A man suspected of being an illegal lender has been ordered to forfeit more than £11,000 in a landmark case for the England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT).
Magistrates ordered that £11,323.20 held in frozen bank accounts be forfeited after ruling that the money had ‘on the balance of probabilities’ come from illegal lending activity.
The IMLT had been investigating allegations of illegal money lending in the Blackpool area. It pursued the civil forfeiture action under the Proceeds of Crime Act after determining that a criminal prosecution would not be possible.
The case, heard at Preston Magistrates’ Court on Friday, August 7, was the first of its kind for the IMLT. During the hearing, magistrates heard evidence from representatives of the IMLT as well as from the man involved.
They ruled in favour of the IMLT, deciding, on the balance of probabilities, that the funds were likely to have come from illegal money lending activity. They ordered that the frozen funds, totalling £11,323.20 be handed over.
Dave Benbow, head of the IMLT, said: “While we do pursue criminal prosecutions wherever possible, there are a number of ways we can tackle illegal money lending in communities. A criminal prosecution is not always achievable for a variety of reasons, for instance, it could be that borrowers choose not to engage or there is insufficient evidence to meet the criminal threshold.
“Even in those cases, we continue to use all the powers available to us, including pursuing forfeiture orders and Criminal Behaviour Orders, to protect communities and ensure those suspected of illegal money lending cannot continue to profit from their activities.”
The IMLT is a national team hosted by Birmingham City Council. It was set up over 20 years ago to investigate and prosecute illegal lenders and support those affected.
There are up to 1.7 million people in debt to loan sharks in England, according to figures from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
Many illegal money lenders are well known within communities and are often introduced to borrowers through friends or family members. They are unregulated and give loans with no paperwork, charging extortionate interest rates. They often resort to threats, intimidation and even violence if repayments are not made.
Illegal lenders do not complete affordability checks on borrowers, often meaning they are lending to people who cannot pay them back. These borrowers do not have the protection of consumer law such as cancellation periods and the ability to apply for help if they can’t pay. This causes huge amounts of stress and can impact their other finances – leaving them unable to pay rent or other priority bills.
Anyone who has been affected by illegal money lending should call the Stop Loan Sharks 24/7 helpline on 0300 555 2222 or access support online at www.stoploansharks.co.uk. There is a Live Chat facility on the website, and the team can also be contacted via WhatsApp on 07700 102773. The Live Chat and WhatsApp services are monitored from 9am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.
