Economic abuse is one of the most common forms of domestic abuse and one of the least recognised. It runs almost entirely through financial institutions, which means bank staff observe it regularly without having a name for what they are seeing.
This is written for branch staff, relationship managers, cooperative officers and anybody in a microfinance or payment business.
What it looks like from your side of the counter
- A customer who is always accompanied, and whose companion answers for her.
- Somebody else holding her card, her token, her phone or her documents.
- A woman who does not know her own balance, or who asks you not to say it aloud.
- Regular transfers out immediately after every salary credit, in a pattern she does not seem to control.
- Loans or overdrafts taken in her name where the funds move straight out to another account.
- A request to change the phone number or email on an account, made by somebody else.
- A customer asking to have alerts turned off, or asking that statements not be posted.
- Distress, or a sudden change of instruction, when the companion steps away and comes back.
- An account opened for a woman by a relative, which she does not operate.
None of these proves anything. Together they describe the mechanism economic abuse actually uses.
The four things that matter
- Speak to the customer, not the person with her. Address her by name, ask her the questions, and wait for her answer even when somebody else is supplying one. This costs nothing and it is the single most useful thing a member of staff can do.
- Create one private moment. Take her to a desk or a booth to complete something, alone, as routine rather than as a response to suspicion. “I need to take you through this by yourself, it is our process” is unremarkable and it is frequently the only unobserved minute she gets in a week.
- Never disclose account information to a spouse. Not the balance, not the transactions, not whether an account exists, however plausible the request and however senior the person asking. A husband is not entitled to information about an account in his wife’s name, and confirming that one exists can be dangerous.
- Protect the address and the alerts. Where a customer asks that statements not be posted, or that alerts go to a particular number, treat it as important rather than as an inconvenience. A statement arriving at the wrong address is how a woman who has moved is found.
Opening an account for somebody starting again
This is where we most often need help, and where the system most often says no.
A woman leaving an abusive marriage typically has incomplete documents, no proof of a permanent address, no utility bill in her name, and sometimes no phone number that is safely hers. She may have a BVN she cannot immediately access and identity documents in a house she cannot enter.
What helps, within the rules rather than around them:
- Use the tiered account structures that exist precisely for customers with limited documentation, rather than treating a full account as the only option.
- Accept an employer’s address, an organisation’s address or a place of work where a residential address cannot safely be given. We can provide a letter and act as a reference.
- Help her retrieve rather than recreate a BVN, which many customers do not realise is possible.
- Do not require a husband’s involvement in anything. It is not a requirement and it is still occasionally asked for.
- Set alerts to a number she chooses and confirm that no third party has access to the profile.
What we tell women to ask for is the other half of this, and it is worth knowing what your customer has been advised.
Joint accounts and coerced debt
Two specific problems come up constantly and staff are rarely trained on either.
The joint account. Where all household income lands in an account he controls, she has no money of her own even on a good salary. Where a customer asks about opening a separate account, treat that as an ordinary and sensible request rather than something to be discussed with the other party.
Coerced debt. Loans, cooperative liabilities and overdrafts taken in a woman’s name, on the strength of her employment, for somebody else’s benefit. She frequently does not know they exist until she leaves, and she is then pursued for them.
Where a customer wants to know what is in her own name, help her find out. It is her information and the request is entirely legitimate, and discovering it before a separation is much easier than during one.
If somebody discloses
You are not being asked to counsel anybody, and a few minutes handled well matters a great deal.
Believe her, and do not ask for detail you do not need. Do not write anything about abuse on a customer record that could be read by anyone, including at another branch. Deal with the practical request in front of you: the account, the alerts, the address, the card.
Ask what she would like to happen, rather than deciding. And do not call her back later on a number that may not be safe — ask when and how it is safe to contact her, and follow it exactly.
Then offer a route on. Tell her that organisations exist and that we are one of them, and let her take that away rather than doing anything on her behalf.
What an institution can do at the policy level
- Train counter and call-centre staff specifically on not confirming account existence to a spouse. This is where it fails.
- Have a route for customers who need address confidentiality, and make sure it survives a branch transfer.
- Allow a woman to be seen alone as a matter of standard process, so that it is never conspicuous.
- Have a documented approach to coerced debt rather than treating every case as an ordinary default.
- Make sure alerts and statement settings can be changed quickly and without a third party.
What we would ask of you
Beyond the above, two things. Consider accepting us as a reference or a guarantor for customers we work with. And if your organisation employs people, the employer side is the other half of the same problem — a job and an account she controls are the two things that most often decide whether leaving lasts.
Questions people ask
Her husband is asking about her account. What do we say?
That you do not discuss customer accounts. Do not confirm that an account exists, however plausible the request or senior the person asking. Confirming existence alone can put a customer in danger.
She has no proof of address. Can we still open an account?
Usually yes, using the tiered account structures designed for limited documentation, and accepting an employer or organisation address. We can provide a letter and act as a reference.
A customer seems to be controlled by whoever comes in with her. What can I do?
Address her directly and wait for her own answer, then create one private moment by taking her aside to complete something as routine process. That is frequently the only unobserved minute she gets.
She says loans were taken in her name without her knowledge. Is that our problem?
It is coerced debt and it is common. Help her find out what is in her name, since that is her own information, and treat it as something other than an ordinary default.
Should I write on her record that she disclosed abuse?
No. Record the practical instructions — alerts, address, third-party access — and nothing that would be dangerous if read at another branch or by the wrong person.
If you need help now
If you are in immediate danger, call 112. To talk to HealBridge, call or send a message to +2348025170267, or use the form on our contact page. Every page on this site has a Quick Exit button at the top right, and pressing the letter E three times does the same thing.
Before you rely on anything on this page
We publish these articles so that you can understand a subject and work out what to ask for. They are written carefully and in good faith. They are still general information about how things usually work, and not advice about your situation, which we do not know.
- This is not legal advice.
- We are not a law firm. Criminal law in Nigeria is largely a state matter, the VAPP Act applies in a state only if that state adopted it, and statutory, customary and Islamic marriages are governed by different law and different courts. Two people with the same facts can have genuinely different options. Get advice from a lawyer who practises where you live — and if cost is the obstacle, ask us, because arranging that is part of what we do.
- This is not medical advice.
- Nothing here is a diagnosis and nothing here replaces being examined. Do not delay seeing a doctor, nurse or pharmacist because of something you read here, and do not start, stop or change any treatment on the strength of it. If something is time critical, go and be seen.
- This is not counselling, and it is not financial advice.
- Articles about trauma, sleep, money, debt, renting or starting a business describe what commonly helps. They are not therapy and they are not a recommendation about your own money. Speak to a counsellor, a qualified adviser or your own bank about your circumstances.
- It may be out of date, or wrong for where you are.
- Law changes, services close, numbers stop answering and practice varies by state. We correct what we find, and we cannot promise that every page is current on the day you read it. Where we do not have something confirmed, we say so rather than fill the gap.
- Reading this does not make us your lawyer or your doctor.
- No professional relationship is created by reading an article, and we cannot accept liability for decisions taken on the strength of one. What we can do is help you reach somebody who is qualified to advise you, which is what the legal and health parts of our work exist for.
- We cannot promise an outcome, and we cannot make anybody safe.
- A protection order is a piece of paper backed by an enforcement system that is inconsistent. A plan works until the day it does not. Anybody in this field promising safety is selling something, and the promise itself is dangerous because it stops people planning.
Do not let this notice stop you acting. If you are in immediate danger, call 112. If something is medically urgent, go to a hospital — you do not need a police report to be treated. And if you do not know where to start, that is a normal way to begin: use the contact page and we will take it from there.
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