Much more must be done to help the UK's poorest families tackle problem debt, a Conservative-leaning think tank says.
The Centre for Social Justice, which helped shape the 2010 Tory manifesto, says the average UK household has debts of £54,000, including mortgages - nearly twice the level of a decade ago.
It says the poorest 10% of households have average debts that are more than four times their income.
Those households need affordable credit and free debt advice, it adds.
'Corrosive impact'The Maxed Out report, led by former Labour work and pensions minister Chris Pond, says the average debt repayments of people in that group were nearly half of their gross monthly income.
John and Donna Smith told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme about their battle with debt.
"It was terrible - we used to hide letters. To my shame we used to get my three children to answer the phone calls and pretend we weren't there, or just not answer the phone.
"It was like living in prison, we didn't want to go out, didn't socialise, we took ourselves out of society. We were frightened to go out in case someone pounced on us for money.
"We used to argue all the time, or the other extreme, not talk to each other.
"We lost our home, it was repossessed... we were basically left with the clothes we had.
"It wasn't about budgeting. It was the finance companies - they keep pressuring you to take out loans. It was the ability to say: 'No, I don't want that, it's not good for us.'"
But the authors say they have avoided the easy assumption of blaming individual responsibility.
Nor were payday lenders, the housing bubble or the banking crash to blame, they say.
Centre for Social Justice director Christian Guy said: "Years of increased borrowing, rising living costs and struggling to save has forced many families into a debt trap that is proving very difficult to escape.
"Problem debt can have a corrosive impact on people and families."
BBC home affairs editor Mark Easton said the poorest people could often access banking and credit only at a premium, with onerous terms making it more likely they would go overdrawn and suffer penalty charges.
Mr Guy said the poorest people in the UK were "cut off from mainstream banking and have no choice now but to turn to loan sharks and high-cost lenders".
The report says payday lenders have increased business from £900m in 2008/2009 to more than £2bn in 2011/2012.
And it also identifies a lack of financial education, saying studies suggest two-fifths of young people are unable to differentiate between being overdrawn or in credit on a bank statement.
It says more than 26,000 UK households have been accepted by councils as homeless in the past five years because of mortgage and rent arrears.
Mr Pond said that "with falling real incomes and increasing costs of basic essentials, many, especially the most vulnerable, are sliding further into problem debt".
"The costs to those affected, in stress and mental disorders, relationship breakdown and hardship is immense.
"But so too is the cost to the nation, measured in lost employment and productivity and in an increased burden on public services."
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