Economic abuse
The women in battered womens’
shelters and in transitional housing are usually forced to escape from their
home and from an abusive husband without any assistance or means, and it is
difficult for them to manage properly from a financial perspective, to overcome
the economic abuse they experienced and to open a new page in their lives.
During the course of a year, approximately 750 women are in battered womens’
shelters or transitional housing.
Among the characteristics of the
economic abuse experienced by these women are: taking the woman’s money,
managing the woman by giving her a limited cash allowance each month, creating
an atmosphere of constant threat and a feeling of economic crisis, transferring
joint assets by the spouse without the knowledge of the woman, or preventing
the woman from going to work.
Recognizing the need to provide
assistance to this population, the banking system decided to respond to contacts
it received, from the Banking Supervision Department at the Bank of Israel and
from various social organizations, and to establish a voluntary banking charter
to ease the struggle of battered women currently in shelters or transitional
housing. The goal is to assist those women to set out on a new and independent economic
path.
To date the charter has provided
a solution for hundreds of women. Among the main issues for which it provided a
solution are freezing a mortgage with one side’s signature, requests to exit a
joint account, removing an owner from an account, opening a new account, debt
restructuring, and clarifying foreclosures, cancelling queries and credit
cards.
Principles of the charter
·
Appointing a contact person
at each bank with appropriate training for providing a creative and rapid
response to problems that arise, regardless of the location of the shelters and
the location of the branches in which the womens’ accounts are managed.
·
Rapid economic handling
that assists in preventing the violent husband from economically harming the
abused woman.
·
Freezing the joint account
and opening a new account for the abused woman.
·
Debt redistribution
agreement between the woman and the violent husband.
·
Suspending Execution Office
proceedings and suspending interest on arrears for a period of a year and a
half.
·
Accompaniment and financial
education to understand the alternatives the abused woman has.
Banking availability for battered women