Stop Loan Sharks

The Illegal Money Lending Team (often known as Stop Loan Sharks) in England, Scotland and Wales work alongside the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to investigate those operating within the consumer credit market without the appropriate authorisation. An important part of the IMLT’s work is to investigate and prosecute loan sharks and this is combined with awareness raising of the problems and issues that illegal money lending causes.

Red flags to look out for when you think you may be dealing with loan sharks:

• You have been given a cash loan with no paperwork, for example you have never signed to agree to the loan.
• They don’t provide information about you loan upfront before providing the money, things like your interest rate or payment amounts.
• They have taken your bank card, passport, watch or other valuables from you claiming it’s to secure the loan.
• A debt which keeps growing even though you’re making payments.
• They become aggressive or nasty and threaten you if you can’t pay.

If you believe you, a family member or someone you know has been targeted by a loan shark, please contact the Stop Loan Sharks team and report what you know. You are not in trouble if you have borrowed cash or have been paying back a loan from an illegal money lender, the loan shark is. They are the people committing a crime, not you.