Government targets illegal loan lenders offering high loan rates

Fri, 26 Jan 2007

The government has announced additional funding in an attempt to crack down on the practice of loan sharking, in a move that could potentially drive demand for sub-prime personal loans from banking institutions.

In September 2004, the Department of Trade and Industry launched pilot schemes in Birmingham and Glasgow that aimed to target illegal loan sharks and prevent them from supplying personal loans with high lending rates to low-income families.

Last month, the government announced that these trials would be extended to Sheffield, Liverpool and West Yorkshire and this month it has supplied more funding to ensure that every region in the country will participate in the scheme during the next financial year.

It follows the findings of a recent study from the department that estimated approximately 165,000 homes in the UK are reliant upon illegal loan lenders.

Ed Balls, economic secretary to the Treasury, commented on the latest funding announcement and its likely effect on the personal loans sector.

"Loan sharks are a blight on some of the least well-off communities and so I am pleased to see the success we are already having in tackling these criminals," he said.

"Today's announcement will bring help to more victims nationwide."

Mr Balls took up his present position in the Treasury in May 2006 and is married to housing minister Yvette Cooper.

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