Banking records reveal characteristics of financial abuse.

Banking records show female victim-survivors of financial abuse experience significant financial decline, including depleted savings and increased debts, over a 7-year period.

• Why it matters: Understanding the financial impact of abuse is crucial for developing effective support and intervention strategies, as current evidence is limited to small-scale qualitative studies.
• What they did: Analyzing anonymized banking data from 5,428 victim-survivors and 15,602 matched controls, researchers examined 373 financial outcomes over seven years before disclosure.
• The result: Victim-survivors faced financial instability, with declining credit scores, higher costs, more frequent address changes, and increased welfare claims, highlighting the long-term economic toll of financial abuse.