Men are far less likely to seek help with their spiralling debts than women, Christians Against Poverty has found.

CAP said that in the vast majority of cases, it was the women in the relationship who were taking the first step to turn around their finances.

Figures from the past year show that 63% of callers to the charity were women.

Even among those not in a relationship, nearly twice as many single women contacted the organisation as single men.

“When someone rings our freephone number, it is much more likely to be a woman than a man, even if we then hear their partner making helpful comments in the background,” said CAP chief executive Matt Barlow.

“We don’t know whether women are more pragmatic, or that men have that determination to sort things out on their own.

"What is clear is that it is awful to live in debt, to be hounded by creditors and feel that life has spun out of control.

"I guarantee anyone in debt: ringing for help will be easier than what
you’re coping with now and, by the way, we won’t judge you.”

CAP said debt counselling organisations were anticipating their highest volume of calls in the coming weeks as people start to feel the pinch of rising living costs and wake up to post-Christmas credit card bills.

This fear is backed up CAP's own figures for 2010, which showed that February 15 was its busiest day for calls, followed closely by the last two Mondays in January.

Figures also show that Monday generally was the most popular day to call for help throughout 2010.