Nine In 10 Suffer Economic Abuse

NEARLY nine in 10 women who are suffering abuse in their home are subject to economic abuse as part of the domestic violence meted out by their partners, according to the women's charity Refuge.

Domestic violence in the UK is a real issue, with two women killed each week in England and Wales alone. One in four women will experience physical violence at some point in their life, said Nicola Sharp, head of policy at Refuge, which helps women to escape domestic abuse.

But abusers are controlling women's lives in ways that are just as, if not more, devastating - through economic abuse.

Ms Sharp said: "This abuse includes controlling techniques like taking all of a woman's money, strictly limiting what she is allowed to spend, putting debt in her name and refusing her access to benefit entitlements.

"Money is a worry for many of us in the current economic climate, but for women experiencing economic abuse, their financial situation can seem hopelessly bleak. If an abused woman has no money of her own, has massive debts which her partner has run up in her name and has never been allowed by her partner to practice the money-management skills most of us take for granted, starting out on her own can be a terrifying prospect."

Three quarters of the women who responded to Refuge's survey said their abuser had controlled their access to money by taking control of their bank account, and refusing to let them have money of their own. One in three of the women accessing Refuge's domestic violence services were what the Government identifies as "financially excluded" as they did not even have a bank account, compared with one in 20 people as the national average.

Nearly half of respondents who had suffered economic abuse said their abuser had interfered with their education and employment - 44 per cent of the women who were still 'allowed' to work were forced to hand over their wages, and were harassed by their partner at work.

Two in five felt they had lost control of their situation as they had been forced to become economically dependent on their abuser, while the same number said economic abuse had a negative impact on their emotional health.

Nearly one in five had been forced to take out loans, credit cards, contract mobile phones in their own name but then were denied access to them.

Charlotte, not her real name, who is a survivor of domestic violence, said: "I lived with financial abuse for years. My ex didn't need to hit me to control me - he simply took all my money and then made me ask him for every penny I ever needed. He'd regularly deny me money for basic purchases such as deodorant or milk and nappies for our daughter. And he was cunning too. Unbeknown to me, he put all the bills, credit cards and any big purchases he'd made in my name so when I finally found the courage to leave him I was saddled with a whole host of debts and commitments I'd never signed up to.

"I live in fear, even to this day, of getting yet another demand for money owed for something I have no clue about. Thanks to the team at Refuge I've been working to sort out the debts and start my financial planning from scratch. It's a huge daunting task but I'm getting there and I feel liberated by being allowed to do the simple things myself."

To help women in this position, Refuge has produced a guide to help women suffering financial abuse, or who are trying to set up a new financial life after suffering abuse. The guide, 'You can afford to leave', has been funded by HBOS Foundation and can be accessed via MyMoneyDiva's financial guides section, the link at the bottom of this page, or through Refuge's website at http://www.refuge.org.uk.

The Government is being urged to recognise and address economic abuse within its work on equality, financial exclusion, child poverty and domestic violence, and to ensure that welfare benefits are fast-tracked for women who have experienced domestic violence.

Refuge also wants economic abuse to be taught as part of teaching about domestic violence, as a mandatory part of the school curriculum.

Banks and building societies are also being urged to consider implementing a "protocol for dealing with banking issues related to economic abuse and domestic violence".

Tony Hetherington, consumer journalist of the year and financial expert providing advice to readers of the Financial Mail, said: "I work as a financial Agony Aunt, but it wasn't until I was asked to help a victim of domestic violence that I realised the extent, and the consequences, of economic abuse. A wife had fled the marital home after suffering serious and repeated attacks. She won a divorce, and a few years later she remarried and started a family.

"Then, out of the blue, the bank that had provided the mortgage for her former home contacted her with a demand for £36,000. Her ex-husband had stayed in the property but failed to pay the mortgage, and as she was a joint borrower with him, she was being held responsible for the entire debt. Because she had rebuilt her life and had a new home, she had become an easier target for the bank than her ex-husband.

"In the end, a compromise was reached. But it became clear along the way that banks and building societies have only a vague policy - or no policy at all - on how to react to domestic violence and its victims."

One of the primary things to do, if you have a bank account or mortgage which is in joint names with your abuser, is talk to your bank about your position, said Paul Fincham of Halifax.

He added: "You should let the bank know what is happening, and then we can work with you to find a way around the problem. If you do have a joint mortgage, for example, you need the permission of both parties to remove one name from that.

"You need to have confidence in your bank, and we will protect the integrity and the privacy of the customer."

Ms Sharp said: "Women coming to us often flee with no more than the clothes they are wearing and effectively have to start over from scratch. But those are only the women that we have been able to reach. What about all the rest? We hope this guide will help even more women to understand their rights and give them the confidence to reach out and get help."

Alison Steed is editor of http://www.mymoneydiva.com

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