Digital finance products used to abuse almost 20% of young women and girls, UK report finds

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Survey respondents describe current or former partners controlling bank accounts and taking out credit online without full consentAlmost one in five young women and girls in the…

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.

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…

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