Economic and Financial Abuse
With grateful thanks to Surviving Economic Abuse
Economic abuse can include exerting control over income, spending, bank accounts, bills and borrowing. It can also include controlling access to and use of things like transport and technology, which allow us to work and stay connected, as well as property and daily essentials like food and clothing. It can include destroying items and refusing to contribute to household costs.
This type of abuse is a form of coercive and controlling behaviour. It can continue long after a leaving and can have lifelong effects.
The impact of economic abuse
Economic abuse rarely happens in isolation and usually occurs alongside other forms of abuse, including physical, sexual and psychological abuse. 95% of cases of domestic abuse involve economic abuse.
This type of abuse is designed to create economic instability and/or make one partner economically dependent, which limits their freedom. Without access to money and the things that money can buy, it is difficult to leave an abuser and access safety. Someone experiencing this type of abuse can become trapped in a relationship with the abuser, unable to resist the abuser’s control and at risk of further harm. In this way, economic safety underpins physical safety.
The impact of economic abuse makes rebuilding lives challenging. Many women leave with nothing — having no money even for essentials — and have to start again from scratch. Many victim-survivors leave with large amounts of debt and poor credit ratings, affecting their long-term economic stability, and many are unable to maintain savings that provide economic security.
Identifying economic abuse
Economic abuse can take many forms. An abuser might do any of the following:
Sabotage your income and access to money:
prevent you from being in education or employment
limit your working hours
take your pay
refuse to let you claim benefits
take children’s savings or birthday money
refuse to let you access a bank account
Restrict how you use money and the things that you own:
control when and how money is spent
dictate what you can buy
make you ask for money or provide an allowance
check your receipts
make you keep a spending diary
make you justify every purchase made
control the use of property, such as a mobile phone or car
insist all economic assets (eg savings, house) are in their name
keep financial information secret
Exploit your economic situation:
steal your money or property
cause damage to your property
refuse to contribute to household costs
spend money needed for household items and bills
misuse money in joint bank accounts
insist all bills, credit cards and loans are in your name and make you pay them
build up debt in your name, sometimes without your knowledge
Financial abuse vs. economic abuse
Economic abuse and financial abuse involve similar behaviours, but it can be helpful to think of financial abuse as a subcategory of economic abuse. Economic abuse encompasses the many ways that an abuser may control someone’s economic situation, including employment and housing, for example.
For further information please visit Surviving Economic Abuse https://survivingeconomicabuse.org/