Women blame sexually transmitted debt for their financial woes

RADIO host Mel Greig is one of many Australian women who have been financially duped by their partners.

EXCLUSIVE

FINANCIALLY stressed women are blaming men for leaving them wallowing in tens of thousands of dollars of debt they are unable to pay back.

Sexually transmitted debts (otherwise known as STDs) are causing many Australians blinded by love to be left battling fiscal and emotional heartache and women are more likely to be hit than men.

In debt collection agency Fox Symes’s new 2017 Customer Debt Report it compiled Galaxy research from 200 people whose debts landed with the firm — they collectively owed $11 million or on average $55,000 each.

Many couples often end up fighting over finances which can result in people splitting up.

It found the key drivers included former or current partners getting them into financial strife (31 per cent), credit card problems (36 per cent) or loss of employment (33 per cent).

It revealed women (39 per cent) were more likely than men (22 per cent) to blame a partner for getting them into debt.

In September, breakfast radio announcer Mel Greig, revealed she was duped by a man she was dating, salesman James Yates, after she said she “stupidly” allowed him to stay at her home after the first date and then handed him money.

“It can be rare to see a man be vulnerable and emotional in the first few weeks of meeting them,” Greig said.

“So if they open up to you asking for help you are more inclined to trust their story and like most females ‘we care and want to fix people’, which then leaves you open to be taken advantage of. “

Radio personality Mel Greig was duped by a man who convinced her to lend him money.

Yates claimed he didn’t have access to his bank account so Greig loaned him $1000.

Five days later he failed to return to her home or return the money he borrowed.

Fox Symes’s director Deborah Southon said when relationships breakdown it’s often the women who is left financially worse off.

“What can happen is when a woman is in a relationship with a man and they break up, then the man walks out and he really doesn’t have to pay anything except child support,’’ she said.

“Sometimes we see customers coming to us and they are owed $10,000 or $20,000 worth of child support and when you raising children to go from dual income to single income especially if you are living in a city like Sydney or Melbourne it puts a great deal of financial stress or strain upon you.”

Financial experts say couples should talk openly and honestly about their finances.

ASIC’s Moneysmart’s senior executive leader Laura Higgins said it’s critical couples “establish early money habits together.”

Latest Australian Financial Security Authority statistics have revealed in the 2016-17 financial year about 38,900 Australians were financially insolvent and of these 43 per cent were women.

AMP financial planner Dianne Charman urges all couples to be honest from the start and they face problems “if you don’t share common goals and have middle ground.”

A woman named Maria, 30, from Queensland, revealed the financial damage an her ex-fiance caused her — he was regularly unemployed and left her with more than $16,000 in debts in her name mainly on a credit card.

Her message to other women is to “take responsibility.”

“If it doesn’t feel right don’t do it,’’ she said.

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LOVE AND MONEY TIPS

1. Talk to your partner about money.

2. Take financial action together.

3. Understand how to share your money.

4. Take care of yourself.