Global financial crisis

Lenders have rejected 5 million applications from people seeking new credit cards or a personal loan over the last six months, according to research by a financial website.

MoneyExpert.com say up to 3.27m credit card applications have been turned down by cautious banks over the last six months. Meanwhile the number of people out of work in the UK has seen the biggest rise for 17 years. The rise took the jobless total to 1.79 million.

UK inflation reached 5.2% in September with energy bills behind much of the rise, according to official figures.

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