Help with financial abuse
What is financial abuse?
Financial abuse can happen to anyone, and comes in lots of different guises. It can be someone trying to control your ability to access and use your money, or other kinds of financial exploitation. And it can happen in any of your relationships, whether that’s with a partner, family member, friend or carer.
National Domestic Abuse Helpline
0808 200 0247
Free and available 24/7
In an emergency, please call the police on 999.
How to make a silent 999 call if you’re in danger.
Signs of financial abuse
To help you recognise financial abuse, here are some questions that you should ask.
Has a partner, family member, friend or carer or someone else:
- Insisted you provide them with access to your bank account or add their name to your account?
- Moved money in and out of your bank account without your knowledge or permission?
- Stopped you from paying bills or buying essentials?
- Forced you to explain what you’ve spent your money on?
- Taken out an account in your name or other products such as a credit card or loan?
If the answer to any of the questions above is ‘yes’, then you may have been affected by financial abuse. This isn’t an exhaustive list though, so you may be suffering financial abuse even if you’ve not answered ‘yes’ to the questions above.
How we can help
If you’re facing financial abuse, we can help you gain back control of your money. Here are some of the practical steps we can help you take:
Change your address
We can update your address to deliver your post to a location where you feel safe.
Reset your pin and password
If you feel safe to do so, we can help you change your password and six-digit PIN to make sure your account is secure.
Add or remove someone else’s access to your account
If you’re not in a position to manage your finances at the moment, we can add someone you trust to your account to help you. Or, if you no longer want to provide someone with access to your money, we can remove them from your account.
Provide transaction information
We can help you work out what payments have been made to and from your account.
Open a new account
We can work with you to open a new account so you can manage your money independently.
Restrict access to your accounts
If you’re in a position where you want to restrict access to your money, we can let you know what options are available to you: for example closing your account – including your joint account – or placing a freeze on withdrawals.
Just give our Customer Care Team a call on 0800 085 6789, or +44 203 901 3353 if you're calling from abroad, and someone will be able to help you. We're open from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays).
Information and resources
We’ve put together the details of some helplines and organisations that can help you if you’re affected by any kind of financial or domestic abuse.
Remember: in an emergency, please call the police on 999.