Voiceover:

Thank you for watching Paper to Practice: Evidence-Based Advocacy Made Simple. In this video, we will explore economic abuse in more detail by discussing a specific type of this abuse, coerced debt. We hope this video will help explain the nuances of coerced debt and provide you with the necessary resources and tools to address this type of abuse. Coerced debt involves the abuser's use of fraud, coercion, or manipulation in order to incur debt in their partner's name. It occurs in intimate relationships in which one partner uses coercive control to dominate the other partner. In this video, we will hear from Dr. Adrian Adams, professor of psychology at Michigan State University about her research on coerced debt. First, let's identify exactly what coerced debt means. Coerced debt includes all non-consensual credit-related transactions that occur in a relationship where one partner uses coercive control to dominate the other partner.

Coerced debt is a type of economic abuse, specifically a type of economic exploitation. It involves an abusive partner using fraud or coercion to create debt in a partner's name for one's own advantage. A fraudulent transaction means the abuser generates debt in the victim's survivor's name without their knowledge and/or consent. For example, an abuser might use their partner's personal information to take out a vehicle loan in their name without their knowledge. A coercive transaction occurs when the abuser uses threats of harm, including physical, psychological, or economic harm to lead the victim survivor to incur debt. For instance, an abuser might threaten to hurt their partner if they do not use their credit card to buy them a new TV.

Dr. Adrienne Adams:

A study we conducted with the National Domestic Violence Hotline showed that 52% of callers had experienced coerced debt. 43% of callers reported that a partner had perpetrated coercive transactions and 22% reported fraudulent transactions. A study of women divorcing an abusive partner showed that coerced debt is a common and expensive problem with a wide variety of presentations. Two thirds of women in that study had coerced debt. Credit cards were the most common type of account with coerce debt, followed by vehicle loans, mortgages, personal loans, and student loans. Women who had coerced debt had an average of about four and a maximum of 24 such debts. When the coerce debt of all of the women in the study were added together, they had a combined total of $12.5 million in coerced debt, and the median amount was $22,000. Both coercive and fraudulent transactions were common, but coercion was more common than fraud.

Just over 80% of women with coerced debt had at least one coercive transaction and 60% had at least one fraudulent transaction. The study of hotline callers and the study of women divorcing an abusive partner both showed that coerced debt has negative consequences for victim survivors credit rating. This creates barriers to employment, housing, utility services, and other necessary resources for safety and wellbeing.

Voiceover:

Next, let's discuss how to identify various signs of coerced debt. Because it is common for individuals experiencing intimate partner violence to also end up with coerced debt, it is important for agencies such as crisis hotlines, shelters, advocacy programs, and legal services to be prepared to help victim survivors identify and address coerced debt. Advocates can start a conversation about coerced debt by asking two questions. To identify possible coercive transactions, you can ask, "Has your partner made you take out a loan or buy something on credit when you didn't want to? " To identify possible fraudulent transactions, you can ask, "Has your partner taken out a loan or bought something on credit in your name without your permission?" If the victim survivor says yes to either or both questions, you can ask them to tell you about the situation or situations they were thinking of when they said yes.

Listen for coercion or fraud.

Coercion is likely if the victim survivor took on debt because their partner wanted them to, and they feared physical, psychological, economic, or other types of harm if they didn't do it. Fraud appears as any identity theft would. It involves using a partner's personal information to take on debt in their name without their permission. A more comprehensive way to identify coerced debt is to help the victim survivor obtain their credit report and review it account by account for instances of coercion and fraud. You can ask the same questions for each account on the credit report. For instance, if the first account on the credit report is a credit card, you would ask, "Has your partner ever used this credit card without your permission to identify fraud?" Then to identify coercion, you could ask, "Have you ever used this credit card to pay for something because your partner wanted you to and you were afraid they might hurt you if you said no?

By hurt you, I mean physically, emotionally, financially, or in some other

Dr. Adrienne Adams:

Way." There are several steps advocates can take to help a victim survivor with coerced debt. To prevent an abuser from creating more debt in their partner's name, advocates can help victim survivors freeze their credit with the three major credit bureaus, Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. They can also discuss with the victim survivor the possibility of changing their financial security information, such as their checking account numbers, savings account numbers, online banking passwords, credit card numbers, online shopping passwords, or information associated with any other account that their partner can access. To address existing coerced debt, advocates can help the victim survivor dispute the debt with the credit bureaus or request debt forgiveness or negotiate lower payoff amounts with creditors on the basis that the debt was created by an abusive partner. Now, creditors are not required by law to grant forgiveness or agree to lower payoff amounts though.

It can be helpful to connect the victim survivor with an attorney to discuss their legal rights and possible legal strategies they could pursue. Of course, with any strategies, it's important to consider the victim survivor's safety and discuss how their partner may react.

Voiceover:

Coerced debt is a common and expensive problem that can do significant and lasting damage to victim survivors economic wellbeing. This matters because economic wellbeing and safety are interdependent. Victim survivors need adequate economic resources to find safety from abuse and safety is necessary to achieve economic security. Advocates prepared to help relieve the burden of coerced debt can make a meaningful difference in victim survivors' economic wellbeing and safety.