What is financial abuse?
Financial abuse is when one person controls another person's ability to manage or access their own money.
We understand that financial abuse can happen in day-to-day life, and that it can go unnoticed if the victim feels they can't talk to someone about what’s happening to them. Although financial abuse is most commonly found in personal relationships, it can also be found in other circumstances.
Examples of financial abuse include:
- preventing someone from accessing their own, joint or business account
- stealing money from a business partner or family member
- putting debts in a business partner’s name or family member’s name
- stopping another person from going to work
- taking advantage of someone with a mental or physical impairment to take money from them.
Get in touch
It takes a lot of courage for an individual to speak up and tell someone that this is happening to them or someone they care about.
We want you to be able to talk to us so we can try and help you. Please contact us on 0330 123 9860 or 0800 011 3414 (freephone) so you can talk to us in the strictest confidence and offer you the help and support that you need. If you’d prefer to speak to someone face-to-face, we can arrange a private appointment in your local branch. Again, this would be dealt with in the strictest confidence.
You may also find our financial abuse consumer information leaflet helpful. It contains information to help you arrange your finances during this difficult time and details of organisations and charities which support victims of abuse.
Please be aware: keep up-to-date on how you can protect yourselves and your loved ones from fraud by taking a look at our security pages