Thousands of consumers across Britain are lying to their lenders about how much money they earn on an annual basis, according to a recent study.

Figures from uSwitch.com show that five per cent of people deliberately mislead the lender they are applying to in order to gain access to more credit than they might otherwise be able to.

Meanwhile, financial service firms are giving out billions of pounds in credit to consumers whose income level they have not had officially checked.

All of which could leave borrowers facing debt management and money problems and lenders having to write off sizeable sums.

"We cannot ignore the fact that consumers have a responsibility to borrow sensibly, but lenders need to help the process and tighten their credit checking procedures," said Simeon Linstead, head of personal finance at uSwitch.com.

Darren Cook from Moneyfacts.co.uk said recently that the days of cheap credit a years away from a return in the UK.