Hundreds of thousands of people across Britain have taken out a payday loan to meet their housing costs, research for the charity Shelter suggests. Of the 3,675 renters and mortgage payers surveyed, 2% had taken out the high-interest short-term loans in the year to November. Overall, 19% had borrowed money - other than the mortgage itself - mainly by using credit cards.

Shelter and payday loan firms urged people to seek help for money problems. The loans are designed for short-term borrowing but high fees for people who default on their payments can raise the cost of borrowing even further and the industry is currently the subject of a Competition Commission probe. Other ways people said they covered their housing expenses were by borrowing from friends or family members, through unauthorised overdrafts, or by taking out another type of loan. YouGov conducted the survey for Shelter and spoke to 4,085 adults overall, with about a quarter of the respondents saying they would be too ashamed to ask for help if they were struggling with housing costs. Two-fifths of those surveyed also said they would not admit their problems to family or friends. Shelter said it dealt with just under 9,000 calls to its helpline from people struggling to pay their rent or mortgage last year, up a third on the previous year.

'Frighteningly real prospect'

Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, said: "Sky-high housing costs, stagnating wages and the high cost of living have taken their toll. "The economy as a whole might be on the up, but losing our home could now be a frighteningly real prospect for any one of us......Read more here