Think Reuters said personal insolvencies at all time high.

Mervyn King says on BBC Radio 4 "to prevent the total collapse of the UK banking system"

And Brown says "No more boom and bust". Clearly rubbish.

W Smith, Oldham,

Everything works so much better in the UK than in much of the rest of the world.

Except in one area, financial services - where we're still in the dark ages. We allow people to be cheated into debt, and then use the law to recover the money. I won't be very popular for saying this, but it's high time that lenders were treated like everyone else and left high and dry when they've behaved recklessly.

Andy Dyer, London, UK,

Surely it's about time that an estate agent or BTL investor posted to tell us why economic fundamentals are different this time and so property prices will continue ever upwards until monthly mortgage payments exceed incomes. Call me simple, but if people have no savings and can't borrow to pay off earlier borrowing etc etc then the economy, and property prices with it, are going down the tubes. Just a thought!

Clive, Sussex, UK

Stop lending to "borrowers" at your peril.

Just watch your delinquency rise.

Look what has happened to the capital markets when interbank lending ceased/slowed (In that order).

It is no different for the consumer, apart from the levels.

Where do we go from here?

Reducer lending SLOWLY, not immediately!!

Donald Davies, Derby, England

Ladies and gents. 97% of the money in the UK is credit. If we start paying it back how will anyone be able to save? Where do you think your jobs will go?

Colin Smith, Glasgow, Scotland

'Shutting the stable door' springs to mind. The Government doesn't care about your personal debt or lack of access to credit cards, it was profligate in it's determination to encourage debt in the first place and now wants the reverse. Job losses are inevitable if access to credit is reduced, just wait and see...but they won't care about that either.

Judy , Liverpool, england

It must be remembered that the outstanding debts are also packaged up in a similar way to the mortgage backed instruments that have caused so much chaos in the financial markets. Default on these will also add to the woes of banks which have assumed the risk and now have to establish collection departments and agenceies to try and recover the debt... absolute chaos... it will take years to sort out and further writedowns from banks and therefore money loss from the global economy will continue.

Mark Turner, London, UK

GOOD...this means a reduction of junk mail from the credit card companies!!

if you don't have the money then you shouldn't have a credit cards, am sick of paying for those who declaires bankrupt as it's us mugs that pay for them. less credit given out the better.

tad, scotland,

This credit squeeze has a long way to run yet. There are still a lot of fixed-rate mortgage increases to work their way through into higher monthly payments. Still, the people voted for 'New Labour' (or at least 34 per cent of them did), and have got what they deserve.

Schabbs, London, England.

It is about time that lenders were more stringent when allowing people to take out credit. However, we live in a credit fuelled society. Cash is seen as a second rate form of currency. A credit card is needed to do so many things these days, if you don't own one or have access to one then a lot of transactions can be very difficult.
Although many high street and well known lenders are being more scrupulous when handing out credit. There are still plenty of companies out there that will be lending money to those that cannot afford it & at extortionate interest rates. Everyday i have mail through my door offering non-credit worthy consumers the opportunity to get credit, with interest rates of 77% & higher.
Our government should step in and do something to stop these legalised loan sharks. Anyone can get credit, the high street lenders are not the only way, they are a small minority in the credit business. Checkout afternoon TV, plenty of lenders there all happy to sign you up!

Kelly, London, UK

No sympathy with people who have borrowed beyond their means a mortgage is long term and not just for the initial 2 yr fixed deal or reduced rate and probably think they are intelligent people in overpaid jobs and are unable to work out their commitment .Anyone can afford a house in the honey moon period,now all this reckless borrowing means anyone who works hard may never be able to own one.All the "must have "people have upset the Apple Cart.

Stephen , Carlisle, England

Credit card companies make their profits from people who do not repay their outstanding balances each month.
If they are too selective then their profits and turnover will fall.
Sensible and financially secure people will not be happy to pay around 20% APR on their credit cards.
Perhaps the card companies should also run a quality check on the credit reference agencies as it would reveal how unreliable the information can be on occasion.

RTB, Winchester, England

What happened to the old days where you bought a TV if you had the money or else you kept your old one. Now you have a flat screen in the house which works perfectly well but you go and spend £1200 to have the latest plasma on credit card.

R Singh, Glasgow, UK

I have been turned down by two major card companies because of inaccurate information posted by Experian. That is a matter for the Information Commissioner. In the meantime I am a statistic.

RJ, London,

Some of us have seen this coming since 2003. That was the watershed year when the Government had the opportunity to steer the economy away from the endemic debt culture it had created. However, Blair wanted to be re-elected and his Chancellor wanted his turn at the helm, so credit remained cheap.
The people who are now paying the price are the ever shrinking productive private sector and like rats leaving a sinking ship, the public sector including MPs have taken the RPI cap off their gold plated pensions whilst capping private pension growth to 2.5%. This is not only immoral but further distorts our economy away from productive capacity. There is going to be a hell of a mess for an incoming Conservative Government, assuming Gordon Brown lasts two years. Before that time I believe we will have a return to rioting and a breakdown of law and order as the masses clamour for the easy money that has disappeared.

Steve Marchant, Torquay, Devon

Perhaps the deluded who think all in the garden is rosy and Mr Brown and co who keep telling us how well off we are under them, will see the reality of the state of country

Greg Moor, london,

Magic! Perhaps this will also mean less junk mail?

Peter, Dawlish,

Well overdue 'adjustment'. It has a long way to run, probably 5 years or more.
Of course the man who created this inevitable mess has just been promoted....as you do.

Ripsnorter (ex-pat), Malaga, Spain

It's good to see that the credit card companies, once the agressors in credit boom, are now showing more restraint and making it harder for people to borrow money on plastic. I just hope now that the high interest loan consolidation companies act in a similar manner - I suspect not.

Alistair, Wolverhampton,

Never mind the UK, come to Ireland if you want to see mass delusion on the back of paper housing wealth. That bubble is bursting like nowhere else.

Marco, Dublin,

I think this is brilliant - credit has been way too easy for years. If you can't afford to buy something, then save up for it, don't put it on a credit card! I get so frustrated with people who put all their Christmas presents, etc., on a credit card and then spend the following year paying it off! How stupid can you get? If you are hard up, then only buy token presents, etc. It's not difficult to work out.

Dawn , Saffron Walden,

The figures are meaningless on their own and do not necessarily indicate that the banks have recently discovered a moral imperative to have the financial health of their customers at heart - how many applications are being declined as fraudulent ?

Identity theft is an increasing problem, but it has effectively been de-criminalised by this government. Go to the police and they will be less than interested, and quite frankly it's about time they were. Crime is crime. I seem to recall the Government wanted to be "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".

Not exactly covered themselves in glory on that one have they ?

Paul Chenery, London,

Well I suppose people are going to have to earn some money before they spend it.

Edward, London,