Financial Infidelity: How do I catch my spouse?
How do I catch financial infidelity?
1. Ask for online access to credit and bank accounts.
Download full statements for a representative period of time. We suggest at least six months. If online access is not available, get statements from the mail. Make copies for yourself, preferably electronic copies by scanning.
2. Review transactions and note:
- large cash withdrawals and the location of ATM usage, you may be able to pinpoint the destination of the cash withdrawals if in close proximity to strip club as an example
- large debt or credit transactions
- Location of restaurant, bar and hotel expenses. Large restaurant or bar bills could indicate your spouse was not alone.
- Large retail store expenses, say Tiffany’s, might be indication of gifts being purchased for someone else or spending addiction. If you suspect a spending addiction look around the house for clothing with tags still on it either in bags or even hanging in the closet.
3. Get your credit report.
It is possible for your spouse to open credit cards on your credit without your knowledge or consent. Go to CreditKarma.com or www.annualcreditreport.com to get a free copy of your report and look for any accounts you are not familiar with. If you find more credit cards than you were previously aware of this could be indication of large balances and growing indebtedness.
4. Compare your family expenses to net incomes and estimate what you should have in savings.
This may be the quickest way to confirm there are large amounts of missing money or unnecessary indebtedness. If your family’s net income after taxes is $10,000 per month and your expenses are $7,000 per month there should be $36,000 of available savings in a given year. If there is no money in savings or investments, you have reason to be suspicious.
Can anyone help me?
If all of these steps fail to return the answers you seek consider hiring a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst at Wellspring Divorce Advisors to analyze the family financial picture and uncover financial infidelity. We will help ensure no stone is left unturned and tell you if there is something to worry about you can move on with peace of mind.
