John Wyllie won $5,000 a week for life from the PCH Prize Patrol in 2012. However, this year, the monthly cheques stopped arriving, with Wyllie finding out months later, that PCH had filed for bankruptcy without warning him or other winners, moneywise reports.

The payments, paid as an annual check worth $260,000 (c. £190,000) every January, allowed him to retire and purchase a home on six acres in Bellingham, Washington. Now, the bills are pilling up, Mr Wyllie had to sell of expensive items like his jet ski and trailer, and even expects to lose his home.