Hidden Costs and Lasting Shame of Financial Abuse

The Debt That Saved My Life

It hits harder this time of year.

For insurance purposes, this is photoshopped. Photo by author: Veronica Wren

I’ve always been responsible with my money. I have a job that pays decently, although (like many in our inflated economy) I should definitely be making more for what I do. I regularly check my credit score. I don’t eat out much, nor do I spend frivolously on non-essentials.

So why can’t I seem to get a foothold on the debt I’ve been slowly sinking into for the past 3 years?

Financial Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence

Financial abuse occurs in 98% of abusive relationships and is the number one reason victims stay in or return to abusive relationships. — PCADV

To the outside observer, it may seem like I haven’t been as financially savvy as I could have been the past several years. I understand how it may look that way. After all, in the middle of a pandemic, I picked up and moved across the country alone, without a job lined up.

But that adventure is far from the whole story.

I hope it might soften the knee-jerk disdain society wants you to feel toward those deemed financially irresponsible when you learn that for many years now, nearly every resource…