Someone Who Faked His Own Death to Escape Debt

A man in London was recently discovered as alive after faking his death for the last three years. He had been hiding in his home and the only other person who knew he was indeed alive was his wife (after he had been in hiding one year). None of his other family members or his sons knew he was alive.

Why did he fake his death? Debt.

[His wife] added: “We had a lot of debt, in the tens of thousands. He said there was only one way out of the situation and that was to fake his death. I said it was the wrong thing to do and could not go along with it but he badgered away.”

Via Yahoo.com

The gig was finally up when the man decided that he missed his sons too much and he had to come out of hiding.

Debt really stinks, and sometimes it can appear that there is no way out. Even after how far we have come with paying off our debt, I still have periods where I wonder if we will ever get out. So in a way, I can understand his despiration. But, I can’t understand faking your own death and leaving your loved ones. That’s not the way to solve a debt problem.

Posted by Tricia on December 10, 2007 at 8:54 PM in General Debt | 7 Comments »
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FinanceAndFat responded:
Posted: December 10th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Now why didn’t I think of that…

Okay, that is actually quite sad. I can understand the feeling though. It’s not easy living with large debts. If I was in deeper or made less money I really have no clue what I would do.
Nine Circles responded:
Posted: December 11th, 2007 at 1:29 am
It’s sadder still that now that his sons have found out what he did, they want nothing to do with him.
Lucy Lastic responded:
Posted: December 11th, 2007 at 6:08 am
I’m not sure if the story in question didn’t have more to do with greed than debt. He seemed to think that downsizing was more extreme than faking death, and his wife just went along with him when she found out, allowing him to escape through a hole behind a wardrobe into their second property next door whenever anyone came round (including their sons, who knew nothing other than that their father had died, alone and in horrible circumstances). I think most people would sell the second property and even the first before ever considering putting their sons through what theirs are going through. At the end of the day, I think I’d rather live in a tent and still be called ‘mum’. It’s all very sad.
Fellowes responded:
Posted: December 11th, 2007 at 9:34 am
As the movie ‘Maxed Out’ makes clear, people often do not fake their own deaths in order to avoid debt. Suicide is quite common among people with very high and overwhelming debts.
Mrs. Micah responded:
Posted: December 11th, 2007 at 10:28 am
That’s very sad. I know that all my debt problems would go away if Micah died (of course I’ve have other major problems like not having him…he’s worth everything to me!!!). But fortunately, he hasn’t threatened suicide or considered faking is own death.

I can see how we might think of doing that in order to get out of the debt, but it’s just not right on so many levels.
fathersez responded:
Posted: December 12th, 2007 at 6:43 am
This is sad.

Sometimes, these guys may have borrowed from “outside the system” and pay rates like 3% per month and stuff like that.

I don’t know the whole story. Greed may have played a part. Financial iliteracy may have played a part.

But what a way to try to solve a problem.
The Friday Gathering for 12/21/2007 | Gather Little By Little responded:
Posted: December 21st, 2007 at 1:35 pm
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