Elderly couple who were illegal moneylenders had to pay back £136,623 or face jail time

An elderly couple who ran an illegal moneylending business have been ordered to pay back £136,623 over the next three months or face 18 months in jail.

Alan and Joyce Fromson appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Wednesday after a criminal inquiry found their business – which operated without the required license from 2007 to 2020 – had made a profit of £222,000.

The Fromsons, both from Green Leas, Carlton in Stockton, worked for the Provident loan company and decided to start their own business when they retired.

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Alan Fromson, 81, and Joyce Fromson, 79, first legally founded their company – with the necessary license – in 1997.

But in 2007 the cost of a license had increased tenfold – from £80 to £800 by 2007 – and they made the decision not to bother buying a new one. They continued their business illegally – and paid no taxes on their earnings.

In an earlier hearing, Teesside Crown Court heard the couple had loaned out £382,000 since 2007.

When interviewed, Alan told police “we could get away with it, so we did it” and “we made a very, very good living out of it”.

Simon Mortimer, prosecutor, said the two started their own lending company called JFA Personal Credit in 1997.

But it all fell apart when a customer contacted authorities to raise concerns before a warrant was executed at the couple’s Carlton home in October 2019, where evidence and records were seized.

In the interview they stated that they had copied the Provident model with Alan operating in the Thornaby area and Joyce in Stillington and Carlton.

Mr Mortimer said they would charge £56 interest on £100 borrowed, spread over 52 weeks.

After pleading guilty to unlawfully engaging in the activities of a consumer lending business that required a license and lending money unless authorized, the couple were sentenced in November 2020 to 10 months in prison, which was suspended for 2 years.

At that hearing, their defense attorney, Nigel Soppitt, said the couple had planned to retire in 2007 and therefore did not renew their license, but “week after week, month after month, people came to them.”

Judge Recorder Toby Hedworth QC sentenced the couple, telling the court references presented to the court described them as “pillars of their community”.

He said: “For me to say this to you in court is a matter of great importance to people who are otherwise very respectable and hardworking and I hope you don’t mind if I say it, now relatively elderly people.

“The shame you must endure at this stage of your life is great, but you must rightly share it because, for very good reasons, those who provide the moneylending services you have operated for many years must be licensed.”

The judge added there was no evidence of exploitation, saying: “There is a big difference between the activities that you two were involved in and what is commonly referred to as loan sharks.”

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