'The number of people desperately struggling with payday loan debts has almost reached record levels for the year, a debt advice charity has said.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service has been approached by 16,500 people with problems linked to payday loan debt - more than 2,000 of them struggling with five of these loans or more. With Christmas still to come, that is already near the 17,500 clients it spoke to last year, and well past the 6,500 figure for 2009.

These loans are intended as a short-term stop gap to tide people over for a few days or weeks until payday, but the charity said 173 people it has seen this year have 10 or more of them, suggesting they lead to spiraling debts.'

Read more: Payday Loans Dropping Near-Record Numbers of People into Spiralling Debts, says Advice Charity