Move to stop loan sharks preying

Loan sharks are said to work in poorer areas

Loan sharks and ways of stopping them feeding off the poor are to be debated in the Scottish Parliament.

Labour MSP Trish Godman has put forward an eight point plan to try to cut the number of loan sharks operating in poor communities.

In a special debate on Wednesday, she will spell out what she believes needs to be done, including better advice, support for credit unions and action by the police to stop intimidation.

Trish Godman wants the police to get involved

Ms Godman said poverty is the root cause of loan sharking and that unscrupulous lenders are able to charge exorbitant interest rates.

She said loan sharks operate because they know families in deprived areas are desperate.

They need money straight away and they have nowhere else to turn.

Ms Godman said the answer partly lies in tougher policing, and that officers should treat intimidation by loan sharks as they now treat domestic violence or racism.

The MSP said it was a serious crime and that it should be treated as such and not as an issue that can be ignored.

She also supports a Bill going through Westminster to outlaw exceptionally high interest rates.

But Ms Godman said the long term answer is to improve the take-up of benefits and to offer poor families better financial advice through Citizens Advice Bureaux and trades unions.