The Treasury has announced funding of £1.2m to provide extra enforcement teams to tackle the problem of illegal money lending as part of its work into promoting financial inclusion.
The funding aims to build on pilot projects in Birmingham and Glasgow by extending operations into areas such as Sheffield, West Yorkshire and Liverpool. Over the last two years, two pilot specialist teams in the West Midlands and Scotland have been working to tackle criminals who illegally give out quick cash loans, often using intimidation and threats of violence to extort large sums of money in return. A report from the Department of Trade and Industry reveals there are approximately 165,000 households using illegal money lenders in the UK, with around half of these in the most depri...
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