Credit rating

Unemployment is at a 14-year high of 2.47 million after a 210,000 rise in the three months to July, official figures showed today.

Barclaycard will allow potential customers to check their chances of acceptance before formally applying for a credit card.

Mortgage lenders have been accused of harming borrowers' chances of getting a homeloan by unnecessarily ruining their credit records.

Hundreds of thousands of graduates could find it harder to obtain a credit card, loan or mortgage if they continually fail to meet student loan repayments.