CHARITIES in the county are struggling to cope with demand for help from people in debt.
A report reveals that Notts Citizens Advice Bureaux has handled cases involving around £40 million of new debt in the past six months.
And 45 per cent of cases the organisation handles are debt-related.
It believes the problem is getting worse.
Sue Maslowska, district manager for Broxtowe Citizens Advice Bureau, is concerned about the amount of calls it is receiving.
She said: "In terms of demands on the service, across the board, demand exceeds the resource available."
She added: "All services are worried about how we are going to cope with the increase in demand. We can only handle about ten per cent of the telephone cases we receive.
"Every day we are seeing people with debt. In the last year, we have seen a massive rise in people who we have to refer to get food parcels. We are amazed by how many people haven't got enough money for food."
The organisation recently conducted a survey of people it had helped.
Of the 150 returns, two said they may have committed suicide without the CAB's help.
Carlo Borghisani, centre manager of Trent Debt Advice, agreed that the problem was getting worse.
He said: "We are seeing more and more people and it's only going to get worse.
"We see people with a lot of debt and we try to help them. Payday loans are increasing and will become a bigger problem.
"It's worrying if the wrong people are being given credit.
"People will and can get hold of money any way they can. It's very easy to borrow."
