With all the talk about loan sharks recently, the Money Mentors want you to know that if you or anyone else find yourselves in loan shark-related trouble, there are people who can help! The England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) is a fantastic organisation set up to combat loan sharks and has been doing so very successfully for nearly 20 years. In today’s blog, I’m going to tell you all about them and what they do.
So who are the IMLT?
Did you know that there are approximately 1.08 million people in the UK in debt to illegal money lenders? Well, the IMLT was set up in 2004 and aims to spread awareness of the risks of such individuals and what they do.
I myself have been lucky enough to attend some talks by one of their top ‘Liaise Officers’ and have seen an example of how they work with communities, partner agencies, and educational establishments like KCL, to help us understand this problem and how it can be managed. They do this by giving talks, showing videos, creating newsletters, distributing flyers and posters, attending campaigns such as our Stop Loan Sharks Campaign, and in many more ways so that we can help identify and tackle this issue.
The IMLT also has resources for students like us. To see just one example of how loan sharking can become part of a student’s life, take a look at this video. You can also download the Stop Loan Sharks App for further information.
The IMLT doesn’t just spread awareness though. Each team of the IMLT has a specialist investigator and a Liaise Officer who has previously worked for the police, trading standards and debt advice services and investigated and help to prosecute illegal money lenders where they appear in England. In fact, since they were set up, they’ve supported almost 32,000 people (including students) and have written off £87 million of debt!
Not only that, but the IMLT also offers a fantastic amount of support to those who have suffered at the hands of loan sharks for as long as they require it, free of charge!
Our December campaign this year focused on a collaboration with the IMLT to raise awareness of the dangers of loan sharking. Called the ‘Stop Loan Sharks’ Campaign, we hope those of you who attended our events know slightly more about this topic, and if you ever want to learn more, King’s Student Money Mentors and the IMLT are always here to help!
If you’d like to contact the IMLT, their 24/7 confidential helpline can be reached at 0300 555 2222; they also have an e-mail service, a text service, and a Live Chat on their website, as well as a Facebook page and an Instagram to contact them on.
Shivam Chotai
King’s Student Money Mentor
Part of Money & Housing Advice
The King’s Student Money Mentors blog shares our students’ personal experiences and thoughts on money-related topics. Any reference, opinions or recommendations on a particular company/brand are only the views of the student(s) who wrote the blog post. King’s College London, the Money & Housing Advice service and the Money Mentor project do not share the views in the blogs nor endorse any of the companies mentioned. Readers should conduct their own research before using any companies mentioned in our blog posts.