Man Commits Suicide After Racking Up Payday Loan Debts

A woman who lost her father to suicide after he amassed more than £20,000 of debt has blamed payday loan lenders for his death, pleading: “Why do they still lend money to people when you have got debt?”

Ian Jordan, a 60-year-old granddad from Botley near Southampton, overdosed on painkillers after his debts spiralled out of control and he struggled to deal with creditors chasing him for payment.

His daughter Samantha, aged 36, has now demanded tighter controls of payday loan firms.

“He was borrowing money to pay off debts… to pay off debts. It just spiralled out of control. They (payday loan firms) were just taking it out of his bank account. He had no money in the last few days of his life,” she said.

“Why do they still lend money to people when you have got debt? My main concern is to make sure that this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”

In the wake of her father’s death, there has been no let-up for Samantha and the family after it was revealed that Mr Jordan continued to receive over 1,000 text messages from creditors chasing for payment.

Mr Jordan’s ex-wife, who wished to remain anonymous, said:

“People receive calls after they are dead and Ian received 1,000 texts after his death. Some of them were demands for money. They pursued the family too. We want to highlight the fact pay day loans should never send texts to people after they died.”

She added: “Ian had stated that Samantha was his next of kin but he didn’t leave a will. The payday loan companies started pursuing her for his debts. Some of the letters they sent her were quite threatening. The way she was treated was appalling. She was quite distressed.

“Not only had she lost her father, she had also had to put up the demands that she pay back his loans. It’s not right.”

It transpired that Mr Jordan was being charged more than 5,000% in interest every year for the money he borrowed.

An inquest into his death, which occurred in November last year, came as the Financial Conduct Authority announced they intend to cap the amount that payday lenders can charge their customers.

The FCA said that ‘rates should be capped at 0.8 per cent a day’ and added that ‘no one will have to pay more than twice what they borrowed’.