\n The Black Country Housing Group (BCHG) has been awarded partner status by the England Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) for its efforts to address illegal lending in the region.\n<\/p>\n
\n The housing provider, managing more than 2,200 homes in the Black Country and Birmingham, has been collaborating with IMLT for several years.\n<\/p>\n
\n Their joint efforts include training staff to spot signs of loan shark exploitation, establishing a formal reporting process, and supporting community events to educate the public about the dangers of unauthorised lending.\n<\/p>\n
\n BCHG, based in Rowley Regis, also offers tenants free career development, training and employment services to help reduce vulnerability to predatory lenders.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dave Benbow, head of the IMLT, said: “BCHG has thousands of tenants across the region, some of whom may be vulnerable and at risk of being targeted by illegal lenders.\n<\/p>\n
\n “By working with the group, we can ensure tenants and local communities are getting the message about the dangers of borrowing from illegal lenders and how to get help.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are so grateful to partners like BCHG for their support.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This award is well-deserved, and we look forward to continuing our work together in the years to come.”\n<\/p>\n
\n BCHG chief executive, Adrian Eggington, added: “As a responsible housing provider, Black Country Housing Group is proud to achieve the accredited partner status with Stop Loan Sharks.\n<\/p>\n
\n “This recognition highlights our commitment to ensuring our customers are supported if they face the challenges of the cost of living.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The IMLT, set up more than 20 years ago, has supported over 32,500 people and secured 429 successful prosecutions. More than \u00a391.6 million in illegal debt has been written off.\n<\/p>\n
\n Anyone affected by illegal money lending can call the Stop Loan Sharks 24\/7 Helpline on 0300 555 2222, or access support online at the Stop Loan Sharks website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Black Country Housing Group (BCHG) has been awarded partner status by the England Illegal Money Lending Team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-353616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}