People under 40 are the most likely people to look for online debt help, according to figures from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).

Around 150,000 people used the online service from the debt charity last year, and two thirds of those signing up were under 40.

More women are using the service than men too, at 53 per cent and 47 per cent respectively. Two in five of those using the service had an annual income of between £10,000 and £19,999. The fewest number of users were earning more than £30,000 a year.

The percentage of users per region also revealed a dramatic regional variation with 14.8 percent of users coming from the South East compared to 1.7 percent from Northern Ireland. At 13.7 percent, the second highest number of users came from the North West and at 10.4 percent, the third highest group came from Yorkshire.

Paula Searle, Head of E-Services at CCCS says: "The higher rates of online debt counselling users in any particular category is likely to be a combination of need for help with their debts and general internet usage."

CCCS Debt Remedy is available at www.cccs.co.uk.

Alison Steed