Almost one in five young women and girls in the UK have experienced digital financial products being used as a tool of abuse by a current or former partner, a report has found.
Abusers are exploiting banking apps, online payments and digital credit to control young women, causing financial harm and preventing them from leaving relationships, according to research from the charity Surviving Economic Abuse.
Research for a new report from the charity, Access Denied, Futures Derailed, involved carrying out a nationally representative survey of young women and teenage girls, with Ipsos UK.
It found that almost one in five teenage girls and young women aged 16-24 in the UK – equivalent to nearly 700,000 people – had been affected by this form of abuse. One in three young women experience economic abuse. Rates are highest among disabled young women and those with caring responsibilities for children, with perpetrators exploiting additional vulnerabilities to exert control.
The research found that one in eight girls and young women had experienced a current or ex-partner preventing them from having login information, such as passwords for online banking, while the same number had experienced an abuser controlling their digital wallets.
It also found 7% of respondents had experienced an abuser taking out credit in their name without their consent or because they were scared to refuse, including from “buy now, pay later” lenders.
More than 40% of those who had experienced abuse said it had caused them financial difficulty, while half said it had had a negative impact on their mental health, such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, self-harm or suicidal thoughts.
More than a third said the economic abuse prevented them from leaving a relationship with the abuser, and one in six had had to borrow money, including from digital lenders such as “buy now, pay later” and online payday lenders, to cover essential items or bills.
Becky* met her now ex-partner when she was 18 and was trapped in a relationship with him for more than a decade, during which time he isolated her from her family and friends, coerced her into more than £40,000 of debt, and prevented her from working.
Even though she fled nearly seven years ago, she continues to live with the impact of his abuse to this day. “I had good credit at the time and he didn’t,” she said. “Even though I said no, he broke me down over many months and forced me to take out a loan in my name to pay for a holiday that he wanted to go on.”
She said that he also obtained “buy now, pay later” loans in her name, which she only found out about when letters came through the post. “There was no verification, it seemed like all he needed from my address and date of birth,” she said, adding that when she left the relationship, the interest on the debt “was huge”.
“I had to access an [individual voluntary arrangement] but this destroyed my credit score,” she said. “When I fled, it was a huge struggle. I couldn’t get a phone or wifi.”
As it was her first proper relationship, she said she “didn’t know what was healthy or not healthy”, adding: “He also isolated me from my family and friends, so I had no one to reach out to. I wish that the government would make sure there is education about economic abuse in schools and in colleges.
“We also need to see banks building in extra layers of protection, particularly with the rising use of AI, they need to be responding to evolving perpetrator tactics.”
Experts and survivors are calling on ministers to use its promised financial education curriculum to educate young people about economic abuse. They are also asking financial services to remove opportunities for domestic abusers to exploit digital financial products and create additional protections to support survivors, including when adopting AI into their systems and processes.
Sam Smethers, the chief executive of Surviving Economic Abuse, said digital financial products could be “weapons of abuse”.
“To halve violence against women and girls, we must tackle abuse where it happens, including through the digital financial products young women use every day,” she added.
“We also want to see financial services firms working with survivors and experts to design out abuse of digital financial products and build in protections. Without action, we risk leaving hundreds of thousands of young women to pay the price.”
The minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, Satvir Kaur, said: “This report shines an important light on a type of abuse that too often goes unrecognised and can take many forms, from controlling someone’s money, to their choices, to their future.”
“This government has set the unprecedented ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade,” Kaur added. “Through our ‘Enough’ campaign, we are working with partners across society, including the banking sector, to help people recognise the signs of economic abuse, challenge abusive behaviour and support victims to access the help they need and deserve.”
*Name has been changed