Domestic Abuse- SAR?

Our BSA Department recently received an internal Unusual Activity Report from one of our Tellers. The Teller indicated that she suspected Domestic Abuse by our customer to their spouse, based on the wife's commentary. She stated that she was afraid her spouse would kill her.

When there is suspected Elder Abuse, the Bank has contacted the Elder Abuse Hotline. However, in the case of Domestic Abuse, should the Bank contact the Domestic Abuse Hotline?

Thank you.

Banks oftentimes report financial exploitation of the elderly because they have direct evidence to that effect. Yours is a different situation - there is nothing in your records that suggest this is happening and there is no federal agency that would have jurisdiction under any circumstance.

Here's a resource that might be helpful to you, but I encourage your employee to handle it as if it was told to her personally, not as an employee of your bank.

Correct, we do not have any financial evidence that this is true. However, the husband requested that an alert be placed on the account stating that any large debits must be approved by both individuals.

Thank you for input Ken!

Be careful how you respond to that "alert." If the H & W own the account equally, you can't limit her access based on his say-so. She'd have the right to sue you (not that I imagine she would).

adding to John's point, define "large". Because MsGilmore and I have significantly differing views of what is large when it comes to financial matters.

Having been a social worker in my former life with domestic violence as my "specialty" (I know - it was a little bit of a career change), I can tell you that the hotline doesn't want to hear from you. They want to hear from the "victim". The best thing that your teller could do would be to look up the # to a local shelter or give her the # to the national domestic violence hotline and give it to her - the next time SHE IS ALONE. Otherwise, it's waaay too dangerous and could do more harm than good. She should simply say "I'm concerned for your safety" and let it be. PM if you want more info. Good luck.

I will tell you - that teller deserves one heckuva pat on the back. Those dynamics are often very difficult to pick up on and "icky" to deal with - people would rather not talk about it - you might give her an atta-boy if you haven't already.

^ I think you just heard from our resident expert...

I agree with John. You can't honor this request. If your agreement with your customer states that a single signature is required for withdrawal (and I'd be willing to bet that it does), the husband cannot unilaterally change the terms of use of the account without the wife's consent. She has as much right to access/use/withdraw their jointly owned funds as he does.