Economic abuse

deliciouseagle

Hi everyone, I’m dealing with a disputed credit card balance linked to financial abuse and coercive control in a relationship. The matter has been reported to police and I’m preparing a formal complaint to the card provider after they sent me an initial decision they will uphold the transactions as I shared my card/devices despite the fact I was being coerced.

I’m preparing documents like, police letter to say i have a made a report and they are looking into it, form completed from my GP (Debt and mental health evidence form), letter from a domestic abuse organisation to say I am getting support. I have also lost my job and therefore cannot pay any of the balance. Is it worth including my termination of employment letter?

I’ve never felt this low in my lifetime and have thought about self harm due to the burden of this and the abuse itself. 

The bank also said i failed to tell them this earlier, only got in touch after there were significant spendings on the account(£5k), I genuinely didn’t realise I was being abused due to the abuser isolating me from friends who would have recognised I was abused. The abuser also has a past criminal record of aggressiveness and it could have been dangerous for me to act whilst being with him. I only reported it after I managed to leave.

I called the bank recently after their decision and broke down in tears. They have reversed recent interest charges but said I need to keep calling if more are added.

I’m looking for advice on:

• How best to structure a strong complaint for financial abuse cases
• Whether I should ask for any additional help from the bank? Ie freezing interest whilst complaint is going on?
• How to protect my credit file during dispute
• Any tips before escalation to Financial Ombudsman

Any guidance appreciated. Thank you.

born_again

Before you can go to FOS, you have to have either a deadlock letter from bank or 8 weeks have passed from start of complaint. Expect a long wait for them to make a decision.

MyRealNameToo

deliciouseagle said:

Hi everyone, I’m dealing with a disputed credit card balance linked to financial abuse and coercive control in a relationship. The matter has been reported to police and I’m preparing a formal complaint to the card provider after they sent me an initial decision they will uphold the transactions as I shared my card/devices despite the fact I was being coerced.

I’m preparing documents like, police letter to say i have a made a report and they are looking into it, form completed from my GP (Debt and mental health evidence form), letter from a domestic abuse organisation to say I am getting support. I have also lost my job and therefore cannot pay any of the balance. Is it worth including my termination of employment letter?

I’ve never felt this low in my lifetime and have thought about self harm due to the burden of this and the abuse itself. 

The bank also said i failed to tell them this earlier, only got in touch after there were significant spendings on the account(£5k), I genuinely didn’t realise I was being abused due to the abuser isolating me from friends who would have recognised I was abused. The abuser also has a past criminal record of aggressiveness and it could have been dangerous for me to act whilst being with him. I only reported it after I managed to leave.

I called the bank recently after their decision and broke down in tears. They have reversed recent interest charges but said I need to keep calling if more are added.

I’m looking for advice on:

• How best to structure a strong complaint for financial abuse cases
• Whether I should ask for any additional help from the bank? Ie freezing interest whilst complaint is going on?
• How to protect my credit file during dispute
• Any tips before escalation to Financial Ombudsman

Any guidance appreciated. Thank you.

What are your allegations against the bank? You have to say what they have done wrong or what they failed to do that has caused you to have the loss. 

For victims of fraud, for example, there are governmental and industry agreements of how such matters should be dealt with and that the bank is responsible (there is more complex behind the scenes stuff on how banks share the liability too). For domestic abuse there are no similar guarantees or public policy.

You can search the ombudsman's website to see prior prior cases that the ombudsman has ruled on. You should read https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN-4679890.pdf this one in particular as it explains consent as far as the regulations consider it and what the ombudsman told the bank to do.

deliciouseagle

MyRealNameToo said:

deliciouseagle said:

Hi everyone, I’m dealing with a disputed credit card balance linked to financial abuse and coercive control in a relationship. The matter has been reported to police and I’m preparing a formal complaint to the card provider after they sent me an initial decision they will uphold the transactions as I shared my card/devices despite the fact I was being coerced.

I’m preparing documents like, police letter to say i have a made a report and they are looking into it, form completed from my GP (Debt and mental health evidence form), letter from a domestic abuse organisation to say I am getting support. I have also lost my job and therefore cannot pay any of the balance. Is it worth including my termination of employment letter?

I’ve never felt this low in my lifetime and have thought about self harm due to the burden of this and the abuse itself. 

The bank also said i failed to tell them this earlier, only got in touch after there were significant spendings on the account(£5k), I genuinely didn’t realise I was being abused due to the abuser isolating me from friends who would have recognised I was abused. The abuser also has a past criminal record of aggressiveness and it could have been dangerous for me to act whilst being with him. I only reported it after I managed to leave.

I called the bank recently after their decision and broke down in tears. They have reversed recent interest charges but said I need to keep calling if more are added.

I’m looking for advice on:

• How best to structure a strong complaint for financial abuse cases
• Whether I should ask for any additional help from the bank? Ie freezing interest whilst complaint is going on?
• How to protect my credit file during dispute
• Any tips before escalation to Financial Ombudsman

Any guidance appreciated. Thank you.

What are your allegations against the bank? You have to say what they have done wrong or what they failed to do that has caused you to have the loss. 

For victims of fraud, for example, there are governmental and industry agreements of how such matters should be dealt with and that the bank is responsible (there is more complex behind the scenes stuff on how banks share the liability too). For domestic abuse there are no similar guarantees or public policy.

You can search the ombudsman's website to see prior prior cases that the ombudsman has ruled on. You should read .. this one in particular as it explains consent as far as the regulations consider it and what the ombudsman told the bank to do.

Thanks for your reply and sharing this case. Definitely things to learn from this.

I'm giving the bank several points of failure:
1. I froze the card multiple times to try and limit the spending, once I realised the freeze only works on the physical card I cancelled the card via the app reporting it as stolen. Despite these actions, the transactions continued via a digital wallet which automatically updated. I had to personally remove the card from my partner's phone which could have put me at risk as he has a violent past. 

2. The bank did not gather sufficient evidence or information regards the abuse when I reported it to them as soon as I left my partner. (unlike the case above, the transactions only took place a month before I contracted the bank and I can clearly distinguish the transactions + have proof of the perpetrator spending them). They seem to have focused on whether the transactions were approved even though I told them the perpetrator had access to my devices, card and pin code. 

3. Inconsitent communication with by their team, I called twice to discuss matters with them whilst they were doing their investigation into the charges and was promised call backs, neither of the call backs happened which lead to significant distress. I was also given conflicting information, I was told my account would be closed to allow them to secure it and protect it, then I was informed otherwise without any clear explanation. 

MyRealNameToo

deliciouseagle said:

MyRealNameToo said:

deliciouseagle said:

Hi everyone, I’m dealing with a disputed credit card balance linked to financial abuse and coercive control in a relationship. The matter has been reported to police and I’m preparing a formal complaint to the card provider after they sent me an initial decision they will uphold the transactions as I shared my card/devices despite the fact I was being coerced.

I’m preparing documents like, police letter to say i have a made a report and they are looking into it, form completed from my GP (Debt and mental health evidence form), letter from a domestic abuse organisation to say I am getting support. I have also lost my job and therefore cannot pay any of the balance. Is it worth including my termination of employment letter?

I’ve never felt this low in my lifetime and have thought about self harm due to the burden of this and the abuse itself. 

The bank also said i failed to tell them this earlier, only got in touch after there were significant spendings on the account(£5k), I genuinely didn’t realise I was being abused due to the abuser isolating me from friends who would have recognised I was abused. The abuser also has a past criminal record of aggressiveness and it could have been dangerous for me to act whilst being with him. I only reported it after I managed to leave.

I called the bank recently after their decision and broke down in tears. They have reversed recent interest charges but said I need to keep calling if more are added.

I’m looking for advice on:

• How best to structure a strong complaint for financial abuse cases
• Whether I should ask for any additional help from the bank? Ie freezing interest whilst complaint is going on?
• How to protect my credit file during dispute
• Any tips before escalation to Financial Ombudsman

Any guidance appreciated. Thank you.

What are your allegations against the bank? You have to say what they have done wrong or what they failed to do that has caused you to have the loss. 

For victims of fraud, for example, there are governmental and industry agreements of how such matters should be dealt with and that the bank is responsible (there is more complex behind the scenes stuff on how banks share the liability too). For domestic abuse there are no similar guarantees or public policy.

You can search the ombudsman's website to see prior prior cases that the ombudsman has ruled on. You should read .. this one in particular as it explains consent as far as the regulations consider it and what the ombudsman told the bank to do.

Thanks for your reply and sharing this case. Definitely things to learn from this.

I'm giving the bank several points of failure:
1. I froze the card multiple times to try and limit the spending, once I realised the freeze only works on the physical card I cancelled the card via the app reporting it as stolen. Despite these actions, the transactions continued via a digital wallet which automatically updated. I had to personally remove the card from my partner's phone which could have put me at risk as he has a violent past. 

2. The bank did not gather sufficient evidence or information regards the abuse when I reported it to them as soon as I left my partner. (unlike the case above, the transactions only took place a month before I contracted the bank and I can clearly distinguish the transactions + have proof of the perpetrator spending them). They seem to have focused on whether the transactions were approved even though I told them the perpetrator had access to my devices, card and pin code. 

3. Inconsitent communication with by their team, I called twice to discuss matters with them whilst they were doing their investigation into the charges and was promised call backs, neither of the call backs happened which lead to significant distress. I was also given conflicting information, I was told my account would be closed to allow them to secure it and protect it, then I was informed otherwise without any clear explanation. 

There are, unfortunately, hundreds of cases on the Ombudsman website, I just posted the first one that was broadly relevant as there are many more cases about those with PoA doing wrong things, people being made to discuss these sorts of topics in the bank in ear shot of others etc which weren't relevant to your case. 

1) I dont think thats the banks fault, its how the system is designed to work with the benefit for the majority being that because some scrote has nicked your wallet doesnt leave you being unable to buy the weekly groceries whilst awaiting a new card. It would be different if you had called the bank and they recommended that as the course of action because that would have been their fault rather than your misunderstanding. With Apple and Google Pay the card in the digital wallet has a totally different number to the physical card but the bank links them back to the same account.

2) Not following to be honest, its also not clear if you are saying any transactions went through after you had left your partner and had told the bank

3) This is a basic poor complaint handling/operations type thing, there will be a modest compensation for poor comms depending on how much damage the poor comms caused

RhiBi

I just wanted to share my experience having recently ended a relationship due to DV including what I believe to financial abuse, there’s a long thread on the main DFW board.  Your post may get more relevant replies on that board so I’m tagging @sourcrates who is one of the ambassadors to potentially move it.

i went to citizens advice and they are acting on my behalf.  I too had the debt and mental health form completed by my GP, and reports from my IDVA.

So far, I have had a loan where £12000 was owed written off and I’m awaiting decisions from my other creditors.

im sharing this because it may be worth you going to CAB for help, they are used to dealing with these companies.

i wish you well in your journey to freedom and remember how strong you are to have got out of the relationship and this, in comparison will become insignificant.

beanielou

I’ve asked for this to be moved to the main DFW board. Hopefully that will help.