The credit crunch has now been with us for well over a year and the financial markets in the UK have settled into a relatively miserable state of doom and gloom, looking forward to see if they are able to make out any sign of light at the end of the tunnel.

The same is true for anyone who may be thinking about trying to apply for a mortgage or homeowner loan, or indeed any type of personal loan, at the moment, as banks and building societies continue to operate a much tighter lending criteria and restrictions on the loans they are prepared to offer.

Many industry experts have offered their own opinions as to how long the effects of the credit crunch will last and although most of these differ to varying degrees, most would agree that we will continue to be in the current situation for some time to come yet.

The latest comments have come from Andrew Hornby at HBoS, who says that the current problems being faced by the UK mortgage and homeowner loan markets are being caused by the massive housing slump in the US and until this problem is resolved, there is very little that the Government, or anyone else in Britain can do to give a boost to the market here.

He also commented that it was likely that confidence would remain at a low level, possibly until 2010 and banks and building societies are likely to continue to be cautious with regard to offering new loans for a further year and a half.

In the meantime, growth in the UK has been languishing at around zero per cent for the last quarter, with the prospect of negative growth to follow for at least the next six months, meaning that the UK will be in a technical recession.

It appears that we will all have to grit our teeth for a while yet and hold on tight to ride out the storm.