Tina's story: reclaiming economic safety

Tina* is a survivor—resilient, courageous, and determined to rebuild her life on her own terms.

For years, Tina’s ex-husband, Steven* used physical violence and controlled her finances. Despite being the sole contributor to household finances, Tina was forced to cook, clean, and live in constant anxiety—so much so that she slept with her car keys under her pillow, terrified Steven might take her car.

At the same time, Steven’s credit card debts grew. He could not secure a loan to pay them, so he pressured Tina into applying for one through a broker. When Tina sent the broker a list of Steven’s significant debts, it should have raised immediate red flags. It’s because of experiences like Tina’s that Women’s Legal successfully advocated for the introduction of family violence sensitive lending obligations.

In Tina’s case, the broker ignored the signs of economic abuse and arranged a loan in Tina’s name. After Steven escalated his violence against Tina, she fled to a women’s refuge. We know that an escalation of violence can also lead to higher risk of homicide.

It was while Tina was staying at the refuge that she bravely disclosed the family violence to the bank. In response to Tina’s disclosure the bank placed Tina on an unaffordable payment plan to pay off the loan.

Before she contacted us for support, Tina had moved out of the refuge and into a rental supplied by the refuge.

She only thought she needed to speak to our lawyers about getting a divorce. Through our trauma informed intake process, we were able to recognise that Tina was also experiencing economic abuse. As a result, one of our specialist family violence financial counsellors started working with Tina.

Receiving support from a financial counsellor

Our financial counsellor immediately took action. She asked the bank to waive the debts and requested compensation from the broker company that set up the loan. Both requests were denied.

This did not stop our financial counsellor, who lodged a formal complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) clearly showing how both the broker and bank had missed the clear signs of family violence.

Tina’s loan was put on hold. But while the investigation was happening, the bank took money out of Tina’s account to pay for the loan.

Leaving family violence is incredibly costly. Due to an injury at work, Tina was only receiving a small income, and she was living paycheque to paycheque. Tina’s rent was due on the same day the bank took the payment from her account.

When Tina saw the money had been taken from her account she panicked and called our financial counsellor straight away. Our financial counsellor sprung into action and immediately contacted the bank. She was able to organise for the bank to return the money on the same day, which meant Tina could pay her rent. With our financial counsellor on hand to advocate to the bank on Tina’s behalf, Tina felt safe and supported during a deeply stressful moment.

A successful complaint

After looking into Tina’s case, the complaints authority confirmed the broker who had organised the loan was at fault and their company had to repay the loan. Tina was refunded the payments made on the loan and compensated for the emotional toll the ordeal had taken. Her credit report was amended. This has a huge impact on financial recovery as a negative credit report impacts the ability to set up things like a new phone plan and utilities such as gas and electricity.

Tina described the support she received as “life changing” and wants to share her story to show other people that there is help to recover from family violence. 

*Identifying details have been removed or changed.