Pic: Freephoto.com

Croydon has been named as the area of Britain where people are most worried about their debt, according to a survey by debt management firm PayPlan published, today.

Their analysis of the postcodes of 40,000 people who called the company for advice found that 144 callers came from a Croydon postcode, 51 per cent higher than the next area with a high number of calls, which was  Coventry.

The other areas in the top five on the list were Coventry, Nottingham, Taunton and Redhill.

Jason Eaves, PayPlan director, said: “Right now we are being told that the economy is ‘out of intensive care’ but there are still a few years ahead where people will continue to struggle financially. Currently there are 2.5 million unemployed and many others who have had to take jobs that pay less than their previous roles.

“Many families have seen their budgets squeezed. Some parts of the country are in recovery while other parts are still in decline; but even in more affluent areas if wage increases have not matched the rising cost of living then debt is still a problem.”

The company said that the average amount of people calling them for advice was £83,465.

Croydon North MP Steve Reed told the Croydon Advertiser: “Since this government came to power, real wages for working people have fallen by over 5.5 per cent, at the same time we’ve seen all our bills rising.

“It’s a sad inevitability of this economy that people are falling into debt, all too often from payday loans companies demanding extortionate levels of interest.