Financial Abuse: What it looks like and how to find your way out.

It can start out very subtly: you are stressed about money and you hate juggling the bills. Your partner offers to step in and manage the funds to alleviate the stress. Gradually, you have less and less access to funds and financial information. Maybe you have to start asking permission for every purchase, or you’re given an “allowance” that inexplicably becomes smaller and smaller over time.

Ninety-eight percent of abusive relationships involve financial abuse, and nearly 80% of victims cite financial instability as the biggest reason they stay in or return to abusive relationships. Despite these facts, most people don't recognize financial manipulation as abuse. Here are some of the signs you may be a victim of financial abuse:

Manipulating you with money

Forcing you into debt through coercion or omission

Gives you an allowance or budget without your input

Forces you to account for every penny spent

Threatens to cut you off

Limits your access to joint funds and financial information

Intentionally tanks your credit score

Interferes with your ability to earn money, by sabotaging your employment or otherwise disrupting efforts to develop job skills and training opportunities.

Maxes out credit cards in your name and defaults the payments

If you or someone you care about is a victim of financial abuse, there are steps to take to see your way out. First, pull your credit report and look for transitions you don’t recognize and set up alerts to notify you in case there is unauthorized activity.

Abuse in any form is NEVER acceptable! Call 911 immediately if physical abuse is happening or about to happen. Otherwise, call the National Domestic Violence Hotlines at 800-797233 or go to thehotline.org. All communication is anonymous and confidential and they are open 24/7/365. You can also contact the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) website at womenslaw.org. All these resources are linked at linktr.ee/missoulabookkeeper