A SINGLE mum is warning hard-up families not to get "ripped-off" by doorstep lenders this Christmas.

Jackie Murray, 34, claims she was "conned" into taking out a £500 cash loan just before Christmas, in 2003.

The mother-of-two, who already had a £9,000 debt, did not realise she would be paying back a total of £970 over the space of a year.

This meant she had to repay almost twice the amount she borrowed.

Having learnt her lesson, she is now warning other families living on the breadline not to give in to home credit firms.

And she welcomes an investigation being carried out by the Competition Commission into the ways companies such as Provident and Shopacheck operate.

The inquiry into the £2billion-a-year home credit industry was set up in December 2004 following a complaint from the National Consumer Council (NCC).

The commission has been investigating whether the home credit market prevents or distorts competition to the detriment to customers.

It will publish a report on its provisional findings next year.

Mrs Murray, of Taylors Lane, Sydenham, said: "The sooner people find out what these companies are up to the better.

"I was naive when I took the loan out. I thought the extra money just before Christmas would come in handy.

"It is the worse mistake I could have made and I would advise anyone to stay clear of any dodgy doorstep lender, especially at this time of year."

Gary Ellison, 38, of Manciple Street, London, who used to work for Provident as a doorstep lender in New Cross, said: "I feel guilty when I think about how I used to get money from people, who were mostly single-parent families.

"They were the easiest targets to get money from as they would want to buy presents for their kids from our catalogues. It was our way of keeping them on our books.

"This time of year just before Christmas was one of the best time to earn hundreds of pounds."