British teenagers in need of help with debt problems can now access such assistance through the newly-launched Financial Services Authority (FSA) website, it has been claimed.

Earlier this week, the FSA established the What About Money website with the aim of offering financial information to young consumers and this help is urgently needed, according to the Nationwide Building Society.

Revealing the reasons for its support of the new online resource, the building society noted that its own research recently suggested that a fifth of young Britons do not see debt as being negative.

"If the FSA actively encourages schools, colleges and universities to promote the website and the information contained within it to their students, it will become a valuable resource," said Maxine Taylor, corporate affairs director at Nationwide.

The FSA indicated that the launch of its new website was partly motivated by a study from the Rainer charity group that described debt problems as being "endemic" among young people in the UK.