The Citizens Advice Bureau has blamed lenders for the huge debts accumulated by people in the UK who are now unable to repay their loans.

Citing a number of cases, in a report, in which its bureaux across the country had dealt with, the advice agency said on many occasions people who had taken out loans from banks, whether secured or unsecured but found themselves in trouble with repayments, often discovered their lenders were unwilling to assist them.

In one case, for example, the CAB said a man who had taken out a secured loan for £85,000 including payment protection insurance (PPI) was not told the loan was a variable and the cost of PPI was extra £21,000 until he received the loan agreement.

Further explaining the causes of mounting debts in Britain the CAB said bad marketing for lending which encourages irresponsible borrowing, lending without a prior check on borrowers history and ability to repay, sales of the wrong PPI to borrowers, offering consolidation loans, secured and unsecured, when borrowers face financial difficulties etc were among the main factors.

It thus urged lenders to ensue that loans were affordable and suitable for the needs of borrowers when taking them out. And that they should encourage borrowers to borrow responsibly.