Illegal Money Lending and stopping Loan Sharks

06 July 2023

In this episode, Steve meets with Cath Wohlers from the Illegal Money Lending Team to talk about the nation’s efforts to Stop Loan Sharks.

Coincidently in the week just before Mantas Daujotas is sentenced to four and a half years in prison for having illegally lent about £2m, making a profit of £450k.

This is a complex topic that lives in the grey area of where we draw the line on sub-prime lending. On the one hand, Jason Wassell, Chief Exec of the Consumer Credit Trade Association argues that shrinking the market leads to financial exclusion, while Mick McAteer of the Financial Inclusion Centre takes the view that improved regulation has protected people from unaffordable products.

Also around this time, Fair4All Finance publishes a report into loan sharks and is looking to convene cross-sector, cross-party support to create a credit market that supports everyone, presumably to fill the gap between Jason & Mick’s viewpoints. Free training is available from the Illegal Money lending team, just call 0300 555 22 22 and ask for Cath or go to stoploansharks.co.uk and use the live chat.

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About the author

Steve has been in the debt industry since 2001. He spent most of his career working in government, where he started on the phones collecting VAT debt and ended up being responsible for prompting improvements to the management of over £40bn of public sector debt. He joined Just and Arum in May 2022 where he continues to shape the biggest conversations in the debt market, having been recognised as an Influencer on the Credit 500 list for a number of years. Credit Management Magazine recently called him one of the industry’s genuine thought leaders.