Financial abuse by a partner or family member

Financial abuse is when someone causes you harm by controlling or mishandling your finances or assets¹. It is a crime². The wider term used by debt charities and banks is economic abuse: when a person uses access to money or other resources to control another person³. It is a form of domestic abuse³, and it is not only about a partner. A relative, an adult child or a carer can do it too.

The pattern matters more than any single incident. Spending the money meant for rent and bills, taking your income from work or benefits, building up debt in your name, and threatening or harassing you are all given as examples⁴. Because the harm runs through bank accounts, loans and credit files, the practical route out usually starts with free debt and money advice, and with telling your bank what is happening.

Economic abuse: when money is used to control you

Economic abuse is defined as using access to money or other resources to control another person, and it is classed as a form of domestic abuse³. Financial and economic abuse are described in the same terms by lenders: a form of domestic abuse where a person's financial freedom is restricted by someone close to them⁸. Financial abuse specifically is when someone causes you harm by controlling or mishandling your finances or assets¹.

The examples are concrete and often cumulative. They include spending the money meant for rent and bills, taking your income from work or benefits, building up debt in your name, and threatening or harassing you⁴. Debt taken on this way is sometimes called coerced debt, and it is the part that follows a person longest, because it sits on their credit file and in their name even after the relationship ends.

Two things follow from that. First, the money problem is not separate from the abuse, so dealing with the debt is part of getting safe. Second, the person doing it often has access to the paperwork, the post and the passwords, which is why advice services ask about who controls what rather than only about the balance owed.

Banks treat financial products used as control as a priority

Preventing financial services products from being used as a form of control and economic abuse continues to be a key priority, according to UK Finance, the trade body for the banking and finance industry⁵. That work sits with its Domestic, Financial and Economic Abuse Working Group and Vulnerability Committee, whose members share that priority⁵.

In practice this shapes what a bank is expected to do when you tell it what is happening. The Financial Ombudsman Service, which decides complaints a bank has not resolved, sees cases involving compulsive spending or gambling harm about every financial product, including loans, mortgage extensions, pensions used for gambling, high-risk investments and general banking including account support⁹. It also points to regulations including the Consumer Duty, which require firms to support you while you are using their product or service and to be flexible and find ways to support vulnerable customers¹⁰.

There is a limit worth knowing. Banks are legally required to close accounts when they suspect they may be used for financial crime¹¹. That duty can collide with a victim's need for an account in their own name, and it is one reason a bank may act in ways that look unhelpful. If a bank has treated you badly, the ombudsman can look at complaints involving cost of living pressures as well as discrimination⁶.

Citizens Advice: free, confidential help with debt and money

Citizens Advice offers free advice on debt and other money problems⁶, and its service includes help with gambling problems⁹. It describes itself as providing free, independent and confidential advice on getting out of debt and a variety of other issues¹³. It is not the only free option: the Debt Advice Foundation offers free, confidential support and advice on any aspect of debt¹⁴, and in Scotland there are free advice services that can help¹⁵.

Cost is the point. Approved money advisers working for Citizens Advice, independent advice centres and local councils will not charge you for debt advice¹⁶. That matters because paid debt help is where people in difficulty lose money they cannot spare. The Financial Ombudsman Service makes the same promise about its own service: you do not have to pay us to help you⁷.

Where a debt was built up in your name by someone else, advisers can look at what is provably yours, what can be disputed and what solutions exist. StepChange says it can refer victims to specialist organisations who are experts in coerced debt and economic abuse³. Citizens Advice has reported that the number of people it helps with debt issues has been rising every month for five months¹⁷, and it now leads a Consumer Energy Debt Advice service delivered with the Money Advice Trust and StepChange¹⁸.

How to contact Citizens Advice across the UK

The right number depends on what you need and where you live. The consumer service line for England and Wales is 0808 223 1133, with a Welsh-speaking adviser line on 0808 223 1144¹⁹. The same consumer service number is given as 0808 2231133 for England and Wales in council guidance²⁰. For Universal Credit Help to Claim, the numbers are England 0800 144 8444, Wales 0800 024 1220 and Scotland 0800 023 2581, with Advice NI on 0800 915 4604²². Help to Claim in England is also given as 0800 144 8 444, with online chat²³.

Citizens Advice Scotland offers independent and confidential advice on issues such as debt, money problems and welfare benefits²⁵. In Northern Ireland, Advice NI members provide free, confidential help and advice for anyone struggling to deal with money and debt, including debt management plans, plus advice on benefits, housing, employment, tax and consumer rights²⁶, and there is free and professional advice and assistance to help make sure a situation does not deteriorate²⁷. The Finance Support Service supports people in need of short-term financial help²⁸, and emergency financial assistance can be applied for through nidirect government services²⁹.

Report financial abuse to the police

Financial abuse is a crime, and the guidance is to report it to the police². The bank should help if you suspect financial abuse², and the national fraud campaign's advice is to contact your bank immediately and report it to the police at reportfraud.police.uk or on 0300 123 2040³³. Where the person is an adult at risk, concerns can also be raised with your local council's adult social services department³⁴. Government advice treats internet scams, postal scams and doorstep crime as forms of financial abuse, often targeted at adults who need care and support³⁵.

If a bank or lender has handled your situation badly, the Financial Ombudsman Service is free and can be reached on 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123, Monday to Friday 8.00am to 8.00pm and Saturday 9.00am to 1.00pm, or by email at complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk³⁶. Businesses and consumer advisers can contact its Business Support Hub on 020 7964 1400 for guidance on how a complaint might be looked at³⁸.

Where the protection stops

Free advice, the ombudsman and the banks' own commitments cover a great deal, but they do not cover everything. Debt in your name generally remains your debt until it is challenged or written off through a formal solution, and the rules on who can enter those solutions vary: an individual voluntary arrangement, for example, has eligibility conditions set out by the debt advice bodies¹⁴. Scottish solutions differ, including the Debt Arrangement Scheme¹⁶, and council tax arrears are handled under separate rules in Scotland³¹.

There are also limits on what a bank can do. Its legal duty to close accounts suspected of financial crime applies regardless of who is affected¹¹, and a bank cannot simply remove a joint account holder or rewrite a credit agreement on request. Where a complaint turns on how a firm treated a vulnerable customer, the Consumer Duty is the framework the ombudsman points to¹⁰.

For anyone supporting an older person, Age UK and Independent Age both publish guidance on helping someone who may be being scammed and on managing money for someone else³⁵. If the abuse involves a partner who is not paying rent or is leaving you with housing costs, Shelter England and Shelter Scotland have separate advice on ex-partners and rent and on money help⁴⁰. For the wider picture on fraud and refunds, see Scams and fraud: a complete guide and Helping an older relative or someone else who has been targeted.