Today, Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-7) and Sen. Smith (MN) have introduced a bill that will allow the U.S. for the first time to gather data on economic abuse occurring within banks and other financial institutions.
The bill would create a working group to:
- study and report on economic abuse happening within banks and other financial institutions and
- provide recommendations for how financial institutions can better support and protect their survivor customers.
This new source of data will help us better understand economic abuse and how to keep survivors’ finances safe.
“74% of survivors – approximately 48.8 million people in the U.S. – lack access to a secure bank account, with 58% reporting that a harm-doer has accessed, monitored, withdrawn from, or otherwise controlled their bank account,” said Sonya Passi, Founder and CEO of FreeFrom. “Without safe access to their own finances, the path to long-term safety remains difficult and dangerous for survivors. We commend Rep. Velázquez and Sen. Smith for spearheading this effort to address economic abuse occurring within banks and other financial institutions. This legislation has the potential to support millions of survivors and their families across the U.S. in building and protecting the assets they need to heal, rebuild, and thrive.”
We’re so grateful for Rep. Velázquez and Sen. Smith’s leadership in introducing this landmark bill and championing survivors’ financial security in Congress.
What is Economic Abuse?
Economic abuse occurs when a harm-doer controls, regulates, monitors, or depletes a survivor’s financial resources. Some examples include stealing a survivor’s personal property, hiding money or financial information, or controlling access to bank accounts.