Joint a/c's -good or bad idea?

Bothered!

Exceeding the overdraft.....Yesterday I said the the OH "please don't use your debit card today as it might get declined " this is how the conversation went from there....

He's like.."why"
I'm like... "cos"
He's like..."whats happen'd"
I'm like... "overspent!" :eek:
He's like..."how"
I'm like..."thats life"
He's like..."I need cash" :mad:
I'm like..."what for?"
He's like..."cos"
I'm like..."tough luck"
He's like..."sort it out"
I'm like..."trying to!"
He's like..."got any cash?"
I'm like..."NO!" :mad:
He's like..."yes you have!"
I'm like..."No I haven't"
He's like..."going to the pub" :beer:
I'm like..."Whatever!!"
He's like..."see ya later"
I'm like... yeah right....."Not bothered!!" cos I have another a/c thats not joint!! :rotfl:

So is having a joint a/c a good or bad thing...any views ?

**purpleprincess**

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Bothered!

glad it made someone laugh ...

kathfisch

Ooh, good question! It depends on how well you can coordinate and trust each other not to overspend!

I think a joint account for bills with each person's weekly or mothly "allowance" (if your budget works like that) going into their own account is good. Then you can each see how much of "your" money is left and won't suddenly find the other person has spent what is "yours", or the other way round!

I think a joint account is very good for helping partners to be open about their financial situation to each other, so many on here are struggling needlessly with debt and don't feel able to tell their partner because their finances are separate and they don't talk about it.

Its gotta be whatever suits you though

nearlyrich

Good for joint finances a nightmare if there is no communication and joint financial planning. We use a JA for household bills and just pay in the amount in the budget dictates each per month, neither of us takes money out because all the bills are on DD or SO, we have just done the yearly update as we have the council tax bill and water rates bills to hand.

All other money is separate and spent or saved as desired by the owner.

oops_a_daisy

good question. I had a joint account with my ex for bills etc that we both paid a set amount into and set up DD's for bills to go out. Worked great till he went into debt and then did a runner. Who was left to pay up ??? ME :mad: because I didnt want a 'bad mark' against my name. I would be very wary about doing it again but I still think it is a good idea for joint bills.

Broken_hearted

I wouldn't have a joint account as my partner is so bad with money.

System

Me and MrJudi have been married 21 years, all but 2 of those years we have had seperate bank accounts. We only had joint bank accounts for the 2 years as he was working away and i was stuck at home with the kids and he needed me to check his wages had been paid in every week and to do the shopping without him being there.

It was about the worst thing we could have done, he slagged me off for buying makeup - i retaliated by slagging him off for smoking. When i bought something new and he moaned, i just used to say 'well i dont drink, i dont smoke, - shall we call it fag money eh'? It used to get up his goat no end, and the fact he is smoking the family wealth away bugged me whilst i was expected to go without. I know he was working hard for his money, but i was too - being stuck at home on my own with 5 kids was no joy either!

Now he gives me a generous shopping allowance, he gives me generous amount to pay for the running of house and i also have the family allowance and tax credit which gets spent on the kids.

Yeah, give me seperate accounts every time!

Heth_2

For us having a joint account has been great. We opened it just after we got married a year ago and we pool all our money, without keeping separate allowances. The main reason being we have been saving as much as possible to buy our first house. Any big purchases we want to make we discuss together first, neither of us smoke or really spend a lot more than the other on leisure activities (well I suppose I spend a bit more but we discuss whether we can afford by swimming membership etc...). I guess in a way I no longer have the financial independence to go out and buy something I like, but on the other hand this has enabled us to pay off our overdrafts, save a deposit and we are due to complete next week.

penniestopounds_3

I would only have joint account if my partner's credit rating was as high as my own.
I understand that a good credit rating can go down if finances are combined with someone who has a poor rating.
Having seperate acccounts also means the only person to get that account into trouble is you,so you can't blame anyone else.

Bothered!

Lots of fors and against then !

We have had joint a/c for years..joint mortgage and bills etc

Only his wages go in as my earnings go through my business a/c

Problem is since I gave up work 10 years ago to look after the boys we keep running up to the overdraft then I have to transfer money in from c/c to meet mortgage... joint a/c pays for Loan/Utilities/food /petrol etc and a bit for him! but my earnings are not always regular and so I do not pay into it.

From my business profits which is mainly a labour charge (my time) I pay for all boys sports and clubs and the car insurances/tax for both cars (just paid these this month so I am now overdrawn in this a/c too) also have to find the minimum c/card payments each month and then there's little left for me.