Hundreds of thousands of consumers could miss out on cheap online deals where Royal Mail has not registered their full address, meaning applicants fail a credit check.
Property asking prices fell for the third month in a row during September as estate agents continued to have record levels of unsold stock on their books.
Victims of the tax blunder which will see 1.4 million people asked to pay cash back to the taxman may qualify for increased benefits to soften the blow.
Britain saw the largest rise in employment since records began in the three months to July as official figures today revealed 286,000 more people secured jobs.