Financial abuse is a serious and harmful form of domestic abuse. It is hard to recognize. It can happen to anyone in any relationship. It always involves the use of power and control over another person.
Items from other websites
For Love or Money — A moving 7 minute video in which a survivor tells her story. Some of her story is dramatized (with a man acting the role of her abuser) so you might want a trigger warning. The video comes from Australia and it recommends an Australian website for further support: 1800RESPECT: National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service
Financial matters when leaving abusive relationships — WomensLaw.org
Financial Abuse — Office on Women’s Health, USA.
What is financial abuse? — women’s aid: until women & children are safe, UK.
Protecting yourself against financial abuse — MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk)
Items from the ACFJ website
Financial abuse from intimate partners — a lament, stories and tips to protect oneself
Ideas for saving money and reducing your expenses
An account from a survivor whose abuser played stupid in order to obtain financial advantage
Questions to Ask Before Retaining a Lawyer if you are a Victim of Domestic Abuse — This is relevant to financial abuse because if a lawyer your doesn’t represent you well, that is more money down the drain.
Scriptures describing Financial Abuse and Covetousness
I know there are no easy answers for those trapped in or suffering the after-effects of financial abuse from an intimate partner. Abusers who are skilled at financial abuse as part of their arsenal of abuse tactics are very canny and cunning. The institutions of society (like the legal system) that should be protecting victims from these evildoers are woefully failing to protect them. So my heart goes out to anyone who is dealing with heavy-duty financial abuse from their abuser.
I have heard that some banks in Australia have special policies of leniency in regards to domestic abuse victims who are lumbered with the obligation to repay loans their abusive spouses coerced them to be legally responsible for. These Aussie banks still require the loan to be repaid, but they may allow it to be repaid at a slower rate than normal. So it may be worth asking your bank if they have any leniency provisions for victims of domestic abuse — but don’t have high expectations, because from what I’ve heard even the Australian banks that have these policies are not being of much help to victims. And I don’t know whether banks in other countries have any leniency provisions for victims of domestic abuse.
