‘It’s very troubling’: thieves use vulnerable man to take out £28,000 bank loan

The case raises questions about how banks treat people who need help communicating. Illustration: Joost Stokhof

The family of a deaf man who was groomed by a gang into taking out a £28,000 business loan has demanded to know how a vulnerable person, with virtually no assets, could be marched into a Metro Bank, and allowed to borrow such a huge sum.

Peter James*, who has special educational needs, and who only communicates through British Sign Language, was being chased by the bank’s debt collectors, and facing possible bankruptcy, before Guardian Money became involved.