Petrol prices will reach record levels this year, according to research by the AA.

The organisation has warned unleaded fuel could soon cost £1.20 a litre or more and urged Chancellor Alistair Darling to delay the introduction of a planned 3p increase in petrol duty due to come in on April 1.

AA President Edmund King said: "The UK is barely out of recession yet petrol prices threaten to rise to record prices seen during the boom of 2008 - shortly before the collapse into recession."

He added: "If families, drivers on fixed incomes and those on low pay were unable to cope with record prices then, they are even less likely now."

The imbalance between supply and demand showed further signs of easing during February as potential new buyers stayed away from the housing market, research has shown.

Only 258 house-hunters registered with estate agents during the month, the lowest level for a year and down from 291 in January, according to the National Association of Estate Agents.

At the same time, the average number of homes estate agents had on their books rose slightly to 56 from 55, as recent price rises tempted sellers back to the market.

The group said bad weather during February may have caused buyers to stay away, while numbers may also have been hit by people receiving their Christmas credit card bills and the end of the stamp duty holiday. But the fall in demand, combined with a slight easing in supply, is likely to stoke concerns that the housing market recovery is running out of stream.

Lenders have been urged to be on their guard against rising levels of mortgage fraud as the economy picks up.

The National Fraud Authority said organisations involved in all stages of the lending process should continue to work to combat mortgage fraud, which it estimates costs around £1 billion a year.

In a report the group said significant progress had been made by public and private organisations to combat the problem during the past 12 months, leading to around £130 million worth of fraud being stopped, but it called on these groups to continue to work together to combat new fraud threats.

Bernard Herdan, chief executive of the NFA, said: "In the economic downturn, there has been a reduction in the availability of products that were targets of fraud such as sub-prime, buy-to-let and self-certified mortgages.

Banks should offer customers accounts which allow them to "opt out" of overdraft facilities, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said.

Unveiling its recommendations on the future of bank charges, the consumer watchdog said it would like to see options for those who do not want unarranged overdrafts as well as greater choice surrounding charging structures.

It also wants improvements on the level of fees for unarranged overdrafts, but the OFT revealed that charges have already been coming down.

Bounced charges, levied when a bank refuses to make a payment, have fallen from an average of £34 in 2007 to around £17.

Older workers are languishing in the dole queue after losing their jobs in the recession and not being able to find new ones, a new report has warned.

The TUC voiced concern about a "steady rise" in the number of people over 50 who were unemployed for more than six months, saying their skills and talents were going to waste.

Union leaders said they will be studying new jobless figures to be published on Wednesday for any sign that older workers were still "trapped" in long-term unemployment.

Last month the number of older people out of work for longer than six months increased by 3,000 to 229,000, while those out of work for more than a year jumped by 11,000 to 134,000.

Consumer groups have urged banks to ensure there are workable alternatives in place before cheques are phased out.

Charities warned that older people would be hit particularly hard by the Payment Council's plans to end the use of cheques by 2018.

Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, Jane Vass, of Age Concern and Help the Aged, warned that the move could make older people vulnerable as they may resort to keeping large amounts of cash in their home or giving their debit card and Pin to someone they did not know that well.

She said: "Older people are the highest users of cheques. Twenty-one per cent of people say moving away from cheques will be a major problem for them."

Pensioners have lost the final round in a long-running battle for equal pension rights abroad.

Judges in Strasbourg ruled that denying index-linked pension rises to many who have chosen to settle abroad does not breach their human rights.

The verdict ends years of courtroom wrangling in which 13 retired expatriates took on the Government - and lost at each legal stage.

Under current Government rules pensioners who retire abroad only get state pension increases in line with inflation if they live in countries with reciprocal arrangements - the other 26 EU countries, plus the USA, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Turkey and Liechtenstein.

Rents look set to increase during the months ahead after the number of homes available to let fell for the second quarter in a row, research has shown.

A third more surveyors expect the cost of renting a property to rise during the coming three months than those who think it will fall, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Their expectations are being driven by a continued decline in the supply of flats and houses available to let, as homeowners who were forced to rent out their properties after being unable to sell them, are putting them back on the market again.

The trend led to 23% more chartered surveyors reporting a fall rather than a rise in new landlord instructions during the three months to the end of January, up from 18% more who saw a drop during the previous quarter.

Consumers could save around £300 million a year in a crackdown on the cost of credit card borrowing, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said.

Repayments to credit and store card firms must be used to pay off the most expensive debt first before cheaper borrowing in a reversal of current industry practice.

There will also be a ban on credit limit and interest rate hikes for those facing financial difficulties and a 60-day right to reject rate increases.

Mr Brown said: "These new rights will put an end to the irresponsible lending practices that people have been most concerned about, and help cut the cost of borrowing."

A third of town hall chiefs walk away with a golden goodbye worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to a survey by the local government spending watchdog.

The Audit Commission found that some council chief executives had received severance payments of more than £500,000. Since 2007, 37 have been paid £9.5 million in total.

The watchdog called for much greater transparency about the deals, saying many were unjustified.

Competent chief executives were being shown the door needlessly, often because of a personality clash with elected leaders, while those that were not up to the job were being paid off when they should simply be fired.