Starling Bank has launched a ‘hide references’ feature which it says will allow customers to hide potentially hurtful payment references.

It has been designed to help survivors of economic abuse by muting unwelcome or abusive references which can accompany bank transfers.

The bank, which claims the feature is the first of its kind in the UK for faster payments, said that ‘hide references’ has been developed in partnership with the charity Surviving Economic Abuse.

The feature is available in Starling’s personal GBP current account. Users can hide references from past or future payments made from a certain account via the app. The feature will not prevent money from being transferred and the reference block can be reversed at any time.

Payment references are usually used to describe the nature of a payment such as ‘Rent’ or ‘Dinner’. However, abusers can use this as a last resort of communication when all other methods of communication have been blocked by sending multiple payments of small amounts with accompanying messages in the payment reference. The references accompanying these payments may contain insults or threats to harm the recipient.

In a press release, Starling cited an example of a customer who had separated from her abusive partner who had refused to pay child maintenance. After a court battle, the customer started to receive the payments in small instalments with payment references to past occasions of physical and verbal abuse. The customer, identified as Rebecca, said “the messages were a way for him to maintain that power and control over me, showing me that even though I had left him, I would never be free from his harassment.”

Commenting on the launch, Charity Wood, head of customer experience at Starling Bank, said: “Anyone can experience economic abuse; they might not realise that it’s happening to them or how their bank can support. This feature shows just how powerful technology can be in making people’s lives easier, and is testament to Starling’s belief in doing the right thing.”

Lauren Garrett, financial services manager at Surviving Economic Abuse added that “this small in-app feature will make a huge difference to survivors’ ability to bank safely, and we’re proud to work alongside financial services who are listening to the voices of victim-survivors and encourage firms to continue closing down gaps in products and services which are being used to inadvertently facilitate abuse.”

This launch follows the news that Starling Bank’s founder Anne Boden will step aside as chief executive of the company to focus on her position as shareholder and ensuring that the bank sticks to its values. She will remain on the board as a non-executive director.

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