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Living in the constant shadow of an abuser … but now it’s hoped banks will act.
Living in the constant shadow of an abuser … but now it’s hoped banks will act. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Living in the constant shadow of an abuser … but now it’s hoped banks will act. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Financial abuse: will a new code bring change?

This article is more than 5 years old

Women fleeing abuse shocked to find they are reconnected to former partners by their banks

After two decades of physical and psychological abuse, Debra* finally fled her partner and moved across the country. The 55-year-old bought a house and, for the first time in 20 years, felt safe.

That was until a letter arrived just a few years into her move. After updating her council tax, she was horrified to learn her former partner was also registered at the new address. On top of this trauma, she was told that most likely he had been informed of her new details.

When she demanded to know how this could have happened, the council said its data was “linked” through historical joint financial products … something that was not mentioned by any of the agencies, including the police, she had encountered when seeking help.

Debra is not alone. Claire* spent four years in a court battle extracting herself from the life she had made with her former violent partner. When the case finished and she thought the ordeal was over, the bank sent both her and her former partner a letter with her new address on. The bank put her call on hold before telling her to call the police. She fled that night.

Stories such as these are, in part, why UK Finance, a trade association for the sector, announced its first voluntary financial abuse code of conduct on Wednesday.

It will be rolled out over the next 12 months, and 11 banks and building societies have signed up, including Barclays, HSBC, Santander, RBS, Nationwide and Lloyds.

Financial abuse can manifest itself in multiple ways, with 62% of cases being reported by women, according to joint research by the Co-op and Refuge, a charity that supports abuse survivors.

Issues range from controlling a current partner’s finances and non-payment of a mortgage to the point of repossession, to running up thousands of pounds of debt in a former partner’s name, or using financial data to track them down outside a branch or a cash point.

Survivors report banks demanding both parties be present when closing a bank account, feeling shamed in branches when having to recount their story multiple times, and being liable for debt they did not accrue.

The new code will focus on six key areas: raising awareness and encouraging disclosure; training of colleagues; identification and appropriate response; minimising the need to repeat the story in one organisation; help to regain control of finances; signposting and referral.

Account-holders will be able to have correspondence sent to third parties, such as refuges, and firms will be expected to use channels of communication or banking that can’t be easily traced.

Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs, founder of Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA), the only UK charity specialising in this field, and who advised on the code, told Guardian Money it is a “step in the right direction”.

But, she says, more could be have been suggested. “In Australia, they have a system whereby, if a debt has built up jointly, they will look at halving it, asking one party to pay off half, and the other to pay off half. It would have been great if they’d been prepared to go that far.”

Most importantly, Sharp-Jeffs says there needs to be consistency from banks. “Some are fantastic, and some are like, ‘What is this about?’” she adds.

* Not their real names

How to protect yourself from financial abuse

1. Dissociate yourself from joint financial arrangements where possible; and request a notice of disassociation form from the three main credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax and Callcredit).

2. If possible, open accounts online. Choose passwords and answers to security questions that your partner does not know/could not guess.

3. If a former partner has taken out credit in your name, consider a fraud alert or credit freeze. Register with Cifas protection which requires your verification if credit is applied for in your name.

4. Try to keep a private emergency fund.

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