It is estimated that drivers who get married could save up to 16 percent on the cost of their cover just by declaring their husband or wife on the policy. The policyholder simply needs to update their marital status on the policy, and there is no need for a new policy to be taken out in order to benefit from the discount.

One official from the insurance industry said: ‘The reasons for this are quite simple. The risk has been calculated and by having only one driver on the policy there is more risk of accident taking place whilst with a married couple the decision to tie the knot would hopefully suggest they are responsible and more cautious on the roads’.

With many people looking for ways to save money on their outgoings it is hoped that more people will ensure that they let their insurance firm know if and when they do get hitched. The official went on to state: ‘I hope couples wouldn’t marry just to save on their car insurance but if they were to make that decision they could be in for a saving’,

The boy, Sam Scott, was cut and bruised after the collision with the car, and according to reports he had ridden his bike into the path of the car. The collision caused the windscreen of the car to shatter before the twelve year old boy was thrown off his bicycle, after which he hit the kerb. He received the letter whilst he was recovering from his injuries at home.

He was told by Direct Line that if he did not send a cheque for £150 towards the cost of the accident he could be taken to court, but the boy does not even have a bank account. His mother stated: ‘I’m really furious. I have never heard anything like it before. It’s terrible that people are asking children for money.’

She added: ‘He is very lucky to be alive, it was the full impact,’ Mrs Scott said. ‘He actually smashed her windscreen. I’m so surprised he’s not been seriously injured. He was badly bruised and his back is still bad.’ She went on to state: ‘I can’t believe they would consider suing a 12-year-old. At the end of the day it was an accident and he is a child. They wrote to Sam himself, the letters were addressed to Mr S Scott not me. I just rang them and said; ‘Is this a joke?’. They were asking him for a cheque, but he doesn’t even have a cheque book.’

If the level of insolvencies does rise by this level it could take personal insolvencies to a new record high. With a Debt Relief Order someone that is on a low income could get their debt written off without having to pay the fees that are normally associated with bankruptcy. However, eligible consumers will have to meet strict regulations with regards to asset levels and how much disposable income they have left at the end of the month.

Mark Sands, head of personal insolvency at accounting group KPMG, said: ‘DROs will bring new people into the insolvency system. ‘We are talking about people with very little income, no assets and debts of £15,000 or lower.’ He added: ‘Until now, they are the sort who would have made token payments on the debt or simply laid low until the six-year limitation on debt enforcement was passed.’

Whilst these DROs could help some people on low income and with high unsecured debt levels, who could not afford to go for bankruptcy, some people have expressed concern that the orders could make it too easy for many people to escape from their debt.

Recent date was released that showed even those with a decent credit rating were often being charted over 12 percent on overage on their personal loans in terms of interest rates. However, when the base rate stood at ten times its current level back in October the average rate of interest charged on a personal loan was just over 10 percent for the same consumer group.

One industry official said: ‘Lenders are under more funding pressures now and they are reluctant to lend to all but those with top credit scores.’ He added: ‘The imminent loss of payment protection insurance sales will also hit lenders’ profits so they are looking to stretch their margins.’

Another went on to state: ‘This may all sound very negative, but there is no need to panic. Loan rates in general are not increasing as much as credit card rates and, unlike these variable rates, your loan rate will not rise as it is fixed for the length of your agreement. Other great deals on, for example, a £5,000 loan over three years include Sainsbury’s Finance (8.8%), Tesco Personal Finance (8.9%), Alliance & Leicester (8.9%) and Lombard Direct (9.4%), to name a few. You’re going to need an excellent credit file to get them - no missed credit card payments over the past six months - but they are nonetheless there for the taking.’

The UK’s payment clearance association, APACS, has said that as a result of fraudsters using sophisticated methods such as this to gain information about others’ accounts the level of online banking fraud more than doubled in 2008.

According to APACS the level of fraud in relation to online banking soared from £22.6 million in 2007 to £52.5 million in 2008. An increasing number of people have started to use online banking facilities over recent years, with more banks making these facilities available and more people deciding to conduct their banking transactions from the comfort and privacy of their own homes.

An official from APACS said: “The industry continues to remind customers to ensure that they have their computer’s firewall switched on and anti-virus software up to date.”

The weak pound has also put many people off travelling overseas, because the low value of the pounds means that they now get far less holiday money to spend whilst abroad, with the value of the pounds against the dollar and the euro having plummeted.

British airports are said to have handled around 235 million passengers in 2008, which was a fall of nearly 2 percent compared to 2007. Between October and December there were around four million fewer passengers passing through British airports than during the same period one year earlier.

One industry official said: ‘My gut feeling is that the boom in low-cost travel has run its course - the budget airlines are not so low cost any more.’ Another said: ‘A decline like this is pretty striking. It is the inevitable consequence of airlines shrinking their flying programme. The growth of overseas property ownership has been a big growth driver in air passengers, but capital values of property abroad are also certainly on the slide. Sterling’s weakening is another factor because a lot of ex-pats rely on pension income paid in sterling.’

The move was widely expected by most analysts and economists, who were already predicting that the central bank would keep rates on hold and focus instead on quantative easing to try and get the economy back on its feet. This is the first time in seven months that the base rate has not been cut.

One economist said: ‘QE is clearly now at the forefront of the Bank of England’s attempts to stimulate economic recovery, not only because Bank rate has fallen as low as it can effectively go, but also because the lack of availability of credit is a serious threat to recovery prospects.’

It is likely that the central bank will now keep the base rate on hold for the remainder of this year, according to expert opinions. The plan now is to try and plough money through quantative easing into the economy, with up to £150 billion already put aside for this process.

The last quarter of 2008 saw over 4600 liquidations across England and Wales, which was the highest figure since the Insolvency Service started keeping records in 1998. This reflected a rise of over 11 percent compared to the third quarter of last year and also reflected an increase of over 50 percent compared to the fourth quarter of the previous year.

One industry group predicted that the situation would continue to get worse even though many companies were trying to restructure so that they could survive the recession. One official from the group said: ‘A number of companies and their stakeholders are trying hard to restructure their businesses, but given the speed of the downturn, it is inevitable that some will run out of cash.’

It has been predicted that over the course of this year at least five thousand firms and businesses will go into liquidation across England and Wales, which means that the number of companies going bust could effectively double in the next two years.

According to research carried out by Sainsbury’s Bank a rising number of people have cancelled life and home insurance policies to save money on the cost of premiums, and this could end up being disastrous for the families in question if the need to make a claim arises.

It is estimated that close to one million customers have either cancelled or at least reduced their level of home insurance over the past twelve months in order to cut costs. Around 300,000 policyholders have also cancelled their life insurance policies in order to save money on their monthly outgoings.

An official from the Association of British Insurers said: ‘It’s a false economy. Insurance may seem expendable when family budgets are being squeezed, but people should think long and hard about the most sensible places to make savings rather than rashly cancelling essential cover.’

Those most likely to fall into negative equity are people that purchased their homes within the last few years when prices were at their highest, and who put down very little by way of deposit. Negative equity is where the value of the home is lower than the amount actually owed on the property, and the falling house prices have plunged many people into this situation.

One research official said: “The shift to negative equity has the potential to be a mammoth welfare disaster for the nation. The reality is that if there are further job cuts, the problem will become significantly worse.”

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said: “It has highlighted an important point that negative equity has returned and is getting worse. But when you make an assessment of negative equity, you have to make significant assumptions. There is a danger of people becoming obsessed with negative equity when they are not planning to move.”