Man killed by £100,000 debts

PLEASE forgive me for what I am about to do,' wrote Dereck Rawson in a poignant last letter to his family.

The 51-year-old forklift driver was in despair after amassing debts of almost £100,000 - most of it on 16 credit cards. The vast bulk of it involved interest payments and penalty charges.

This is the tragic story of a hardworking man who felt hounded to his grave. In May, he wrote the suicide note printed, posted it and then hanged himself at his home in Yaxley, Cambridgeshire.

Rawson did not live a high life or spend money on expensive cars or holidays. His only real pleasure was to turn out for the Ashton Wold village cricket team.

His problems began 15 years ago when he found himself owing £10,000 through negative equity after the sale of his home and collapse of his marriage. His debts appear to have snowballed from there.

He got more and more credit cards even though he did not own his home and his take-home pay was just £340 a week.

Now his family, a coroner and MPs are demanding the banks make proper checks on customers before they hand out credit cards.

They say thousands of people are drowning in debt. Credit card debt soared by £12bn last month to more than £56bn.

Rawson's letter (see below) was released by his sister Sheila Wade, who said she wants the world to know how he was driven to take his life.

Mrs Wade, who lived near her brother, condemned the lenders, who appear to have broken the industry's code of conduct requiring them to check the ability of customers to make payments.

'These credit companies are evil,' she said. 'They are just out to make as much money as they can and don't care what they do to people. They want putting to shame.'

Four months after her brother's death, she is still receiving letters offering him loans.

Wade said: 'Dereck was honest and hardworking and was trying his best to pay his debts. The problem was that he was robbing Peter to pay Paul and he was paying so much interest and insurance on the cards that he was never able to clear anything.'

Colin Lattimore, the deputy coroner for Cambridgeshire, said: 'It appears that anybody can run up enormous debts without any checks. I intend to contact the relevant authorities so hopefully we can stop this sort of thing happening.'

The banks insist that it should be impossible for an individual to run up such huge debts. But Rawson is not the first to kill himself in such circumstances.

Stephen Lewis, a 37-year old family man from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, hanged himself in July last year after amassing debts of £70,000 on 19 credit cards.

Again, most of it was charges and interest. He, too, was hounded by the banks who threatened court action and bailiffs. Lewis left behind a wife and two children.

Mrs Lewis said yesterday that Rawson's death was 'awful news'. She added: 'This is a terrible tragedy. We were told by the banks that my husband's case was unusual and exceptional. That is clearly not the case.'

John McFall, chairman of the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, said he would take the banks to task. He will quiz banking bosses on the issue at a public hearing next month.

He added: 'The importance of adequate credit-checking and data-sharing has been demonstrated in recent months by a number of tragic cases. With current information technology, it should be possible for the risk of such situations to be reduced.'

McFall has written to the Government's Information Commissioner to ensure that sharing data in this way would not be a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Trade Secretary Patricia Hewitt is redrawing consumer credit laws. Her spokesman said: 'This is a terribly sad event and illustrates how serious a problem debt can become for some people.'

Tragedies are exceptional, say banks

THE big banks claimed last night that Dereck Rawson's death was a rare and exceptional case, rather than evidence of a wider problem.

The Association for Payment Clearing Services, which speaks for the major banks on credit card issues, said checks are made on customers' finances.

Spokeswoman Sandra Quinn said: 'Our sympathies go out to the family. When you have some 30m credit card account holders, there will always be a few who are in difficulty.

'These are awful cases and while the banks are taking steps to improve their operations, I can't guarantee this won't happen again. Banks have a duty to behave responsibly, but customers have a part to play. Some who get into debt hide from it and keep it a secret.'

However, she did not accept that Britons owe too much on plastic. 'If you look at individual debt and averages, that does not portray a position of being over-indebted,' she said. 'At any one stage, only 4% of households are over-indebted.'

APACS forged an agreement last week to ensure banks share more information on customers' balances.

Lloyds-TSB said it is looking into Rawson's case. Barclaycard said it is checking that its procedures were followed properly. Citicards said customers in difficulty should ask for help.

This is how much Dereck Rawson owed

Credit cards
(Interest rates)
Lloyds TSB Asset Gold (15.6%) - £15,286
MBNA (17.9%) - £10,450
GM Card Vauxhall (14.9%) - £10,055
Citicard (13.9%) - £6,435
Mint, owned by RBS (10.9%) - £6,029
Ameican Express Gold (14.9%) - £5,840
Monument-Barclaycard (15.75%) - £4,847
Morgan Stanley (13.9%) - £4,226
Beneficial, part of HFC (15.9%) - £3,990
Sainsbury's Bank (15.9%) - £3,474
Bank of Scotland (17.9%) - £3,101
Tesco Personal Finance (14.9%) - £2,661
Barclaycard (11.9%) - £1,801
Lloyds TSB Trust Card (19.9%) - £980
Capital One (13.2%) - £176
Amex charge card (£37.50 a year) - £120

Loans
First Retail Finance (15.9%) - £10,825
Co-op Bank Flexible Loan (17.9%) - £6,689

Overdraft
Lloyds TSB (9%) - £848

TOTAL: £97,881.57

Dereck's suicide note

Please forgive me for what I'm about to do and that is to commit suicide. I've run up large debts with credit card companies and loans for the last 15 years.

Now I can't pay the bills and the different companies won't leave me alone. Can you please get the police to come and find me in the bungalow.

All my insurance policies and pensions etc in top drawer in spare room. Credit cards etc in second drawer.

Thank you for being such a good sister and for looking after me. Can you please ring work and tell them. Can you please tell Ashton Cricket Club.

I don't mind whether I'm buried... or cremated. Do it the cheapest way.

Can you please check my lottery on Wednesday night and collect £5 for win. Please find £5 for papers.

Please forgive me. Dereck.