Why Michael Sheen used $130,000 of his own money to buy $1.2m worth of debt owed by people in his hometown

Yahoo

10-03-2025

Michael Sheen used £100,000 ($130,000) of his own money to buy £1 million ($1.2 m) worth of his neighbors' debts.
He made the documentary "Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway," to raise awareness of credit debt.
Sheen said that using his own money proves he's "serious" about solving the issue of credit debt.
Michael Sheen has paid off £1 million ($1.2 million) of debt held by 900 strangers in his Welsh hometown, to highlight the issue of credit debt in the UK.
According to the charity Debt Justice, personal debt has reached "new highs" in the UK, with 10 million people heavily in debt due to increases in outgoing such as rent and utility bills.
Debt is also a considerable problem in the US: the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said that the total household debt increased by $93 billion by the end of 2024, to $18.04 trillion.
Sheen — best known for his roles in "Frost/Nixon," "The Queen," "Tron: Legacy," and "The Damned United" — told The Guardian on Monday that he used £100,000 ($130,000) of his own money to buy £1 million of debt, to spotlight what he sees as the unfair way that credit companies operate.
Debt acquisition companies are legally allowed to purchase bundles of existing debt for a lower amount. When speaking to the BBC's "The One Show" on March 4, Sheen said he was able to set up one of these companies to pay off the debt.
His efforts are depicted in the new documentary "Michael Sheen's Secret Million Pound Giveaway," which premieres Monday on Channel 4 in the UK.
Due to data protection laws, Sheen doesn't know whose debt he paid off, but told The Guardian he wants to "encourage banks to offer affordable credit to people previously excluded based on their income, background or where they live."
Responsible Finance, which says it represents "responsible finance providers" in the UK, argues on its website that greatly increasing the size and number of credit unions and Community Development Finance Institutions could result in a 13-fold increase in the amount of affordable credit available for businesses and people on low-incomes rejected by larger banks.
There is a misconception that people who get into debt are making "extravagant" purchases, but that isn't typically the case, Sheen said.
"By talking to people who are working, maybe working two jobs — these are people who are incredibly resourceful, incredibly resilient. They're not going on extravagant holidays or anything like that. It's just basic," he added.
"The system doesn't work any more. But people find it easier to imagine the end of the world than something that's a credible alternative to capitalism.
"I think people really feel there's something intrinsically wrong and flawed with the system, and recognize that it needs radical change, but the only people who are offering radical change are people who are dangerous. And there's no good end to that."
Sheen said that poverty was rife when he was growing up in the city of Newport and Port Talbot, but he was "unaware" of it at the time. His father worked at the steelworks and his mother was a secretary, and he "always felt like we were doing all right, but in retrospect we were barely getting by."
Sheen said he is aware that by using his own money, he risks being accused of using the cause to boost his profile. But he said "it shows that you're serious about what you're doing, but it also encourages other people to take that step."
He added: "I never feel like it's about me — mainly it's about working with other people or highlighting what they do. I'm not doing it because I want people to think I'm great; I want us to be able to imagine an alternative to this, because this doesn't work."
Read the original article on Business Insider