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With everyone in the finance industry beginning to tighten their belts as the credit crunch starts to bite, it's never been more important to take care of your credit rating.

According to The Independent, the big credit reference agencies are preaching the importance of making sure you keep up to date with repayments on loans and mortgages, with Experian saying, "Whenever you apply for credit, you want to make yourself look more attractive to banks.  They are still lending money but they are only lending to people they can be sure will pay it back."

So make sure you pay back not only your loan repayments, but also things like your utility bills and your mobile phone bill; it all counts!

The price of petrol is finally falling but people all over the UK are still struggling to balance their books.

With Christmas on the horizon it’s going to be even harder to pay the bills and the loans market is starting to see the effects of all this financial hardship. 

In fact, more people than ever before are applying for loans, which is why a whopping 1.5 million have seen their loan applications turned down by various money lenders in the last six months.

But panic not. As we talked about last week, the lenders are still lending their dough; they’re just being a little pickier about who they give it to.

The Credit Crunch is really hitting home and the UK loans industry is feeling the effects too, meaning it’s harder than it has been for a long time to get a secured loan.

Talking exclusively to accepted.co.uk, one lender said, “The Credit Crunch has affected the availability of new finance for many lenders, which has increased loan rates in real terms to the customers.

“However, the equity in people’s houses still represents valuable collateral and lenders are still keen to provide good value finance for homeowners with sufficient equity.”

So there you go, straight from the horse’s mouth; the loans are still available, you might just need to look a bit harder.