Not everyone knows what an incredible and courageous job many of my trading standards friends do in tackling the menace of illegal money lending. The Government via BIS has funded a handful of teams to bring loan sharks to task and they have been spectacularly successful.
More than 500 loan sharks have been arrested, £37million of illegal debts have been written off, over £1.3million cash has been seized from the sharks, 16,000 victims have been helped, and £20million of assets are being investigated with a view to removing these from illegal money lenders.
The return on the funds provided has been immense and we have all been working hard to ensure that the funds did not fall foul of the Government's cuts to public spending. Imagine our delight when we saw the Consumer Minister Ed Davey MP announce on 28 December that funding would continue for this work and for our scambuster teams for the next year and probably to 2013.
In these cash strapped times for ordinary people the loan sharks are only too eager to sink their teeth into those desperate for money. That's is when the cycle of ever growing repayments and potential threats begins. Loan sharks beware.
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