Credit Challenged Car Buyers Find Help Online (Benton Evening News)
(ARA) - Eighty percent of all Americans have at least one blemish on their credit reports. And a third of all consumers have credit scores so bad that they may have difficulty securing a car loan.

Personal loan rates leap 4pc in credit crunch (Evening Standard)
Banks are raising interest rates on personal loans by up to 4 per cent as the credit crunch continues to hit consumers. Nine major lenders have put up charges on new loans in the past week, according to financial information group Moneyfacts.

2m rejected for loans as banks rein in lending (Daily Telegraph)
The number of people being turned down for a personal loan has soared by a third as banks tighten their lending in the wake of the credit crunch.

Bad News? What Bad News? (BusinessWeek)
Investors sported rose-colored glasses on Oct. 1, pushing the Dow, which not long ago was languishing near 13,000, up nearly 200 points to close at a record 14,087. Oddly, the impetus seemed to stem from two downers: Banking monoliths Citigroup ( C ) and UBS ( UBS ) both said third-quarter earnings will get clobbered as they write down $9 billion in subprime mortgages and high-yield loans used ...

Wall Street Firms Bested by Credit Market Woes (NPR)
The problems in the housing and credit markets are leading to more layoffs on Wall Street. Investment bank Bear Stearns says it will trim 310 jobs from its mortgage group. Merrill Lynch fired two senior executives.