Loan shark victims' fear of violence stops them seeking help - think-tank

Illegal lending is often not reported due to fear of reprisals, according to the Centre for Social Justice

A Yorkshire woman has told of her fears from dealing with loan sharks, warning: "If I don't pay I get a beating."

It comes as a report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said fear of reprisals from illegal money lenders was preventing vulnerable borrowers from seeking help.

The think-tank believes 1m people in England are in debt to these lenders.

The organisation wants to see improved training for debt advisers and greater powers to investigate loan sharks.

A female victim of a loan shark from Yorkshire, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "I get my Universal Credit and it nearly all goes to him."

The woman said her family were "fed up" of her asking for loans to help pay her debt.

"If I don't pay I get a beating off him, but it's my family, I don't want them getting hurt by him."

Her story is not unusual, according to the CSJ.

Its head of debt Matthew Greenwood said: "If we cannot clamp down on the scourge of loan sharks we are failing some of the most vulnerable in society."

The organisation analysed data from 700 victims of illegal lending and a survey of 171 debt advisers.

It said less than 40% of people borrowing from illegal money lenders had received debt advice and about a third of those seeking advice had not told an adviser they owed a loan shark money.

'Nowhere to go'

Helen Eadon, from the Link Community Hub in Stradbroke, Sheffield, said loan sharks were an "easy trap" for people to fall into.

"We've had illegal money lenders on the estate for as long as I remember," she said.

"You've got nowhere else to go, where else would you get money from?"

She said money lenders had come onto the estate and befriended people who have no alternative, and she feared the situation was getting worse as people struggled with rising costs.

"Illegal money lenders will know that, it will be a fantastic time for them."

England's Illegal Money Lending Team is a government-funded group that investigates and prosecutes illegal money lenders and supports victims.

Its head Tony Quigley said the perpetrators were exploiting people.

"It is not a community service, it is criminals getting rich on the backs of those who can least afford it," he said.

The CSJ's Mr Greenwood said the centre wanted better training for debt advisers and improvements in passing cases to the Illegal Money Lending Team for investigation.

"We need to empower advisers so that they are better equipped to help those who have been targeted by loan sharks and to start to ensure that illegal money lenders face justice," he said.