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Illegal Money Lending Team: How to spot a loan shark
Monday 12th July 2010Around 165,000 households in the UK have been playing a dangerous game – swimming with loan sharks. A small amount just to tide you over when times are hard seems harmless, yet very few people realise what they could be getting themselves and their loved ones into, according to the Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT), part of Trading Standards.
The government group has posed the question, would you be able to spot if you were being sharked?
If you’ve taken out a loan, the following should trigger alarm bells that your lender is unlicensed:
- A lack of paperwork
- You do not know how much you owe, your interest rate or how much longer you will be paying for.
- Random charges are added to your debt.
- The lender wants items as security such as passports, bankcards or benefits cards.
- The lender is intimidating, threatening or violent.
The IMLT assure that lending money without a licence is illegal, if you report a loan shark you will not be in trouble. Loan sharks may seem friendly at first but they can soon turn. As we have seen in many cases, loan sharks can ruin people’s lives. They have been known to use extreme methods such as violence, kidnap and rape to get back their loans with extortionate rates of interest.
The National Stop Loan Sharks project is made up of specialist teams, seeking out and prosecuting loan sharks, so people no longer have to suffer. So far they have successfully secured 60 years worth of convictions, seized and confiscated £2.5million in cash and written off £25million worth of illegal debt.
What’s more the team support the victims of loans sharks- over 11,500 victims so far. Not only have the team helped them through the investigation but they have showed them better ways of coping with money and getting credit.
If you have any concerns please call the Stop Loan Sharks hotline on 0300 555 2222, You can also Text ‘loan shark + your message’ to 60003 ,E-mail reportaloanshark@stoploansharks.gov.uk or Log-on to www.direct.gov.uk/stoploansharks
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