Credit management company Lowell has conducted research to reveal how confident people in the U.K. are in spotting the signs of financial abuse. The survey has been conducted in order to raise awareness around the hard-hitting topic.
The survey finds that almost one in five British adults have experienced financial abuse (21 percent of women and 15 percent of men). Working with Lowell, Natasha Saunders, an active campaigner against financial abuse, shares her experiences.
Financial abuse is a type of domestic abuse where someone has power over another and their finances. There are several types of financial abuse, and sadly it can happen to anybody – regardless of age, gender or ethnicity.
To gather the data, Lowell asked their Customer Panel about their experience with financial abuse, and found that 37 percent have been a victim of it directly, or know of someone who has.
When it comes to the different forms of financial abuse, over half (51 percent) of respondents mentioned someone spending money without telling them. Over two-fifths (41 percent) brought up someone deliberately withholding funds to stop you from seeing other family and friends, and finally, 38 percent said that their abuser kept track of every single thing they buy.
Lowell also conducted a separate survey asking people how confident they would be in being able to spot the signs of financial abuse. One in six (15 percent) admitted that they did not know the signs to look out for.
According to Saunders, for those looking to understand more about financial abuse, these are some signs to look out for:
- Being asked to prove where you’re spending money and what on.
- Telling you how you can, and can’t, spend your money.
- Adding their name to your account or taking control of your accounts.
- Leaving you to pay off debt after making you take out money or getting loans in your name.
- Preventing you from accessing your accounts.
Commenting on this, Saunders says: “Financial abuse is a crippling pandemic that has been occurring since time began. Speaking out about financial abuse often brings ridicule and disbelief. Having your bank accounts monitored, keeping receipts to prove the cost of things, and having vital things such as sanitary products or food withheld is abuse. Those are all things I suffered with my ex-husband.”
She adds, expanding on her life experiences: “I’m over seven years free of his hold now, married to my best friend and yet my credit score is a joke. I have debt from when I was with him because he put my name on the bills, I have debt from fighting him in family court to keep my children safe. I still feel like I need to justify a purchase or explain an expense to my husband who always kindly brushes it aside and reminds me he doesn’t need to know because I’m my own person. The dark cloud of money worries my ex has left me with won’t vanish any time soon, the lasting legacy of financial abuse cripples many survivors’ lives long after they leave, and some even go back because the step into the unknown is scarier than the devil they know.”
