Has Your Partner Been Financially Cheating? Here’s How to Tell

Do you feel that your partner has become especially secretive about finances, and when you ask them, they become needlessly defensive? There are chances that this might be due to financial infidelity.

41% of spouses have admitted to causing financial deceptions in their relationship and 75% of them have said that it had a deeply negative impact on their relationship.

This study from the Oxford University Press just goes to show that financial infidelity is a real problem which is prevalent in a lot of marriages. However, if you know the signs, you can spot them early on and take the right steps to confront this issue and resolve it together.

We will be understanding financial infidelity in further detail, as well as talk about some of the tell-tale signs of your partner cheating on you financially to help you spot them and deal with them before it grows any further.

Key Takeaways

·        A deep understanding of financial infidelity

·        Understanding some basic signs of financial infidelity

What is Financial Infidelity?

Before understanding the signs, it is important to first understand what it means. Not telling your partner about any purchase that you made or lying to them about it to deceive them is known as financial infidelity.

For all those who think that they can get away with lying about small purchases, that is not the case. No matter the sum, lying or not disclosing them means you are financially cheating on them.

Anything from spending your money in secret to exceeding the mutually agreed upon spending limit and lying about your account balance comes into financial infidelity and has a negative impact on your marriage.

Signs of Financial Infidelity

1. Opening Up a Secret Credit Card

Discovering that your partner is doing things behind your back always hits you like a truck, and that is the case with opening secret lines of credit as well.

Not only does this affect your marriage but it has a negative impact on your financial stability as well. Your credit score is measured by your lines of credit and how often you return the funds on time, and multiple lines of credit can damage your credit score.

2.     Spending a Lot of Money Without Consulting with Your Partner

Even if you did not talk about a potential spending limit beforehand, it is an unspoken rule in marriages to always take your partner’s input before going for a big purchase.

Spending a lot of money on a big purchase before discussing it with your partner is one of the biggest reasons for financial infidelity because it causes conflict between the spouses.

Money is something that spouses trust their fellow spouses with, and if they find out that their partner does such a thing, they are immensely hurt and consider this as a major breach of trust.

3.     Lying About Their Expenses

A partner not being truthful and forthcoming about what they are spending is a major reason for causing stress in the relationship because of differing priorities when it comes to financial management.

For instance, if a partner believes in budgeting, saving up and leading a frugal lifestyle overall but their partner is a total spendthrift, this will create a rift between them because they would be incompatible with each other.

When this is the case, what partners usually do is omit certain purchases from their partner. This is why, if you notice a sudden dip in the account balance or a major purchase in the statements, your partner might be financially cheating on you.

4.     Partners Wanting More Control Over Finances

Trust is a cornerstone of every relationship, but that does not mean blindly trusting all house affairs handled by your partner.

It is important for you to monitor the family account if your spouse is managing the funds, or even if you both have mutually decided to keep both of your accounts separate.

This also prevents any sort of financial infidelity from occurring because you both are completely transparent with each other when it comes to finances.

It is preferred to mutually agree upon regular account checkup after a certain period, so that you are always aware of each other’s expenses.

5.     Pressuring You to Sign Documents Without You Reading Them

If dramas and movies have taught me anything, it's that pressuring someone to sign an agreement or contract without letting them go through it is definitely a red flag.

If your partner is needlessly pressuring you to sign any agreement or documentation, but is not letting you read it, there is a high chance that he might be financially cheating on you.

How EMUCoupon can help prevent financial infidelity

The best way to prevent your partner from financially cheating on you is to confront them and come up with a solution to this together. Confrontation in this context does not mean conducting hour long interrogation on where the money has gone or a heated discussion.

You should instead have a small talk with them on how they can save up and budget together, taking out the time to sit with them every once in a while and talking about how they can save up.

This is where a coupon website EMUCoupon comes in. Offering a vast selection of discount coupons and personal finance articles that can help you and your partner come up with an efficient solution where you both can save up, without having to hide your finances.

Final Words

Financial infidelity is a major problem for any relationship because it creates mistrust and conflict between partners.

However, if you spot the signs early on, you can take necessary precautions to prevent the situation from worsening and work through the problem together. Not only will this prevent financial infidelity in the future, but it will strengthen your bond as partners as well.