Hello I m Darren Magee and today s topic is looking at financial abuse.
In this video going to be outlining what financial abuse, is I'm going to give some examples of it.
I m also going to look at some of the ways so much financial abuse can continue
following the end of a relationship. So if you find this video interesting or helpful
please consider subscribing to my channel. But just as a reminder, this video is for
information purposes only and is not a substitute for support from a mental health professional.
So financial abuse would come under the umbrella term of economic abuse. It's an aspect of coercive
control. Now coercive being a pattern of behaviour that can be threatening, manipulative, degrading,
different ways to control others, to restrict their freedom and to restrict their choices.
And it is something that very rarely, if ever, happens by itself in isolation. It is
often one of many tactics that an abusive person will use to control their victims.
And although the abusers would often be considered to be partners, and in many cases they are,
they could also be parents, friends, siblings, they could be the grown up children even.
But the abuse generally involves the perpetrator keeping control over money, the victim's money,
using or misusing money, sabotaging or preventing the victim from being able to earn money. Many
different ways to restrict, limit and control the victim. So some of the signs of financial abuse,
in no particular order would first of all be coerced debt. Now this would refer to
non consensual credit related transactions. Coerced debt can be a way of ruining the
victim's credit rating. Could be a way of making it very difficult for them to leave. For example
they may not be able to change car, get a better car, they might not be able to rent an apartment
or to take out a loan. Examples, of coerced debt could be the perpetrator maybe racking
up credit card bills. It could be constantly buying things online from the victim s account.
There could be making the victim sign as guarantor for perhaps a loan or a tenancy agreement, but
then either not paying or threatening not to pay unless the victim complies. In some serious cases,
there could be the use of, or the threat of the use of physical force to make the victim sign
for things like loans, credit cards, any kind of financial transaction. Then there's what could be
referred to as employment related abuse. Now this would refer to the control and restriction of the
victim s ability to earn money. The intent behind this often being to make the victim dependent on
the abuser financially, to make it very difficult for them to leave. An example of this could be
trying to persuade, or perhaps demand that the victim quit their job. They could be doing
things to sabotage the victim s employment. For example, putting in complaints about them
anonymously to the company they work for. They could be hiding car keys, doing things to make
them late everyday. They could be creating dramas, disasters, making the victim either take time off
work or have to leave work early. They could even perhaps make such a nuisance of themselves at the
person's employment that the victim ends up just leaving out of embarrassment. It could
be preventing the victim from either applying for a job or perhaps attending job interviews. If the
victim is maybe studying in a course, trying to find a way to improve their employment prospects,
the abuser could be sabotaging this, destroying their coursework or keeping them away from their
class, from their studies. Another form of financial abuse could be preventing the victim
being able to access their own funds. For example, the perpetrator could be the executor of persons
finances, so they get to decide when the victim gets access to their own money,
how much they get and what they can spend it on. They could even be using the victim s funds,
they could be using their ATM cards, credit cards without the victims knowledge and not
allowing the victim to have access to their own bank details, so they don't know what's going on.
They may demand that any assets or property belonging to the victim is in the abuser s name.
Now even though these things may be owned jointly or perhaps owned solely by the victim, demanding
that things go into their name, they are the owner. Another form of this kind of abuse could be
when you have an abusive person who maybe acts in what seems like a very generous, altruistic
manner. Maybe they pay off a debt, maybe a loan, food, provide goods, resources they may even make
a donation of some kind. But the intent with the abusive person is to make the victim indebted
to them somehow, you now owe me . Treating the victim as if they are forever indebted to them,
treating the victim as if they are forever beholden to them, constantly reminding them. The
abusive person could be demanding repayments at a very high interest rate. It's almost like they
were extorting money from them. In some cases, they may not want to repaid at all. They just want
to keep that victim under their control. Another sign could be deliberately withholding money,
food ,resources, even hygiene products, any kind of necessity. Keeping them from the victim
in order to keep them controlled. Demanding that every penny, every crumb of food be accounted for,
then punishing the victim if they aren't able to justify to their satisfaction.
In some partnerships where there are savings word or maybe even joint savings,
the perpetrator could be constantly spending. Insisting that all this was really urgent, I had
to pay for this, or I had to buy this or this was more of a priority. But they re lift in the money
out and spending it without actually consulting with the victim. Now sadly, as often is the case,
even when a relationship ends, the abuse very rarely ends and sometimes happens is it either
ramps up a gear or the abuser just changes tactic. Financial abuse is no different. In some cases,
you may have someone either refusing to pay child maintenance, financial support. Or if it's perhaps
the other way around, the maintenance is being paid, but the perpetrator is claiming that it
isn't. Either that or it's not enough. They could be repeatedly filing very expensive lawsuits,
resisting any kind of financial settlement, fighting every court order, and these are
often tactics to deliberately rack up the victim s legal bills. Some cases there can even be theft,
destruction or sale of the victim's personal property. But financial abuse can often leave
victims without money for even basic essentials. Leave them without access to their own money or
the means to earn money. Quite often the abuser is trying to make the victim financially dependent on
them. And this form of abuse is often the reason why so many victims feel trapped, why so many stay
in those unhealthy, abusive relationships. Many victims find themselves with this awful choice
of either staying in the abusive relationship or becoming financially ruined, perhaps even
homeless. In cases where there has been coerced debt many victims fear that if they were to leave,
the abuser is never going to repay a penny. They re never going to honour that debt. It's going
to leave them in a state of financial ruin. If you're in a relationship where this kind of thing
is happening there is help available. I would encourage you to think about reaching out. I'm
going to put the links to some organisations that might help you in the description of this video.
But if you find this video useful or interesting, please consider subscribing to my channel for
future updates on mental health related topics and until next time, thanks for watching.