Complaints relating to pay day loans have almost doubled year-on-year in 2012, with over 20,000 calls being made to its National Debtline service, the Money Advice Trust has revealed.

Last month, National Debtline took a call for help with payday loans for every seven minutes its phone lines were open.

Joanna Elson, Chief Executive of the Money Advice Trust, said: "Payday loans have come from nowhere to be one of the most common debt problems people face. In 2007 as the financial crisis began National Debtline took just 465 calls for help with payday loans, but last year that figure had grown to 20,013.

"The rapid emergence of payday lending has caught regulators a little off guard. We have waited some time for real action to be taken to help prevent people falling into a serious debt spiral with these loans. We encourage the OFT to protect consumers by suspending the licences of those lenders shown to persistently break the OFT's own guidance on debt collection.

"National Debtline advisers help around 100 people every day to deal with payday loan debts, some callers have taken out as many as 80 such loans. Borrowing on this scale can have serious ramifications if not dealt with properly, and advice services like National Debtline risk becoming over burdened by the proliferation of payday loans."

The charity revealed that in 2007 its helpline took payday loan related calls from just 465 people, and this has risen steadily since.

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