect the deposits of tenants, and with this in mind landlords that thought they had a right to keep any or all of a tenant’s deposit would have to provide evidence of the damage or arrears for which they intended to keep the deposit. A decision would then be made with regards to whether the landlord had a right to keep all or part of the deposit. Independent adjudicators would be used to resolve any disputes with the claims.

However, it has been revealed recently that the Tenancy Deposit Scheme is cutting back on staff members in order to cut costs, and this is what is causing concern to tenants and industry officials with regards to whether the scheme can keep up with its current level of service. The scheme is said to be cutting down its employee numbers from seventy to just twelve, and the National Landlords Association is convinced that this could cause problems.

Officials from the Tenancy Deposit Scheme have denied that there will be any adverse effects from the changes to staffing, stating that it will help to make the whole process speedier. The TDS said: ‘We’ve brought adjudication in-house, which should make it a quicker process. We have a near 50:50 split on cases in favour of the tenant or landlord, so there is no bias.’

A recent survey of homes for sale have shown that the house price increases can vary dramatically based on the type and location of the property, and this means that there is still a house price gap that is continuing to grow.

Whilst homeowners in some areas of the UK are sporting beaming smiles having seen their property value shoot up considerably after a turbulent period, homeowners in other parts of the country have seen the value of their homes continue to tumble.

For example, in London house price growth is said to be has high as 7.1 percent. However, in Scotland the average house price is said to have fallen by around 12.2 percent.

Figures have suggested that the house price increases that have been reported over the past few months have been largely centred around London and the South East, which means that whilst the year may end on a high for some homeowners this will certainly not be the case across the country.

Nigel Lewis from property website FindAProperty said: “This year’s ups and downs mask considerable variations between the winners and losers. Different regions, cities and different types of property performed extremely variably.” He added that some parts of the city had been adversely affected too, adding: “The oversupply of new-build property around the Cutty Sark and Woolwich Arsenal has partly been to blame for the dip in prices.”

However, according to a recent report many of the financial products that banks are offering in their ’sales’ are actually more expensive than some of the standard best buy products. Some of the financial products on which banks are claiming to be offering special deals include mortgages and savings products. Some banks are promising to save consumers hundreds of pounds as a result of these deals but some officials claim that they are not all that they are cracked up to be.

According to the report some banks are leaving their market leading deals out of the promotions, which means that effectively the consumer may not be getting the choice of all the deals available from the lender, and may be worse off as a result of this. In other cases the deals that are being offered by the banks are worse than the best buy products, which means that some consumers would be better off avoiding these ’sales bargains’.

One industry expert, David Black from Defaqto, said that the deals in many cases were nothing more than a marketing ploy, and that consumers had to be careful that they didn’t get taken in by them. He said: “It’s important that consumers don’t get sucked in by clever marketing, as often non-sale deals will provide better value.”

Many people will have spent up on their higher interest credit cards over the festive season, and will now be lumbered with debt on which they are paying significant sums of interest. However, taking the right steps could help them to save money on interest.

With the New Year now well underway many people will have made resolutions involving clearing their debts as quickly as possible, and officials from lovemoney.com have said that using a balance transfer card onto which they can transfer high interest credit card debt could go some way towards helping them to achieve their goals, as it means that they can enjoy a generous period of interest free credit without being charged any interest on the balance that they have transferred.

A spokesperson for the group said that many people may feel daunted at the prospect of having to shuffle around financial commitments, but he said that using a balance transfer card to shift more expensive debt onto could release the strain for those that are struggling financially, and the process was a pretty simple and straightforward one with an increase in the choice of balance transfer cards that were available.

He said: “If you have got a credit card at 17 or 20 per cent, try if possible to get your consumer debt onto the lowest interest rate as possible. Whether that is a nought per cent credit card or the best personal loans at about eight per cent, try to pay it down as fast as you can. The rates you will be paying will rise over the next couple of years so to get that debt as small as possible as quickly as possible is the best way to go.”