Joint account without creating financial association

roofusb

Hi,

My fiancee and I are looking to set up a joint account for shared expenses (mortgage/rent, food, eating out, etc), but we'd like to avoid creating a financial association between us as her credit rating is worse than mine.

Is there an easy way to do this, i.e. set up a joint account without creating a financial link - will a basic account do the job? Or perhaps there is a savings account which gives a debit card and allows standing orders and direct debits to be set up?

Thanks for any advice,

R

JohalaReewi

You MIGHT get away with just a basic account with no overdraft or credit facilities.

You don't say how much worse her credit history is but if yours is top notch and hers isn't, you should really ask yourself WHY you are even thinking of doing this? You will have a lot of problems if a link is created (been there, got the Tshirt) also, you will be liable for any debts on the joint account should your GF not be able to manage that.

Mark_In_Hampshire

I think the financial association is created when you apply and the credit check is performed, so if that's true (can anyone else advise?) then it doesn't matter what type of account you apply for, what matters is whether a credit check is done - which I'd have thought would be true for any account.

JohalaReewi

Mark_In_Hampshire wrote: »

I think the financial association is created when you apply and the credit check is performed,

This is true. Financial associations can be created just by a credit check. Has happened to me many times. You can get them removed but it is a pain.

so if that's true (can anyone else advise?) then it doesn't matter what type of account you apply for, what matters is whether a credit check is done - which I'd have thought would be true for any account.

If they were just applying for a basic account (no overdraft facility) or a savings product, there shouldn't be a credit check, just an identity check which shouldn't create a link. YMMV

roofusb

Thanks for the responses so far.

My credit rating is excellent, whilst hers is only 'good' - she has one missed payment within the past year, and has changed address a few times over the past couple of years, and has a limited number of accounts (although barring the single missed payment they're all fine).

Neither of us has any wish to create a financial link until we absolutely have to (i.e. buy a house together), but we'd like a convenient way to deal with shared expenditure. Is there any way to find out in advance whether a financial link will be created for a particular account? Ordinarily I'd just ask the bank, but past experience doesn't give me much faith that their answer would be remotely accurate.

Alternatively, are there any other simple ways to manage joint expenditure other than a shared current account?

Thanks,

R

spikey123

I just thought this and thought i'd throw in what i had heard. I asked about this when me and my boyfriend set up a joint account when moving in together. We went for a basic HSBC bank account and they told us neither one of our credit ratings would affect the other.