Evidence item

Using anonymized banking data from a major UK retail bank, we compared the financial outcomes of a group of female victim-survivors of financial abuse (n = 5,428; identified from customer disclosures to the bank) with a control group (n = 15,602; consisting of individuals with no known disclosures). The control group matched the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the victim-survivor group 7 years before disclosure. A comprehensive set of 373 transactional and non-transactional financial outcomes were analysed over this period. Results indicate that, compared with controls, victim-survivors exhibited depleting savings and increasing debts, culminating in missed payments and declining credit scores. They also spent less on self-care, incurred higher transport and legal costs, increased cash withdrawals, changed addresses and passwords more frequently and were more likely to claim welfare benefits.