Banks and other financial institutions need to start considering their services from a family violence perspective, a new report argues.
The Gendered Violence Research Network at the University of New South Wales has produced a reported funded by Commonwealth Bank, which says survivors of abuse need the support of financial institutions to pay off debt, repair their credit scores and get into stable housing if they are to achieve economic independence.
Surveys of women recovering from financial abuse point to frustration with bank fees, including difficulties maintaining minimum account balances and difficulties with access to services.
Because “coerced debt” plays a significant part in financial abuse, banks should think about better ways of helping survivors repair their credit profiles.
The report also pointed to the importance of savings initiatives and asset-building programs tailored to the needs of family violence survivors. Some of the initiatives tried in other countries are akin to microfinance.
Helping people with financial education and capability was also highlighted.
The report concludes that banks should have specialist domestic and family violence teams to assess the potential for products and procedures to be misused to control and abuse partners.
It said that more financial services companies were training staff to understand and respond to domestic and family violence but there was evidence that staff did not know what the process was or who they could go to if they suspected a customer was experiencing financial abuse.
The report, Understanding Economic and Financial Abuse in Intimate Partner Relationships, was written by Jan Breckenridge, a professor and co-convenor of the UNSW Gendered Violence Research Network. It is the first in a six-part series that the network will undertake in partnership with CBA.