A survey suggests more than 3.5 million people are likely to take out a high-interest payday loan over the next six months.

R3, which represents insolvency practitioners, questioned around 2,000 people and found 60% of those who had taken out a short-term loan regretted doing so, while a third had to borrow more money as they could not pay it off.

John Lamidey, chief executive of the Consumer Finance Association, which represents payday loan companies told Today presenter John Humphrys that they offered a cheaper alternative to bank overdraft charges.

Defending what he said were "very high standards" in the industry, he said that research had shown that "94% of customers are satisfied" with the arrangements.

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