Staff from the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) say the number of people coming to them for help during the current credit crunch has increased.

And North Tyneside bureau director Mark Almond says the message going out to families this Christmas should be to cut back on extravagant and unnecessary spending to ensure they keep a roof over their head.

He made the plea during a meeting with Eric Pickles MP, shadow secretary of state for communities and local government, who visited Whitley Bay CAB last week.

Mr Almond said: "People indulge their children for the best of motives at Christmas, but it's February when we see them, which is a month after the bill has landed."

Mr Pickles agreed, saying: "It's nice to indulge your kids, but what they need more than anything is a happy home, a content home, not worrying about a roof over their head.

"That is more important than an extra present.

"The message to get out of the recession is spend, spend, spend."

But Mr Almond said: "Our advice would be that doesn't make sense.

"The government needs to start giving a clearer message about debt.

"People are taking risks without understanding the implications."

He also urged borough residents to consider going to credit unions or banks for loans to get themselves out of financial trouble, rather than taking a consolidation loan from what he describes as "irresponsible" companies advertising on TV, who then charge up to 38 per cent interest.

"Ideally, people should save up their money for whatever they want, even if it takes a few years," said Mr Almond.

"It's only a tiny amount of people who can benefit from consolidation loans."

He joked that ideally the CAB should be given a right of reply after the adverts, but he did say that debt should be treated as a toxic, similar to cigarettes with warnings on the packet.

"The amount of people who have health worries, such as major depression and matrimonial problems as a result of money problems is unbelievable," he said.

Mr Almond also called on people in financial difficulty to get in touch the minute they felt they were getting into trouble, not ignoring the problem in the hope it would go away.

Mr Almond told the Conservative MP that in the previous financial year they had helped deal with a total of £20m worth of debt, and that had increased this year but did not include problems with mortgages and potential repossession, while the average debt per client was £15,000.

He also revealed that one of the biggest problems was store cards and the interest charged on them by big name companies, with one national store reported to charge 220 per cent interest.