New Task Force Set Up To Tackle Loan Sharking
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‘Estimates suggest that 165,000 households in the UK are exploited by loan sharks every year with up to £40m lent and as much as £150m repaid annually.’ With Christmas approaching many are going to be tempted to overspend and loan sharks are always only too happy to take advantage of this.
To tackle the threat loan sharks present to many of the weakest communities a new nationwide scheme has been set up to help identify the culprits and protect the victims. The national project follows the success of pilot anti-loan shark teams in Birmingham and Glasgow, staffed by specialist trading standards officers working closely with the police
Telling the difference between a loan shark and a licensed money lender can be difficult. Licensed lenders still have collecting agents that go door to door and probably have very high rates of interest, but this is completely legal.
According to Steven Meale, who is the trading standards manager for Bristol City Council, ‘loan sharks can appear like a friend in the community who is there to lend a hand and step in if say the washing machine breaks down for example. Loan sharks may be held in awe in their community, they can be very well known and are often referred by friends. They can also have a very good knowledge of the benefits system. They can have a vested interest in making sure that their clients are claiming everything so that they can cream some of that income off.’
Unlike licensed money lenders loan sharks operate outside the law, their interest rates are usually even higher at extortionate rates and they often use intimidation or outright violence to reinforce their hold over their victims.
Meale explained that loan sharks usually have a specific type of victim in mind. ‘The people most at risk of loan sharks have a much lower than normal income, they may also have other problems such as mental health or drug and alcohol problems. They are often the most vulnerable and financially excluded people in the community, which is why the project is using a multi-agency approach.’
The most important part of the new project is getting victims themselves, or their friends and family, to come forward and make the new agency aware of the problem. Victims are often afraid to go to the police and yet heightened awareness and a media campaign over the Christmas period should change this. Loan sharking is illegal and there is no reason victims should let them get away with it.
