The BBC gains exclusive access to illegal moneylenders who are charging interest rates of up to 50%.
BBC Business reporters"D", not his real name, has worked as an illegal moneylender for two decades, and says business has never been so good.
Nearly all of his "customers" are regulars, he says, paying off their debts within two or three months. They're usually back again a few weeks later. D calls himself an "enforcer", referring to what happens if payments are missed or his messages go ignored. In his own words, he is "providing a service" that relies on people "helping him back" after he has lent them money.Another active illegal moneylender we spoke to, "M", claims to have lent millions of pounds to clients over the past 20 years.
With many people unwilling to talk about debt, there is little data available about the number of lenders operating without a licence. In a report last year, the right-leaning think tankestimated that about one million people in England could owe money to illegal moneylenders. Another female client in Glasgow claims that she was forced to clean an office building for an illegal lender as an alternative way to pay back £1,000 she had borrowed. Her debt would be reduced by about £30 per shift.
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The people making money from the pain of soaring pricesThe BBC gains exclusive access to illegal moneylenders who are charging interest rates of up to 50%.
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