Coerced debt: From hidden harm to urgent action

Coerced Debt Back on the Agenda

Coerced debt is rightly back on the policy agenda, but there’s a lot to do to put right the wrongs that victim-survivors continue to experience. It’s up to all of us who work with consumers to try to spot the warning signs and prevent coerced debt, as well as to help those who find themselves manipulated into incurring debt unwillingly or unknowingly.

The Government’s Financial Inclusion Strategy has taken initial steps to address the impaired credit files many victim-survivors are left with as a result of coerced debts. This will bring us closer to a place in which victim-survivors are put back into the position they would have been in if the abuse hadn’t occurred.

The Scale and Reality of Coerced Debt

Both the credit industry and the debt advice sector have worked hard in recent years on this thorny issue, bringing to light the shocking extent to which coerced debt occurs, and seeking out practical ways to help those affected by it. Among StepChange clients, around one in eight have experienced coerced debt in some form. YouGov research undertaken in November 2025 based on 569 adults who had experienced coerced debt found that among those who have been subjected to coercion, more than half were put in this position through emotional abuse such as blackmail or manipulation, and another quarter through actual or threatened physical abuse.

A phenomenon that was for a long time largely unseen by those not directly affected by it, coerced debt is now a recognised form of coercive control, and is a form of abuse that can face criminal sanctions. However, in practical terms this is still difficult to achieve.

Barriers to Reporting and Accessing Help

It’s also notable that coerced debt is still massively under-reported by victim-survivors. The YouGov research found that nearly nine in ten people who had experienced coerced debt had suffered negative financial impacts, such as going without essentials, turning to further borrowing, or falling behind on repayments. Yet only three in ten had sought help. For nearly half of those who didn’t, the reason was shame or embarrassment, while many simply didn’t know that help was available, or didn’t think they would be eligible for it.

What More Needs to Be Done

These are the areas, then, where we can and must all do better. For those at the front end of lending decisions, using all the tools at your disposal to spot when a credit application seems “off”, as well as being particularly careful on credit card lending (the most common type of coerced borrowing) need to go alongside offering confidentiality, support and restitution where possible when coerced debt is identified.

For us in debt advice, this means ensuring that our services fully support the complex and sensitive needs of clients experiencing economic abuse. At StepChange we are working on new services to do exactly this, and we look forward to updating you more fully on these over the coming months.

Join us for Credit Week 2026!