Episode title: Loan sharks
Broadcast date: Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Teaser ....Reckless lending, vicious cycles of debt and fraud in the microlending industry. All this under the spotlight this week on 3rd Degree.
This week 3rd Degree goes undercover to expose fraudulent practices in the industry. Businessman Simon Mantel has described microlending as nothing more than modern highway robbery.
The show reveals how desperate South Africans go deeper and deeper into debt - often taking out more than one loan and quickly defaulting when the repayments become too difficult to maintain.
Microlenders then get court judgements, known as garnishees, which instruct an employer to deduct the loan from their salary. Of the 1450 garnishees the show audited - a staggering 1447 were fraudulent.
3rd Degree is on e.tv, the eNews channel and SKY Digitial Platform in the UK - on Tuesdays at 21h30.