In a report entitled 'Cashing In', the charity says tens of thousands of people are being tricked out of large sums of money.

It has lodged a super complaint with the Office of Fair Trading and is pushing for a ban on cold calls offering credit or debt management services, as well as up-front fees.

Citizens Advice has identified two practices which it has asked the OFT to investigate:

1) Firms taking upfront fees for loans and other credit services, often by persuading consumers to give them their banking details and making charges without authority.

2) Firms cold-calling consumers by telephone and text to promote consumer credit products and services, such as debt management.

 The OFT will shortly invite interested parties to provide any evidence which may be useful to its assessment.  It will publish a response to the super-complaint within 90 days.