20 September 2007
The government has announced plans to crack down on the practice of illegal money lending.
Undercover teams of investigators from around the UK are to work with Trading Standards officers to try to track down loan sharks, in a £3 million initiative funded by the Treasury entitled Face to Face.
Pilot schemes in Birmingham and Glasgow have proved a success, with Trading Standards officials identifying more than 200 illegal lenders since 2004 and closing loan books worth more than £3 million.
The new funding will help to expand existing teams in Birmingham and Glasgow as well as in London, the north-east, east Midlands, south-west, Wales, the north-west and Yorkshire and Humberside.
The proposals come as MPs look to reduce the current levels of debt in the UK following figures that showed more than 165,000 households with financial problems borrow from loan sharks every year.
Often loan sharks charge high rates of interest on loans, using violence and intimidation to reclaim money from deprived borrowers.
John Hutton, the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform described illegal money lenders as "criminals who prey on vulnerable and desperate people".
He insisted that the government was "committed to shutting these thugs down and bringing them to justice".
"Our targeted teams will make sure anyone who feels trapped or scared has the confidence to report these crooks and put a stop to their illegal behaviour," he added.
Victims of illegal money lenders will also be offered support and debt advice as part of the scheme.