'Repaying a loan shark was three years of living hell'

The way illegal money lenders operate has changed and is "a lot subtler" than people might think

People who use loans sharks have been "driven to the brink of suicide", investigators have said.

The Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) said fear, intimidation and control were being used by loan sharks to keep people quiet.

Anna, whose name has been changed, said three years of repaying a £1,000 loan was "living hell".

She had borrowed it from a loan shark after leaving home at 17, but was soon facing having to shoplift to eat.

She was also left feeling terrified about falling behind with repayments and "always struggling" to try to get money to keep a roof over her head.

She said she believed the stress of it all may have caused her to suffer a miscarriage.

"It was three years of a living hell," she said.

"It wasn't spelled out, but it was a very stern warning: 'Do not miss your payments'.

"I didn't want to take that chance."

The north-west of England has the highest number of arrests of loan sharks in the country, figures show

She said the strain of it led her to "being arrested for shoplifting, because that was my only way of having food because I'd made that payment".

"It has an adverse effect on your mental and physical health [and causes] relationship issues because of the added stress," she said.

"I did have a miscarriage and I do believe, looking back now, that did have a lot to do with the stress and anxiety.

"You don't realise what you're getting yourself into."

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has estimated that there were currently 1.1 million people in England in debt to illegal money lenders and found the North-West region had the highest number of arrests of loan sharks in the country.

In the last six years, the IMLT in England has undertaken 263 operations and arrested 327 loan sharks.

Its figures showed 21% of operations were in the North-West over the last six years and new figures, given exclusively to BBC North West, showed 75% of the IMLT's operations conducted in January 2024 took place in the region.

Figures showed three quarters of all operations conducted so far this year have taken place in the North West

Cath Wohlers, operations manager of the IMLT, said that does not necessarily mean there are more loan sharks in the area.

The higher rate of arrests, she said, was down to the IMLT building great relationships with Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire police forces, that enabled intelligence to flow between them.

She said that while it was not illegal to borrow money from a loan shark, going to an unregulated lender could leave people vulnerable to tactics that had driven some victims to "the brink of suicide".

"It's hammering on your door at 05:00 and terrifying the kids, it's shaming you on social media or telling your boss to watch out because you might have your hand in the till, because you owe them money," she said.

"It's 150 messages a day saying, 'You owe me money, you owe me'.

"It just drives people to the brink of suicide, it really has an impact.

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She said the "other side" of the issue was "the financial side".

"We work with people who've borrowed maybe £500 and paid back literally tens of thousands," she said.

"That means they're not paying their rent, not paying their mortgage, they're in council tax arrears and they have all this legitimate debt piling up that they really struggle to get out of."

Ms Wohlers added that the exact number of victims was still unknown, because discussing debt for so many was shrouded in shame.

Anna said she was introduced to the loan shark through an extended family member and had not understood the terms of the loan.

She said she had not wanted to speak out so decided to take the money then and there.

"I ended up paying back pretty much double, with the interest and everything that was paid back," she said.

"I'd never ever put myself in that situation again, never.

"If I had friends or family who were even thinking of going down that route, I'd do everything I could to tell them, 'No'."