– Welcome to the UK Recovery: Indebted British Man Sets Himself on Fire (Liberty Blitzkrieg, May 17, 2013):
Nothing says recovery like citizens in debt setting themselves on fire due to economic hardship. In this tragic case, Antony Breeze self-immolated after being preyed upon by payday lending companies that began to harass his father. Similar stories are sure to reach U.S. shores before too long, particularly considering how TBTF domestic banks are partnered up with payday loan companies charging up to 500% interest.
From the Daily Mail:
A debt-ridden father doused himself in petrol and turned himself into a human fireball after being harassed for money by payday loan firms.
Antony Breeze, 36, died after setting himself alight, telling passers-by who tried to extinguish the flames: ‘I’ve had enough.’
In the hours before the tragedy Mr Breeze, who owed around £1,600, was bombarded with text messages about his arrears, an inquest heard.
Police investigating his death found he owed money to several lenders, including Keyes Whitlock and Co, Mobile Money Ltd, 247 Moneybox.com, Cash Genie and Valour Loans.
The inquest in Bolton heard that loan firms then wrote to his father asking for his debts to be repaid.
His sister, Caroline Hedley, said: ‘He worked very hard. He worked six days a week.’
But she added that he would often borrow money when he struggled to make ends meet.
The payday loan industry is extremely dirty. As we also found out from the article:
In a survey of 1,270 payday loan borrowers, with loans from 87 payday lenders, 65 per cent of people did not get asked about their financial situation when taking it out, according to research by the CAB.
I suppose if you can’t sit in front of a terminal, borrow at 0% and then front-run central banks for a living, tough luck.
Full article here.
In Liberty,
Mike