Silent Chains: Financial Abuse in Domestic Violence

October is National Domestic Violence awareness month. It’s estimated that family and domestic violence affects 10 million people every year. Because domestic violence is widely underreported, it’s hard to put full confidence in any statistic you might find on the subject.  Many victims fear that reporting will actually make them less safe.  Consequently, vicitms may not know what  resources are available to them.

Financial barriers can make escaping seem impossible.

• Abusers often exert control over their victims’ finances, which limits their access to money, employment opportunities, or education. That leaves victims financially dependent on their abusers.

• Abusive partners may sabotage their victims’ careers or prevent them from working altogether, resulting in job loss, gaps in employment history, and decreased earning potential.

• Finanacial abuse leaves vicitms with limited access to joint bank accounts, savings, or assets, with abusers controlling the finances. This lack of financial resources impacts their ability to rebuild their lives.

• Seeking legal protection from the abuser often requires financial resources, such as legal fees, court costs, and filing fees. Obviously these expenses can be overwhelming for victims who are already facing economic hardship.

Financial abuse can leave survivors feeling trapped, helpless, and ashamed, making it significantly harder for them to seek help or overcome the barriers they face. It is crucial for victims of domestic abuse to gain access to financial resources and support networks. These resources can undeniably help survivors rebuild their lives, gain financial independence, and break free from the cycle of abuse.

Safe Haven Services is a financial technology company that offers safe, secure, discreet digital storage for money and documents. Their services are particularly useful for individuals trying to escape financial and domestic abuse. 

Safe Haven stores money and documents privately and securely in digital lockboxes that they have made simple for everyone to use. So your assets are available whenever and wherever you are!

How could a digital lockbox help you? 

• Firstly, just like a physical lockbox, a digital lockbox is useful for storing money or documents where privacy is essential.

• You can set aside money and evidence as part of your escape plan. Putting money aside to assist with temporary housing, legal fees, and basic necessities is crucial for anyone experience domestic abuse or financial abuse. 

• Collecting and storing evidence of abuse away from the abuser is important in taking legal action. Safe Haven can help store money, documents, photos, emails, videos, and audio recordings.

• You can build an escape fund with money of your own. In addition to collecting documents such as bank and credit card statements, it is important to have money set aside of your own. Safe Haven can help create a small fund that is useful for emergencies, food, lodging, or transportation.

• Lastly, you can create a stash for an emergency and gain peace of mind by storing emergency money and important documents and pictures to help ensure you don’t lose some of your most valuable information.

You can manage what’s in your lockbox with ease. Safe Haven’s goal is to keep things simple, intuitive, and straightforward. I got the chance to see what Safe Haven was offering and how it worked. I set up my own digital lockbox in minutes and it couldn’t have been easier! You can learn more about Safe Haven’s incredible work by listening to this episode of my podcast where I interviewed John Peace. I hope you’ll check out some other blog posts as well.

By raising awareness, providing support to survivors, and advocating for prevention and intervention programs, we can work towards mitigating the devastating impact of domestic violence.

If you or someone you know needs is experiencing domestic violence or financial abuse, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233

Hours: 24/7. Languages: English, Spanish and 200+ through interpretation service.