Uncovering Financial Abuse

Financial abuse is one of the lesser discussed types of intimate partner abuse, but it occurs in almost every single intimate partner abuse situation.

Financial abuse is defined as the use of financial means to exert control over ones partner.

This is not the couple who upon careful consideration of their own finances and situation opt together for one partner to work or be the primary earner while the other remains home or works part time. This is, again, used for power and control and to create dependence.

What does this look like? Financial abuse can be split into three categories: employment, funds, and debt.

Employment related abuse includes things like:

·        Preventing the victim from obtaining employment by keeping them from interviews or refusing to allow them to seek and apply for jobs.

·        Preventing the victim from going to their place of business

·        Sabotaging a victim’s current employment

·        Interfering with work activities through frequent phone calls, unscheduled visits, or other harassing behaviors.

·        Demanding that the victim quits their job.

Funds related abuse include things like:

·        Deciding how the victim has access to funds (not being on bank accounts, getting an “allowance”, etc)

·        Forcing victim to surrender their own cash, debit cards, or credit cards.

·        Requiring that all assets be put only in the abuser’s name.

·        Using the victim’s funds without the victim’s knowledge (by getting cash from their account, using their credit card, sending themselves a venmo transfer from the victim’s account, etc)

·        Preventing the victim from having a bank account at all.

Debt related abuse includes these:

·        Taking out loans or credit cards in the victim’s name without their knowledge

·        Forcing the victim to take out loans in their name

·        Forcing victims to sign financial documents

·        Using threats to convince victims to make transactions

·        Refinancing shared loans without victim’s knowledge

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Other miscellaneous acts of financial abuse include requiring victim’s to justify their transactions or punishing them, withholding court-ordered child or spousal support, and withholding necessities.

Why does this matter? The results of financial abuse are among the biggest reasons that victims do not leave their abusers. Because for so many money is equal to security and power, being without it can create what feels like insurmountable roadblocks to leaving. Many who have been financially abused fear facing homelessness, accrued debt, and a diminished ability to find work. This keeps many victims stuck in this cycle because of a belief that these cards that they are being dealt by their abuser are somehow better than those scary prospects listed above.

I’m here to tell you that it does not have to be that way. If you’re experiencing this or any other kind of abuse, you are not out of options. Please call the national domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or chat with them online to find additional resources at thehotline.org/help/

I strongly encourage anyone who has been the victim of financial abuse, or any other kind of abuse to seek support. You do not have to go through this alone.