Nationwide, the country's largest building society, has said it will not pass on any more interest rates cuts to mortgage borrowers with tracker loans, to protect the interests of savers, who outnumber borrowers by seven to one.

The move will be a controversial one, as tracker loans are supposed to charge interest rates that follow the Bank of England Base Rate, and a further cut in the rate charged by mortgage lenders would be expected if, as widely predicted, the Bank cuts its Base Rate  by another half percentage point when the Monetary Policy Committee holds its first meeting of 2009 next week.

The New Year post could bring some unpleasant surprises when the first fuel bills of winter start to arrive.  Meanwhile, hopes of a cut in the price of fuel should not deter consumers from switching supplier now if they can get a better deal elsewhere.

According to energy cost comparison website uSwitch , the average household now faces an annual energy bill of £1,293 - up by £381 from £912 since the beginning of 2008. Households will be bearing the full brunt of these higher prices through the winter months, while using more energy to heat their homes. But, according to uSwitch.com, there are some simple steps that people can take to help reduce their energy bills in the New Year.

The cheapest standard variable rate mortgages in 2008 were offered by First Direct, Direct Line and HSBC.

In the mutual sector the Nationwide and the Skipton building societies were the cheapest, and occupy fourth and fifth places respectively, according to Defaqto's annual survey of the largest lenders.

House prices in England and Wales fell by 1.9% in November, taking the year-on-year decline in prices to 12.2%, according to Land Registry figures, released today. Prices have now fallen for 15 successive months.

The average house price was £161,883 in November - the same level as in February 2006.

House sales also declined in the third quarter of the year, to 48,599, compared with 115,697 for the same three-month period of 2007.

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Income tax on savings could be scrapped under plans being considered by the Conservatives. The idea is one that is being studied by George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor (pictured left), should the Conservatives win the next election, as part of a raft of measures to help savers hit by the lowest interest rates for half a century.

The Conservatives are also considering raising the income tax threshold for the over-65s, in order to reduce the amount of tax due from pensioners with savings and investments.

Homeowners have largely stopped taking out new loans secured against their properties to fund spending, according to the latest figures from the Bank of England.

"Mortgage equity withdrawal" has fallen for the second successive quarter as borrowers rein in spending and attempt to pay down their home loans. Borrowers injected a net total of £5.7bn into housing equity - in other words, repaid their miortgages - in the third quarter, the highest quarterly figure since records began in 1970.