Slough Borough Council’s trading standards team launched the Stop Loan Sharks project with the South East illegal money lending team, on Tuesday, March 10.
The government-funded Stop Loan Sharks team will be working with trading standards officers in Slough to investigate illegal money lending activity, establish if a problem exists and, if so, bring the perpetrators to justice. The team is made up of highly experienced investigators with a broad range of backgrounds and investigative skills.
The launch will be opened by Cllr Shafiq Chaudhry, commissioner for Slough community and leisure, and hosted by the council’s trading standards manager, Keith Eaglestone. Leader of the council, Rob Anderson, will also be attending.
At the launch, the illegal money lending team will give a presentation, including a video story of one loan shark victim.
Keith Eaglestone, trading standards manager for Slough Borough Council, said: “Illegal loan lenders are incredibly hard to track down and target our most vulnerable sectors of the community.
“This scheme is an excellent example of how sharing resources on specific issues stop this activity and provide support to vulnerable people.
“The illegal money lending team has been hugely successful to date in stamping out loan sharks, helping more than 7,000 victims, writing off around £8million of illegal debt and securing more than 35 years in prison sentences.
“Successful prosecutions have included loan sharks being convicted of kidnap, assault, threats to kill, intimidation and dealing counterfeit goods, as well as illegal money lending.
“We’re committed to this scheme and are asking residents who know of such activity to come forward and help us stop it.
“It’s important we send a clear message to loan sharks that their actions will not be tolerated and we will do everything in our power to bring them to justice.”
Cllr Shafiq Chaudhry, commissioner for Slough community and leisure, said: “Loan sharks charge huge interest rates, often thousands of percent. As they do not have a consumer credit licence, they cannot collect debts legally so use violence and intimidation to get the money back.
“The illegal money lending team’s intelligence-led campaign is extremely important in the fight against loan sharks and wider criminality.
“Every loan shark the team has prosecuted so far has been involved in criminal activity, so removing them from society will help lower crime and make our communities feel safer.”
A loan shark is an unlicensed money lender. Licensed money lenders are regulated by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and must follow the OFT’s code of practice. Loan sharks operate outside the law and anyone who borrows from them is likely to pay an extortionate interest rate – the highest found so far has been 117,000 percent. They may also suffer harassment if they fall behind with payments and may be pressured into borrowing more to repay one debt with another.
The team is urging residents who have been victims of loan sharks, or who know of loan sharks operating in their area, to contact the 24-hour confidential hotline, by texting ‘loan shark’ and a message to 60003 or by External link iconvisiting the website (opens a new window).
For more information, please contact Stop Loan Sharks hotline number, 0300 555 2222.
Slough Borough Council
