Citizens Advice is telling payday loan customers that they don’t have to put up with harassment from lenders and other forms of ‘appalling treatment’ as the charity urges people to make a stand by making a complaint.

Last year Citizens Advice ran a campaign urging people to fight back against payday lenders by complaining to the Financial Ombudsman.

Today the Financial Ombudsman revealed the number of complaints about payday loans has more than doubled.

Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said: “Borrowers can make a stand against payday lenders’ appalling practices. Nobody should have to put up with lenders harassing them with phones calls and texts, or taking more money than is owed and we’ve been encouraging people to make official complaints about this sort of behaviour. As many as three in four of the problems reported to Citizens Advice about payday loans could have grounds for complaint to the financial ombudsman.

“Today the Financial Ombudsman has reported that the number of complaints has now doubled. But there are still a lot of people out there who could challenge lenders around their unfair treatment.

“When people are heavily in debt, often their main concern is sorting out their money problems. Questioning whether the behaviour of lenders is fair and just isn’t at the forefront of their minds but is it important customers do fight back.”