Most equity release schemes are only available to homeowners over 50 or 65, but there is a way that younger property owners can utilize equity release as well.

There are basically two types of equity release; lifetime mortgages and home reversion schemes.

Lifetime loans, also known as ‘roll-up’ mortgages, are a home loan of up to 50% of your property’s value, but with this type of loan, you pay interest on how much you borrow so the younger you are, the higher the rate of interest.

However, unlike re-mortgages, repayments on a lifetime loan can be ‘rolled up’ and are paid in full when the property is either sold or the borrower dies or goes into long-term care.

Reversion schemes are for homeowners over the age of 65 and involve selling all or part of your home to an equity release company. The homeowner then lives in the property rent-free until they die or go into long-term care. At that point, the company will sell the property and take their cut from the sale proceeds.

To be eligible for either kind of deal, your property must be in good condition but regardless of which you choose, or are eligible for, there are some things that you must bear in mind. For instance, your state benefit entitlement may be affected by any lump sum of money you have so always check with an independent advisor before committing to any sort of equity release scheme.

Also, be aware that if an equity release company buys your home and you then live in it rent free, if that company goes bankrupt, you could well be evicted and your home repossessed by whoever liquidates that company’s assets, so always be sure that you’re dealing with a stable and reputable company.

With the current crisis now formally being called a recession, many of us are going to burn our credit bridges this December by spending on credit cards when we know we’re going to struggle to pay it back.

So what can we do about it?

The single most important thing to do is to make a budget for Christmas based on what you can realistically afford, and then tailor what you buy to meet that budget. Remember that ultimately, Christmas is one day, two at most then it’s back to life as normal but back to it with sometimes huge debts that you have little hope of repaying.

Is it really worth ruining your credit record to buy a turkey big enough to feed an army? Is it worth spending £20 on a jumper for someone who will most likely never wear it?

There’s a great deal of pressure on us all to ‘provide’ at Christmas and make a huge deal of it, but we need to readjust our thinking on it. It is only one day, but it’s one day that could leave you in desperate straits for the other 364.

If you’re struggling to cope financially, now or after Christmas, here are a few organizations who can help and who provide free advice:www.cccs.co.uk

Consumer Credit Counselling Service CCCS
Helplines open 8am-8pm, Monday to Friday on 0800 1381111
Online counselling is available 24 hours

National Debtline
The helpline that provides free confidential and independent advice on how to deal with debt problems.
Tel: 0808 8084000
www.nationaldebtline.co.uk

Citizens Advice Bureau
Citizens Advice Bureaux provide free, confidential and independent advice.
www.citizensadvice.org.uk

The figures are the result of a survey commissioned by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and it showed that estate agents in England and Wales had sold an average of one house per fortnight, which is the lowest level of sales since the 1970s.

Nationwide, the UK’s biggest building society, warned that while its own market share was slipping, the entire mortgage lending market could fall by as much as 80% this year.

New mortgage lending by Nationwide dropped from over £3 billion to just £1 billion in the six months up to September and its share of the total mortgage market fell from 6.2% to 5.6%

Home sales have been in decline for over a year as banks and building societies have been reducing mortgage lending in order to protect their margins during the credit crunch. Potential borrowers who have only a small deposit or who have a less than perfect credit history are now struggling to get a mortgage.

Many homebuyers are instead buying property at auction in the hope of getting a bargain property, many of which have been repossessed by a bank. The number of UK repossessions is also expected to rise by 50% this year to over 45,000.

GBP or Sterling as its also known ended the week trading a fraction of its summer value which peaked above $2, GBP/USD Which will soon be trading as USD/GBP if things carry on ended the week the week trading around 1.47.

Analysts predict market sentiment to be bearish, the GBP/USD,  GBP/JPY and GBP/EUR charts show a falling trianlgle meaning the falling trend will continue. Fundamentals don’t look promising for Serling either many economists have said the U.K will be strongest hit by the recession and the Bank of England have announced a willingness to drop interests rates as low as 0%, UK Priminister Gordon Brown has also signalled further rate cuts are likely as he meets other G20 leaders in washington. A low interest rate may be good for borrowers but it doesn’t help the £ as potential investors look to put their money where it will see a greater return.

The UK’s Shadow Chancellor, George Osbourne has also been talking down the £ in his interview with The Times.

George Osbourne’s criticism of Gordon Brown’s financial policy, saying the Prime Minister was pursuing a “scorched earth” and Gordon Browns public spending plans, “The more you borrow as a government the more you have to sell that debt and the less attractive your currency seems.”

Means the pound is likely to fall further on Monday, want to make some money from this credit crunch? Sell GBP/USD and GBP/EUR.

The cost of a private education has risen by 40% in five years and leading accountant Noble Hanlon has warned that schools face closure if they don’t maintain pupil numbers.

Mr Hanlon said, ‘Prep schools as well as senior schools are already experiencing parental difficulties in the payment of fees since the beginning of this term, when the effects of the credit crunch and banking crisis took hold.’

Parents are reportedly doing anything they can to keep their children in private schools, including remortgaging or downsizing their homes but while schools can call on special funds to aid struggling parents, they cannot support them for long, according to Mr Hanlon.

He added that previous recession figures suggest that it takes two to three years for the full impact of a financial downturn to fully register in pupil numbers.

‘Come next autumn parents have to make the decision whether their children will transfer to senior school - a five year commitment,’ he said.

‘Once you put a child into the system you don’t really want to interrupt that flow of education unless you are forced to.’

Dr Anthony Seldon, headmaster of Wellington College, said, ‘However deep the recession, parents will fight very hard to keep their children at independent schools.

‘They will re-mortgage their houses, they will go to their own parents for financial support, they will forego holidays, they will sell assets, they will even downsize houses. They will do anything they can to keep children at these schools.’

Should you Scrap your life insurance because of the Credit Crunch?

People overlook the importance of a good Life Insurance policy. Life Insurance can provide you and your family with much-needed financial protection in the eventuality of death or critical illness.

Now is a great time to be looking for Life Insurance - the market is particularly competitive, meaning better cover at lower prices. Even if you already have Life Insurance, there’s a good chance you can either get better cover for the same price you pay now, or pay less for the same cover.

Around 50% of UK families are expected to spend less this year on food and presents than they did last year and retailers are hoping to maximise sales this weekend in order to boost their Christmas takings.

The company providing this report are Mintel research who say that sales and vouchers offering big savings are available from today. They say retailers are promising “the best bargains in 30 years.”

Some of the major rertailers who are promising huge money saving deals are Debenhams, House of Fraser, M&S, Laura Ashley and Bhs.

M&S has its 3-for-2 deal on gifts and assistants in stores are handing out hundreds of thousands of discount vouchers.

Figures released from the British Retail Consortium show that electrical items and fashion are cheaper than they were this time last year with further falls planned in the run up to December. However, even with huge discounts, traders are not confident of making a profit this Christmas.

High street analyst Dr Tim Dennison, of Synovate Retail Performance, is reported in the Daily Mail as saying it’s too soon to judge what will happen this Christmas.

‘With petrol prices  -  one of the more noticeable pulls on the purse strings  -  on the wane and interest rates set to fall further, shoppers may decide that spending, where bargains are to be had, might seem more sensible than saving, particularly in light of current attitudes to the banking sector,’ he told the newspaper.

Retailer John Lewis has reported that sales across its department stores were down by 1.3% last week compared to the same period in 2007 and added that this trend has been seen for 7 weeks in a row.

The plan to allow Lloyds TSB to takeover HBOS and merge the two banks creating one super bank was pushed through by UK Chancellor Alistair Darling last month, under normal circumstances the deal would have been prevented by the competition commision, the competition commision was supposedly set up to stop large organisation unfairly monopolising  and taking advantage of consumers.

Lloyds TSB where planning to takeover HBOS, give the former HBOS directors shares in the newly formed company and sack 25,000 staff in a bid to cut costs.

Two leading scottish bankers, Sir Peter Burt and Sir George Matthewson have reportedly written to current HBOS Cheif Executive Andy Hornby and the banks Chariman Lord Stevenson suggesting they leave and let them takeover.

Many HBOS investors have already argued they no longer need Lloyds TSB after recieving Billions in government cash.

Around 340,000 people have downloaded or watched the ‘Credit Crunch song’, by Alex Yeoman, who uses the name ‘Antan Debt and the Overdrafts’.

The video begins with Yeoman dressed in a snazzy business suit as he jumps behind the wheel of his Porsche. However, after losing his job, his car and after his house is repossessed, Alex has no choice but to beg on the streets, wearing a torn and shabby suit.

The track is set to the tune of sixties cult song ‘The Monster Mash’, while the lyrics are a satirical take on the plight of the millions who are trying to make ends meet during the credit crunch.

One line from the song reads, “I’m trying hard to stay happy in these desperate times, as far as I can tell we’re all in gross decline.

“My pockets are all empty, and my bank is too, I’ve lost my job, I don’t know what to do.”

Other lyrics include, “My bank has disappeared into a big black hole. I’ve turned the heating off to try and burn less coal.”

An Alistair Darling impersonator then appears outside Downing Street, holding a carrier bag from low price supermarket LIDL, in place of the famous treasury leather briefcase.

In less than four weeks, the video has had treble the hits that Razorlight’s new single ‘Wire to Wire’ received and has attracted over a thousand comments from fans across the globe.

RBS warned that “significant risks” remained and that it was “not possible to forecast with precision” its results for the final six months. The bank announced that it had written down 206.0 million pounds for credit market losses. RBS benefited from accounting changes that allowed it to reclassify some assets as long-term investments, cutting its write downs by 1.2 billion pounds.

RBS Chairman Tom McKillop said the decision to accept government support had been taken “with considerable regret”.

Royal Bank of Scotland Cheif Executive Sir Fred Goodwin, also known as ‘Fred the Shred’ for his cost cutting, is to be paid more than £300,000 for ‘handing over’ the crippled financial giant to his successor Stephen Hester.