Problems with loan sharks being tackled by specialist team

A specialist team is dealing with problems relating to illegal loan sharks, with officials from the team expressing concerns about the number of people that are falling for illegal loan shark finance due to desperation in the current financial climate. One official from the illegal money lending unit covering North Staffordshire said more people were turning to these lenders as a result of the effects of the recession.

The global credit crisis has resulted in credit drying up for many people, making it difficult for them to get the finance that they need, and for many desperate times has led to desperate measures, forcing them to turn to less reputable lenders when it comes to borrowing money.

The problems relating to loan sharks are now being tackled by the Central England Trading Standards Illegal Money Lending Team, which was launched back in 2004. The team is funded by the government and is responsible for gathering evidence on loan sharks.  

As part of their investigation into the practices and activities of loan sharks the team has set up a twenty four hour hotline that allows consumers to ’shop a shark’ and give the team more ammunition when investigating these loan sharks.

As a result of the hotline the investigators recently managed to catch out one loan shark and get him sentenced. The team hopes to be able to catch out many other loan sharks through the hotline.

An official from Staffordshire County Council, where the sentenced loan shark was from, stated: “We hope this sends out a strong message to anyone thinking they can make money illegally. These people prey on vulnerable residents without any remorse which is thoroughly shameful.”