What's the best way to administer shared bills?

erb

My daughter will be moving into a flat with a friend and they are wondering what is the best way to administer paying bills. They both have a student bank account but were thinking about setting up a joint account for them both to pay into and then pay bills from, such as direct debits for electricity, broadband, etc.

Is it worth it though and will they be able to have another bank account which will only receive small deposits as their student loans will go to their existing individual accounts.

How does anybody else do it?

Appreciate your comments:T.

milkybars

We used to share the bills out... I had gas, another had electric, another telephone and water. We were all responsible for that bill being paid ontime. And would let the others know how much they owed for it. I always paid what I owed by cheque to the person responsible, as I thought it might secure me against them saying I hadn't paid at any point in the future. They used to pay me in cash but one used to wait till I had proof of paying it by a receipt from the post office. However the other two used to balance their books with eachother every couple of months.

I guess with just the two of them, a joint account and direct debits might work. Although if it bounces due to one of them not paying into the account or it not being checked frequently, it may cause problems.

josephine82

Hi

I lived with a friend at uni and we had a joint bank account- which I arranged through the same bank i had my student account with- and we paid an amount in every month and set up all the direct debits to come out or pay the bills from that account. Both our names were on the bills.

It worked fine. we also put £10 each in a kitty at the start of the month for loo roll, washing up liquid etc so it wasn't always the same person buying that kind of thing!

Or, I guess, they could just put the cash aside each month and pay bills with cash....

mathsstudent

A joint account seems a bit OTT to me especially as if the friend isn't going to pay the bill then they're unlikely to pay into the joint account either.

I'm in a house with 3 other guys and all the bills come out of my account by direct debit and then I tell the others how much they owe me - all worked out fine so far. I know that our water company would let us put multiple accounts for the direct debit, although we chose not to, so it may be worth checking if that's possible with things like gas, electricity, etc. With online banking it's really easy to transfer money pretty much instantly, so if someone's not paying you can just stand in their room and annoy them until they transfer it!

Tip for gas & elec: when signing up, our suppliers asked us for 'estimated usage'. I had no idea, so just put down £10 a month for each. Turns out that was what they set our direct debit to. So we now have a huge gas & elec bill, but that's ok because we've got a few quid from the interest. So if you can budget properly, then don't bother paying off the bills in full, but put what you would have spent into a savings account.
(Our supplier asked us to increase our direct debit, but it's still only £14 elec and £16 gas, so still loads less than we're actually using.)

BruceyBonus

My advise is: DO NOT OPEN A JOINT BANK ACCOUNT
You will be linked financially for at least 6 years after the account is closed. That means that if one of you gets into debt problems, it will affect the other person's credit record.
Just have a search on the forum for all the stories of people who haven't been able to close their joint account when they've moved out.

Judith_W

As an ex student with difficult housemates, I would suggest getting a bill in each person's name but putting the money in a kitty on a regular basis so the money is there when need it.

Lokolo

Joint accounts are worst idea ever. If there are payments not paid due to someone not putting money into the account then everyone is effected.

I also wouldn't put 1 person incharge of the bill. I did that this year and its painful trying to get money out of people (but then again I have a bit of money), but they have all paid upto date now (woo).

Have 1 person on gas, 1 person on elec (or gas and elec together), 1 person on broadband, 1 person on water.

erb

I have thanked everybody for their useful advice. On balance it looks like making the pair of them responsible for paying certain bills each and then settling up the difference now and again will be the best approache especially as the girl she is sharing with is from Germany and will return there when they finish uni in a couple of years.

chika

We used to just pay one person for all the bills - the water bill was a joint thing and the gas an electricity we could all go online and pay our portion but someone was alway late, leading to late payment charges and moaning so now we have Glide.

Its not the cheapest but for the bonus of less moaning and stressing about who has paid what its perfect. They just took over all the bills and we pay them about £10 a week each. These payments go seperatly out of our bank accounts.

yummy_earwigs

A joint account sounds like a good idea if both people are reliable.

In my house, I'm responsible for the bills and make sure people pay me directly before I pay the bill - one person in particular just isn't reliable enough to pay a set amount every month. It seems easier (for us anyway) to have one person in control of it.

someone

yummy_earwigs wrote: »

A joint account sounds like a good idea if both people are reliable.

Even still, what if in 3 years time your ex flat mate is bankrupt? the old joint account will link you to them, and affect your credit.

Split the bills, between you, have a different persons name on each bill. If say 'John' does not pay his share of the gas bill his stuffed when his bill for say water comes.