What Happened?
The UK Housing market is not the only thing that has suffered in today's economy. Both the UK and US's economies have been poorly mismanaged, with unevenly distributed wealth causing millions of individuals to fall deep into debt and, ultimately, not make their loan payments resulting in billions of dollars in unpaid and defaulted credit.
With less money to give out, banks and creditors are having an increasingly difficult time lending money to needy borrowers - so much so that many of them have simply stopped lending money at all. Those that are still lending out money are doing so at substantial risk to the borrower, with interest rates that have nearly doubled since before the credit crunch occurred.

What Is Being Done?
Despite its harmful effects on both the economy and people's lives, very little is being done to fix the crisis. Politicians have mostly been throwing around blame without turning any of their words into action. Gordon Brown has even blamed food prices for the credit crunch claiming that individuals have been overspending on food rather than saving their money to pay back their creditors, but even these unfounded claims have gone without action as people continue to lose their homes to the credit crisis.

What Can You Do?
When the credit crunch is this bad, it is difficult for one individual to fix the problem. For starters, however, you can make sure that you always have the money to pay back your loans. The more people that are able to pay back the money they owe, the more likely the credit crunch will dissipate in the not too distance future.
In addition, try to save money and keep an eye out for low rates. Getting sucked into taking a loan at a higher rate than you can afford can only make the credit crunch worse. Taking out a loan with an interest rate so high that you may struggle to pay it back is only going to put lenders into greater debt resulting in a longer credit crunch.
Finally, pay attention to what politicians are doing to fix the issue. Your involvement in politics and passion for fixing the problem is the only thing that will ensure that the government is able to step in and help fix the economy. Otherwise there will be nothing but continued bickering without any changes being made.