Killed By Credit

[Boom'n'Bust]

Killed By Credit

By Jane Mack (TMFJane)

February 15, 2006

Last week a 47-year-old father of two killed himself on a Norfolk beach. It was reportedly on the day the bailiffs were due to repossess the family home because he'd fallen behind with the mortgage payments. He owed the mortgage lender less than £5,000.

The man's death is the fourth 'debt suicide' I've read about in the last year and I find it horrifying. He owed the bank money not his life.

The city watchdog, the Financial Services Authority is concerned too. Last month they warned that they were seeing signs of 'growing distress' in a significant minority of people who were having trouble keeping up with their debt repayments.

Bankruptcies and mortgage repossession orders have jumped and they report that more people are defaulting on their credit card payments.

While banks are required to treat cases of financial difficulty 'sympathetically and positively' under the terms of the Banking Code, many are getting tougher -- particularly mortgage lenders who instigated 115,000 possession proceedings in 2005 compared to nearly 78,000 in 2004.

Nevertheless, there is still much that can be done when debts become unmanageable and it's tragic that this desperate father didn't seek proper help. There are several free debt advice organisations who can help you to work out a budget, prepare a plan for paying off your debts and draw up a financial statement to show your creditors. Taking action like this will go a long way towards staving off those chasing you for money.

If you're beginning to have sleepless nights because of your debts then contact the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, PayPlan or your local Citizens Advice office. Don't wait until you get desperate enough to consider taking your own life. As John F Kennedy once said: "The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."

http://www.fool.co.uk/news/comment/2006/c0...m?ref=foolwatch

Edited February 15, 2006 by Boom'n'Bust

[theChuz]

thats really selfish of him.

I believe the family wont even be able to claim any insurance because its a suicide, he could of atleast made it look like an accident.

[OnlyMe]

Get a little Xtra help from the Halifax.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-lo...page_id=62&ct=5

Halifax 'last straw' for suicide dad

Sean Poulter, Daily Mail

15 February 2006

A FATHER of two killed himself after the Halifax won a court order to evict his family and repossess their home.

Ian Beech, 47, apparently took painkillers, drank a bottle of whisky and walked into the sea. His body was found on a Norfolk beach last Wednesday - the same day that the bailiffs were due to take the family home.

The dead man's relatives say he was the victim of a new tactic by home loan firms of getting tough with those who fall behind on repayments.

Mr Beech left a note saying that the Halifax's decision to repossess his home because of mortgage arrears of just £4,714.66 was 'the last straw'.

The note asked his relatives to publicise his death and the way he had been treated. yesterday, the family accused the Halifax of being 'wicked' in the way it put pressure on Mr Beech.

thats really selfish of him.

I believe the family wont even be able to claim any insurance because its a suicide, he could of atleast made it look like an accident.

Not so, like many he didn't to know quite what was what.

It appears that Mr Beech, a self-employed salesman in the electronics industry, believed that taking his life would protect his family from mounting debts.

[dnd]

Nothing, esp money, is worth killing yourself over - he could have gone bankrupt and started again

[CrashCrash]

Get a little Xtra help from the Halifax.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-lo...page_id=62&ct=5

The note asked his relatives to publicise his death.

May be people learn from this

[Guest Guy_Montag]

Surely the bank takes his house, sells it, pays itself 5k + say 3 or 4k expenses & gives the rest to him?

[The Masked Tulip]

This man might not have been aware of the options available to him. He might have tried, got bad advice and felt there was no alternative. He might have felt tremendous shame at what was going on. He might have felt that he had let his family down. He might have found himself in a dark well of despair from which he could see no hope nor escape.

Sadly, this chap will not be the last.

[theChuz]

Get a little Xtra help from the Halifax.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/credit-and-lo...page_id=62&ct=5

Halifax 'last straw' for suicide dad

Sean Poulter, Daily Mail

15 February 2006

A FATHER of two killed himself after the Halifax won a court order to evict his family and repossess their home.

Ian Beech, 47, apparently took painkillers, drank a bottle of whisky and walked into the sea. His body was found on a Norfolk beach last Wednesday - the same day that the bailiffs were due to take the family home.

The dead man's relatives say he was the victim of a new tactic by home loan firms of getting tough with those who fall behind on repayments.

Mr Beech left a note saying that the Halifax's decision to repossess his home because of mortgage arrears of just £4,714.66 was 'the last straw'.

The note asked his relatives to publicise his death and the way he had been treated. yesterday, the family accused the Halifax of being 'wicked' in the way it put pressure on Mr Beech.

Not so, like many he didn't to know quite what was what.

It appears that Mr Beech, a self-employed salesman in the electronics industry, believed that taking his life would protect his family from mounting debts.

It amazes me, actually it annoys me to think about people.

Firstly, if he is in arears of a loan that is secured on the house then the bank have every right to take it back off him and sell it to get thier money back, he would of signed to that affect.

There are loads of other options around and if he had just gone and looked about and tried to do something about it then he would of seen them.

The bank takes your house, its a real f*cker but its not the end of the world, his whole family wont just drop down dead, dare i say it he maybe could of got a council house, he could of maybe rented like a normal person. He might of even been able to get an extention to his mortgage... there are so many possibilities for a small sum (relativly) of 5K

To top himself was probably the most selfish thing he could of done, his family now dont have him around, plus they will have to pay for the funeral.

I'd imagine he has some other psychological issues or atleast suffering from depression, hardly the banks fault though for wanting thier own money back.

[dnd]

If he'd gone bankrupt they wouldn't have been able to touch him surely?

...and he would STILL have kept the house as it would be under court supervision and he has dependent children?

Edited February 15, 2006 by dnd

[OnlyMe]

This guy had a lot of equity, he wasn't anywhere near bankruptcy yet he was being pushed into reposession.

Why wasn't it suggested that he sell the house to try and clear the debts? I really would like to know the answer to that one.

Edited February 15, 2006 by OnlyMe

[Guest horace]

A very, very sad news item but to quote from post # 3

....`Mr Beech left a note saying that the Halifax's decision to repossess his home because of mortgage arrears of just £4,714.66 was 'the last straw'. `

unquote.

If this was the final straw what were his other debts (?) or was it the manner in which the Halifax conducted their business?

horace.

[OzzMosiz]

Nothing, esp money, is worth killing yourself over - he could have gone bankrupt and started again

Hard to know what pressures he was facing. We all deal with things in different ways.

I sympathize with his situation. Especially the little amount he owed and the harrassment because of it!

[Live_in_hope]

I think in future these sought of posts should be treated with much more sensitivity, as I hope no members of his family read this forum as some of the comments made could cause further distress

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

You kill yourself due to a mental illness. Reading between the lines it seems he probably had other money worries (perhaps some non-money worries too) and fell into despair.

I can remember when I was a few years younger. I'd really been slogging to find a job, did further study to build skills, spent weeks formulating killer CVs, spending what little money I had on £40 train fares to interviews, always slipping through the net. I finally took a 'graduate' position in madhouse company only a grand or two more than a shop assistant's wage and couldn't pay debts, my shared slum rent, or much else and have anything left at the end of the month. I wasn't depressed in any clinical sense, but certainly I lost a lot of 'life energy' for a while, before dusting myself down and trying to drag myself up a few notches once more. Ok, I suppose a good woman coming along helped a bit.

A lot of my peers have been properly depressed about their huge college debts, their low paid jobs, thier slumland/live-at-home lifestyles, their complete inability to ever own a home or even rent one. In fact, it's amazing to see so many energetic, up-for-it, multi-talented people kind of turn into morose pasty-faced beings in the current world.

In the credit crunch you'll see people who haven't really done anything that bad being severely punished and their lives unravelling - people who never did anything criminal, never tried to hurt their families, worked hard, maybe spent a bit more than they should here and there.

As for these growing number of credit victims. I think it would be good to create a pamphlet listing the victims and pointing out the downside of evermore reckless lending.

Edited February 15, 2006 by CrashedOutAndBurned

[ThePiltdownMan]

It states the mortgage was 5K in arrears, not the total outstanding value.

[oracle]

I think in future these sought of posts should be treated with much more sensitivity, as I hope no members of his family read this forum as some of the comments made could cause further distress

I agree.

his family are suffering too.It's all well and good to say it's the fault of this guy for borrowing so much,but is equally irresponsible for the lender to keep lending so much.

if this were a drug overdose the police would be gunning for the drug dealer.

credit is as much of a drug as heroin or crack,but the legislation is nowhere as punitive.

[Mr Blek]

It doesn't matter what the state of his affairs was, it didn't warrant a suicide. My condolences to his family.

This is truly grim. i recall this was the state of affairs during the last crash.

[The Masked Tulip]

You kill yourself due to a mental illness. Reading between the lines it seems he probably had other money worries (perhaps some non-money worries too) and fell into despair.

I can remember when I was a few years younger. I'd really been slogging to find a job, did further study to build skills, spent weeks formulating killer CVs, spending what little money I had on £40 train fares to interviews, always slipping through the net. I finally took a 'graduate' position in madhouse company only a grand or two more than a shop assistant's wage and couldn't pay debts, my shared slum rent, or much else and have anything left at the end of the month. I wasn't depressed in any clinical sense, but certainly I lost a lot of 'life energy' for a while, before dusting myself down and trying to drag myself up a few notches once more. Ok, I suppose a good woman coming along helped a bit.

A lot of my peers have been properly depressed about their huge college debts, their low paid jobs, thier slumland/live-at-home lifestyles, their complete inability to ever own a home or even rent one. In fact, it's amazing to see so many energetic, up-for-it, multi-talented people kind of turn into morose pasty-faced beings in the current world.

In the credit crunch you'll see people who haven't really done anything that bad being severely punished and their lives unravelling - people who never did anything criminal, never tried to hurt their families, worked hard, maybe spent a bit more than they should here and there.

As for these growing number of credit victims. I think it would be good to create a pamphlet listing the victims and pointing out the downside of evermore reckless lending.

Thanks for sharing this.

1 in 5 of us will suffer from depression at some point in our lives which will need the intervention of a GP or a trained counsellor.

1 in 10 of us will suffer from depression at some point in our lives which will require the use of medication as well as counselling to overcome it.

[BoredTrainBuilder]

thats really selfish of him.

I believe the family wont even be able to claim any insurance because its a suicide, he could of atleast made it look like an accident.

But by doing that he would be cheating innocent policyholders. You're sick, encouraging illegality like that. People who commit suicide must be honest about it. Or else.

[thunderbird900]

It's almost as if the crash is happening right now in slow motion. The drip, drip effect of all the current news from debt to unemployment, and now suicide is almost deja vu.

I remember the horrific story of a factory owner who could not face telling his workforce that the place was shutting down, and they would all soon be unemployed. He killed himself by putting his head under a mechanical press. That was in the early 90's and I still think of that poor man's family.

Meanwhile the architect of our present economy undergoes a face lift and will soon wash his hands of the whole sorry mess.

Absolutely disgraceful.

[theChuz]

But by doing that he would be cheating innocent policyholders. You're sick, encouraging illegality like that. People who commit suicide must be honest about it. Or else.

There will be people reading that think that way ......

had to laugh not been called sick in a while

I believe its illegal to kill yourself. Don't get me wrong if you want to top yourself im all for it do whatever the hell you want its not my business but just remember the complete and utter mess you leave behind.

Im not to fussed about innocent policyholders, infact i don't give a sh*t about innocent policyholders, if you want to top youself to help your family out financially then atleast do it properly so they get the money. Family comes first f*ck the policyholders .

If ever i lost the will to live i would atleast take some scum out with me (im good like that). I don't mean to be intentionlly insensitve to his family. I would imagine they are p*ssed off and angry enough at him for what he has done, not because they wont get the money but because he has left them, he has run away somewhere which he can never come back from. The time when his family needs him most and he is not thier because he couldnt handle it.

I dont know the full details, i dont particulally want to know all the details, whats done is done. Though I cannot see how its the banks fault.

We all have our decissions to make, his decission, he had other options . If there is more to the story like manic depression then fair enough, his depression is not the banks fault.

Edited February 15, 2006 by theChuz

[Te Mata]

Thanks for sharing this.

1 in 5 of us will suffer from depression at some point in our lives which will need the intervention of a GP or a trained counsellor.

1 in 10 of us will suffer from depression at some point in our lives which will require the use of medication as well as counselling to overcome it.

That would be just those who actually seek intervention. My observation is that the actual number of folks who "experience" clinical depression sometime in their lives would approach 4/5. Certainly in OZ anyway.

[theChuz]

That would be just those who actually seek intervention. My observation is that the actual number of folks who "experience" clinical depression sometime in their lives would approach 4/5. Certainly in OZ anyway.

Life is generally mundane and sh*t , you just have to lower your expectations to lessen the chances of severe depression.

[Te Mata]

Life is generally mundane and sh*t , you just have to lower your expectations to lessen the chances of severe depression.

The mere suggestion of lowered expectations would cause a riot here. Alas, 'twas to be expected when Oz was annexed by the US.

But I agree, missus and I have become antisnobs over the last 15 years.

Viva La Vie Boheme!

[DabHand]

Here you go, put a face and some humanity to the object of your sneering posthumous advice.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.a...42618&f=141&h=0