Student suicide over debt

Swansea Institute computer student Geraint Banks-Wilkinson, 20, hanged himself because HSBC cancelled his overdraft facility, worth up to £1,200.

“When he came back, basically he sat in the car, put his head in his hands and sobbed,” his mother Mrs Banks-Wilkinson told the coroner.

“He said ‘they can’t help me’. It was a real shock to him that the overdraft had been withdrawn.”

HSBC responded by saying that it could not comment on a specific case but stressed that customers with money problems should come to it to discuss finances.

Debt help is available to people who owe all sums of money, big and small.

Solutions on offer include debt management plans, Individual Voluntary Arrangements and other ways to help people tackle their financial problems without taking drastic steps.