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Financial and domestic abuse

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Financial and domestic abuse

What is financial and domestic abuse?

What could financial abuse look like?

How can we help

Tech abuse & browsing history

Additional support

What is financial and domestic abuse?

Financial abuse is a common but often overlooked form of domestic abuse, alongside verbal or physical attacks. It can happen in many types of relationships — including with partners, family members, friends or carers — and could affect you or someone you know.

What could financial abuse look like?

There are lots of different ways someone can take control of your money, making it hard to spot financial abuse. Here are some questions which might help identify if you or someone you know, needs support.

Have your partner, family member, carer or friend:

Stopped you from having access to your bank account(s) or insisted their name be added to your accounts?
Stopped you from keeping an eye on your spending and finances?
Forced you to give up your credit and/or debit card(s)?
Made you account for every single penny you spend or stopped you spending on essentials?
Forced you to take out credit agreements for products that they then use?

How we can help

If you’re concerned that someone else may have your card details, we can easily send you a new card and PIN in the post. Once sent you will not be able to use your existing card and will need to wait for your new one to arrive.

You can also change an existing PIN at any high street bank ATM with the VISA symbol. If you've forgotten your PIN, you can view this in the app or we can send you a reminder through the post, just call us on 0345 900 0900.

To ensure your accounts are secure, you may feel you need to change your passwords for telephone, online or mobile banking. You can do this by following these steps:

Telephone banking: You can call us on 0345 900 0900 to update your telephone security number
Online Banking & M&S Bank app: To change any of your online usernames or passwords, visit our forgotten details page

It’s important to remember that you should never share your PIN or passwords with anyone.

We understand that, at times, it might be difficult for you to receive post at your home address. If this is the case, there are a few things we can do to help:

You can opt for online statements by signing into your online banking and amending your statement delivery preferences.
You can also change your address so that your post goes to a trusted friend or family’s home instead. You’ll need to sign into your online banking and amend your details to do this, or you can simply give us a call on 0345 900 0900.

It’s important that we hold your residential address so please update us when you can start to receive post to your home address once more.

You can arrange for a trusted third-party to look after your accounts for you if you’re struggling to manage them yourself – this can be a temporary measure. Read more about what a third party account holder can do.

If you have an M&S Credit Card, you should check if you’re the primary or secondary cardholder - this is because the primary cardholder is responsible for the repayment of all money spent across both cards. If for any reason you’re in dispute with the secondary cardholder, we’d recommend that you remove the second card as soon as possible. To add or remove a secondary cardholder please contact us on 0345 900 0900.

Any lending that is in your name will need to be repaid. If you’re having difficulties, or would like to discuss this further, please contact us on 0800 313 4966 to talk about what we can do to help. You’ll find more information on our financial management pages.

If you think you’ve been a victim of fraud, or you think that someone has taken out credit in your name, please let us know as soon as possible. If you have an M&S Bank card you can call us on 0345 900 0900.

You should also notify any other credit card providers straight away. You can find more information on our Security and Fraud advice pages.

You can get copies of your credit file from the following credit reference agencies:

You may want to think about getting a notice of dissociation from the credit reference agencies as this will help to separate you from any joint financial arrangements. You can also register with Cifas, a fraud prevention organisation who will be able to alert you if any credit applications are made in your name.

You could obtain a ‘Notice of Correction’, a short statement which you can use to add further information to an entry on your credit report. For example, you could use it to explain why you fell behind with the repayments on a loan or credit agreement. Any lender checking your credit report will see your statement and should take it into account when assessing your creditworthiness.

If you’re struggling to manage your accounts, there are different ways in which we can help:

Third party access

Our assisting others page provide details on third party access options which can be applied.

Emergency contact

If you’re an M&S Bank customer, you can also provide us with an Emergency Contact. For more information, visit our unexpected change page

Tech Abuse & Browsing History

Someone may use your phone, laptop, tablet etc to try to control, harass, or intimidate you – this is called ‘tech abuse’.

They may try to:

Check what you have viewed online
Look for any changes you make to your security settings
Discover any support you’re receiving

The charity Refuge explains how to secure your tech even if you share devices or accounts with someone else.

If you’re concerned someone is monitoring what you do online, you can remove your browsing history.

M&S Bank Chat history will be visible in the M&S Bank app and Online Banking for 13 months and cannot be deleted. You might also want to turn off M&S Bank app notifications via the notification settings on your device. This will stop you from receiving notifications when you use Chat.

Google Chrome

On the top right hand side, select 'More' (the 3 dots under the close window button), then 'History' and 'History' again
Once the new window has opened, select the items you wish to remove by ticking the boxes on the left hand side
Click 'Delete' in the top right hand corner, once the remove selected items box pops up select 'Remove'

Internet Explorer

On the top right hand side, select 'More' (the 3 dots under the close window button), then 'History'
Once the new window has opened, click on the three dots in the right hand corner and select 'Clear Browsing History'
Choose the time range that you would like to remove and select 'Clear Now'

Safari

Go to 'Settings', choose 'Safari'
Then, tap 'Clear History and Website Data'

Firefox

Select 'Menu', choose 'Library' then select 'History'
Select 'Clear recent history' and select from the dropdown menu next to 'Time range to clear' how much of the history you would like to erase
Select 'Ok' to delete your browsing data

Yahoo

Sign into Yahoo then click the box in the upper-right corner of the Yahoo! search page.
Click Settings and select Search history on the far-left menu.
Click the trash icon next to each item you want to delete or select Clear history to erase your entire search history.

Opera

From the History page, tap the three-dot menu.
Tap Clear History.
In the double-check prompt, tap Clear.

Edge

Click the 3 dots in the top right on the page and click settings
Select ‘Privacy, Search and Services’
Under ‘Delete browsing data’ click ‘Choose what to clear’
Select a time range, what you’d like to delete and click clear now.

Incognito (Private mode)

Whilst this mode is used, the browser will not store the search history, cookies or temporary files

Exit button

Websites that offer domestic abuse support often have an 'Exit' button, which allows you to quickly exit the website. Familiarise yourself with where it's located on each website.

Contact us

If you’re facing financial and/or domestic abuse, we’re here to support you and help you regain control of your finances.

Can't call us? Let us call you

If you’re unable to call us, let us know when it’s safe to contact you by completing our contact form and we’ll arrange for our specialist team to call you back.

Give us a call

If you're able to, call us on 0345 900 0900 and one of our colleagues will talk you through ways in which we could help.

Chat with us

You can Chat with us 24/7. Use the phrase ‘Connect with Care’ and Chat directly with our specialist team.

Important: Chat history will be visible for 13 months and cannot be deleted. You can also turn off M&S Bank app notifications via the notification settings on your device. This will stop you receiving a notification when you use Chat.

Accessible ways to contact us

Explore how to contact us via SignVideo and Relay UK.

Complete our contact form and we’ll call you

When completing the form we’ll ask you to choose a date and time when you feel it’s safe to talk. Our specialist team will then call you from an unknown number and support you in the best way we can.

If you’re in immediate danger, please call 999. For non emergencies call 101.

Contact form This link will open in new window

If you'd prefer not to speak to us directly about your finances, there are other organisations that are good at listening or giving advice. Take a look at additional financial and domestic abuse support.

Additional support

We’re supporting the domestic abuse charity Hestia’s UK SAYS NO MORE campaign. Their aim is to increase the availability of specialist support and Safe Spaces for victims of domestic abuse.

Their Safe Space scheme allows anyone experiencing domestic abuse to access a space where they can reach out to friends, family, contact specialist support services, phone a helpline and start the journey to recovery.

Find your nearest Safe Space.

National Domestic Abuse HelplineOperated by Refuge www.refuge.org.uk
Call: 0808 2000 247
24-hour helpline

Living Without Abusewww.lwa.org.uk
Call: 0808 802 0028
Monday to Saturday 08:00–20:00

Women’s Aidwww.womensaid.org.uk
helpline@womensaid.org.uk
Instant messaging service 10am – 12pm via website

The Men’s Advice Linewww.mensadviceline.org.uk
Call: 0808 801 0327
Monday to Friday 10:00–13:00 and 14:00–17:00

ManKind Initiativewww.mankind.org.uk
Call: 01823 334 244
Monday to Friday 10:00–16:00 and 19:00–21:00 (except Friday evenings)

Live Fear Free HelplineSupport for men, women and children in Wales with Welsh language provision.
www.livefearfree.gov.wales
Call: 0808 8010 800

Hourglasswearehourglass.org
Call: 0808 808 8141
Monday to Friday 09:00–17:00

UK SAYS NO MOREuksaysnomore.org/safespaces/
Safe space locations

Bright Sky is a free app that provides support and information to anyone who might be in an abusive relationship or is concerned about someone they know.

The Bright Sky app:

is available in 5 languages: English, Welsh, Urdu, Punjabi and Polish
has a UK-wide directory of specialist domestic abuse support services with contact details
has questionnaires to assess the safety of a relationship, plus a section on myths around domestic and sexual abuse
has a secure 'My Journal' tool to record incidents of abuse in text, audio, video or photo form without any of the content being saved on the device itself
has links to further resources and information on topics around domestic abuse

Only download the Bright Sky app if it's safe to do so and you're sure your phone isn't being monitored. If you're in an abusive relationship, we recommend you get a trusted friend or family member to download the app for you.

The Bright Sky app is available to download free on:

To download on the App Store, click here

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Android, Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC and this webpage is not endorsed by or affiliated with Google in any way.

Financial and domestic abuse

What is financial and domestic abuse?

What could financial abuse look like?

How we can help

Cards and PINs

Passwords

Post

Third Party access

Credit cards

Debts

Fraud

Credit file

Assisting with your money

Tech Abuse & Browsing History

How to delete your browser history

Contact us

Can't call us? Let us call you

Give us a call

Chat with us

Accessible ways to contact us

Complete our contact form and we’ll call you

Additional support

Safe Space

Financial and domestic abuse organisations

The Bright Sky app

Digital banking