Her ex racked up $7,000 of credit card debt, crumbling her finances. Now, a new law could require abusers to pay.

Four years into her second marriage, she didn't ask questions when her husband asked her to sign on to a credit card in her name. But then the relationship turned abusive, she said. When she left her marriage, she found herself in financial distress, with her credit score tanking hundreds of points after her former husband used the credit card and didn't make payments. 

"I never used the card that was issued," Juliette, who asked CBS News not to use her full name for personal safety reasons, said. 

But she now had close to $7,000 of debt in her name and no clear way to remove herself from their shared account. The bank wanted the couple to meet in person to dissolve the account, Juliette said, but she had an order of protection against her former husband and didn't want to be in the same room. 

"There was an issue of safety," she said, adding she couldn't believe or understand how the bank didn't have a system in place to assist survivors of domestic abuse. 

She said she fled her former husband's home with her two children to live in a roach-filled apartment in the Bronx. She had no choice, she said, after her credit score fell from around 800 to 460. No other landlord would rent to her. 

Juliette has a story similar to thousands of domestic violence survivors — but states are beginning to enact legislation that could help them and other survivors of economic abuse. 

Legislation in New York, which was signed into law last year and goes into effect on Wednesday, will make it the eighth state to allow relief from coerced debt for survivors of domestic violence, elder abuse and human trafficking. 

Proponents of the law say that relief can be life changing. Opponents say the law can be ripe for abuse. New York's law was amended after pushback from financial institutions, narrowing the scope of relief. A spokesperson for the American Financial Services Association said the amendment closed the loopholes: "A remedy built for legitimate survivors can't double as a roadmap for cheats."

Half of domestic violence survivors are coerced into relatively small debts of up to $20,000, according to the Center for Survivor Agency and Justice, but the impact reverberates across their life. 

"The rippling effects of coerced debt are quite vast," CSAJ Executive Director Erika Sussman told CBS News. Over the two decades that her organization has been advocating for economic rights for survivors, she has seen debt serve as a barrier to housing, employment, or transportation to work — all things needed for physical safety. 

"It adds up and compounds over time," said Sussman. 

When money is tight, abuse can start

Like so many other survivors of economic abuse, Juliette brushed aside her growing concerns about her husband's gambling problems. Instead, she focused on studying for her nursing degree and raising her teen son and college-age daughter in a brand new country. Widowed in Jamaica, she had followed her second husband to the United States six years after they started dating, eager for a new life. 

He would routinely place bets of $4,000, Juliette said, but his salary mostly covered his gambling. Then his debts started to outpace his earnings — and violence began, she said. 

"Money got tight, and that is when the abuse really started," Juliette said. 

One night, while she was studying for a nursing exam, the couple got into a fight. She said that after her then-husband broke a chair and threatened her, she called the cops and decided to leave. 

A police officer gave her the phone number for Her Justice, a New York-based nonprofit that represents victims of violence, and advised her to call if she needed help. Juliette worked with a lawyer there who helped her file for divorce in 2018. 

"I'd make arrangements to leave. And that's where it started," she said, recounting the difficulties she faced once she was on her own. 

The couple had property in common and an outstanding credit card. She and her attorney said her former husband didn't pay the credit card bills.

Notices of late statements and bills started to arrive, and Juliette said she had no way of really knowing what was happening. "I could not see the transactions, not get prompts on his late payments or get statements with the late payments," she said.

Juliette said she was embarrassed to turn to her parents in Jamaica for help. 

For some, a clear economic path forward

After more than five years of litigation, Juliette and her former husband finalized their divorce in 2023 — and he was deemed responsible for the credit card debt. 

Her lawyer said they had tried to negotiate with the bank several times. The bank didn't have any reasonable systems to remove Juliette from the card, her lawyer said, which they hope the new law can address.

"The bank can and should go after the person who's rightfully responsible. So we've seen this a lot in the divorce. But what's new here is now, instead of doing it through the divorce, there's this other remedy that involves the banks directly," said Susanna Saul, director of legal services for Her Justice. 

The New York coerced debt law won't help Juliette because it will only apply to debt incurred for survivors after the effective date, June 17, but her hope is that sharing her story will raise awareness for others.

Beyond New York, states like California, Texas, and Illinois have enacted similar measures, granting victims a mechanism to contest liabilities directly with banks. This shift allows survivors to bypass traditional court litigation, such as lengthy divorce proceedings, and seek relief by engaging with creditors.

"This is a critical issue and given the absence of protection at the federal level, states have really taken up the charge to protect survivors," Sussman said.

New York-based survivors will now be able to challenge their debt directly with creditors. If they succeed, the creditor can go after the responsible party. 

"So, the debt is not erased, but the survivor's liability is discharged," said Rachel Braunstein, policy director for Her Justice.

After getting a Notice of Coerced Debt, the creditor must review the account, mark the debt "disputed" on credit reports and keep the survivor's contact info confidential. If the bank accepts the notice, the creditor must stop collecting from the survivor. 

Experts do share some concern about how banks will manage the requests. The survivors, however, can sue the creditor and also the alleged abuser if they fail to follow the law.  

Juliette has now graduated from nursing school. Her daughter graduated from college. Her son joined the military. And slowly, her credit is inching its way back up. Last she checked, she said, it was hovering in the 600s. 

"I'm still able to do a lot of things to date, but the report still has it sitting there," she said.