2.2.11 Consumer Debt & Credit Issues

Economic independence can be supported by the reduction of consumer debt through bankruptcy and non-bankruptcy strategies.1  Almost all victims (99 percent) of intimate-partner violence will face some type of economic abuse in their relationship.2  Although many people assume that victims of abuse are always financially dependent upon abusive partners, often the opposite is true. Many times, the abusive partner exploits the victim through taking/spending her earnings and using her credit. In addition to coercing victims into unwanted debt, abusive partners sometimes secretly ruin their partner’s credit, take out credit in their names without their knowledge, and commit identity fraud for personal financial gain. So, survivors sometimes need assistance correcting or restoring their credit histories or pursuing criminal and civil remedies for identity theft. The remedies available to victims of this type of economic abuse may differ depending upon whether the parties are married. The Center for Survivor Agency & Justice provides excellent on-line resources, technical support, and training to attorneys representing survivors who need consumer advocacy on issues relating to coerced debt.3

• 1Leah Plunkett & Erika Sussman, Consumer Rights Screening Tool for Domestic Violence Advocates and Lawyers, Nat’l Consumer Law Ctr. & Ctr. for Survivor Agency & Just. 4–7 (2011).
• 2Quick Guide: Economic and Financial Abuse, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (April 12, 2017); Tia Thomas, Economic Abuse in the Domestic Violence Context: Towards a Comprehensive Solution at the Federal and State Level, 43.1 Columbia J. of Gender and L. 98, 102–03 (2022).
• 3Consumer Rights Initiative, Ctr. for Survivor Agency & Just.