STICK to Christmas cards not credit cards this December says the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

The average British family currently has debts of more than £5,000. And the temptation beckons to sink even more into the red as Christmas creeps up.

As more and more people are getting in deeper than they can cope with, Lytham St Annes CAB manager Linda McKenna is gearing up for the festive flood.

"Last year we dealt with more than £ million of consumer debt," she said.

"The usual reasons for debt are redundancy, divorce and separation, but in this area people tend to live beyond their means for some reason. Most of the people we see at the St Annes office are working but they've just got in over their head.

"They come in when they have a problem with paying a credit card with a limit of say £2,000 and when we interview them and start to unravel the finances it turns out they can owe up £50,000. They think they are managing -- but then it all starts to fall apart.

"When people have debts they can't think about anything else, but if they call into the CAB we can give them advice and we can also give them a money advice pack so they can make a budget for Christmas. That's the most important thing to do.

"People must be really tough with their budget though and shop around. When going for a loan or extra money at this time of year people tend to go with their own bank and don't check the APR rate which can often be quite high.

"And all these consolidation companies advertising on the TV can be very dangerous as they are secured against property and if people miss just one payment they can lose their home. It can be extremely tempting to put all you debts together and very often the companies get well-known celebrities to appear in the adverts.

"Debt has been an increasing problem for our customers for the past four years and we are currently making three new appointments a week for that very reason.

"But it needn't be so serious for people if they come in and talk about it. As soon as they come and see us and get things moving it's a starting point to getting things sorted out.

"We are fully booked up for appointments before Christmas now but we do have an advice line and people can still drop in for an advice pack."

Call the Citizen's Advice Bureau on 720710 or the automated advice line on (0870) 1264057.