North women in debt forced into prostitution

Mar 1 2009 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

Caught up in a vicious circle of debt

“CAROL”, a 23-year-old mother of three from Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, fell victim to a loan shark.

She is still terrified of him and insisted on anonymity to tell her story . . .

“It was in August 2007 that my partner was laid off from work in a factory. This caused severe financial difficulties, we were maxed out on credit, cash day loans, etc, in arrears with gas, water and council tax.

“We heard from friends of a man who lends money, he asked ‘how much do you want?’

“We answered ‘£1000’ and he said: ‘That will be £50 per week.’ He the took out a wad of cash and counted out £1000 and he said ‘first payment of £50 due next week then £100 every two weeks.”

“We couldn’t believe how easy it was. There was no payment books, I never signed anything.

“One week he called for his money, we couldn’t afford to pay and asked to pay double next time. He appeared upset and agitated and said ‘you agreed £100, you still owe me £1350. Don’t mess me about, I’ve done you a big favour.” He was staring right at me with big bulging eyes.

“We assured him that he would be paid. He took £50 and left.

“We needed some more money, £500 for a bond. He turned up one day and said: ‘I hear you want some money’.

“I didn’t know how he knew, but we said yes. He said: ‘I will add this to your current loan’, gave us £500 and left with no arrangements made

“Again we could not make the payments. He turned up at the house with his friend who started shouting, raised his voice and became very abusive.

“This made me feel very belittled and scared. He said: ‘I am changing your payments to £150 weekly and will split it between your loans’.

“He made it clear that there were ‘other ways’ I could pay off the debt.

“It was very depressing. We had a shortfall in money. You think you are doing something to get straight and it never works, you get dragged down more and more it’s a vicious circle and we couldn’t even feed the kids.

“I saw the helpline number and wrote it down; it took a few weeks before I had the nerve to ring it

“The team were fantastic. They help me sort out my money, supported me and my family, kept me informed. I am now £150 a week better off and I’ve not paid any more money to the loan shark.”