Alternative to a joint account?

moneyhelp2010

Hi,

Looking for some advice please....

I am getting married soon and my other half and I have been talking about how to manage our finances.

I do not have the best credit history, however I have worked hard and just finished paying off all my debt via a DMP through Payplan (woo hoo). My other half has an excellent credit history.

We spoke about a joint account, however I have looked into this and fear that my poor credit history could have a negative affect on my other half. Therefore I am looking for some advice from other people on an alternative to a joint account? How do other people in a similar situation manage?

Thank you

Kittendreich

We just have 2 separate bank accounts and pass money back and forth as required (like we did before we were married). We share all money - but all the direct debits etc come out of my account (despite the actual cost being shared) as I have the most regular wage (OH is self-employed) and then shopping etc is paid by whoever has cash at the time.

We both have bad credit histories, although mine is slightly better, so we just felt it was better to keep a bit of separation, particularily as he is self employed & doesn't have a monthly income as such.

balletshoes

we don't have a joint account either, the direct debits for the house bills etc come out of my account, and I pay for the groceries, petrol etc, and my OH gives me a certain amount each month for his share. That way, we then each have our "own" money too each month. If we're planning a family holiday, or an expensive home improvement etc, we add extra to the "house bills" pot each.

aless02

We do similar to Kitten. My DH had bad credit when we married, so we decided not to be financially linked in any way. However, we regular pass money between our accounts and it works out fairly well. He has a few bits coming out of his - his DMP and car insurance, and the rest of the bills come from my account. Basically once he DD come out, he then transfer his money over to me and we pull from that for the rest of the month. If he needs some money for petrol or something, I'll just do an instant transfer back into his account or give him my bank card to use. It's not really any trouble at all!

floss2

balletshoes wrote: »

we don't have a joint account either, the direct debits for the house bills etc come out of my account, and I pay for the groceries, petrol etc, and my OH gives me a certain amount each month for his share. That way, we then each have our "own" money too each month. If we're planning a family holiday, or an expensive home improvement etc, we add extra to the "house bills" pot each.

We used to do this before we got married last month even though we had lived together for 4 years, as I had a CCJ on my credit record which was deleted about 18m ago. We now have a joint account for bills & houseeeping, and as we had opened separate savings acounts with OH's bank, we went with them for thejoint account as they already knew us.

I would suggest checking your credit score & record regularly so you know if you have anything lurking that could cause a problem. Then you can plan for a time when all bad credit is history.

chou-chou

Could you have a joint savings account only and keep seperate current accounts - not sure whether that would impact credit ratings though.

That's what we do and it's to transfer money between the two using Internet banking. I just put the cash from mine into the joint savings and then he logs in and picks it up - it's instant!

zzzLazyDaisy

You could do as the above poster suggests and each have your own account and another separate account for bills that you both pay into. If you are concerned about your finances being linked (and from what you say, that might be a concern) is there any reason why the third 'joint bills' account can't be in your OH's sole name, with you both paying into it? It would still serve the purpose and the only difference is that you would not be able to write cheques on the account or withdraw money, but if everything was on direct debit, that wouldn't matter.

ailuro2

We do everything on our joint account it keeps it all simple and transparent and we can see what each other is spending, but there's nothing stopping you having a "notional" account where you keep a weekly tally of what's being spent, what's coming off each account in the forthcoming week etc, so you can learn to manage finances jointly.

Then when you're both in a position to see what's going on and make joint decisions about it, but of course, just like a joint account, nothing is really stopping either person spending badly if they really want to.;)

notechno

Does being married really not affect a person with good credit if their OH has a bad credit rating? I was under the impression that it would, no matter how much you kept separate bank accounts etc

balletshoes

It will if you have any joint finances (ie joint mortgage, both names on a tenancy agreement, joint bank accounts etc). If you have none of those things, then no, one partners credit rating will usually have no effect on the other.

elle_gee

I have good credit; OH has bad credit (DMP, CCJ and charging order.. :cool:). We have a current account each and I have another current account into which we pay an amount each (different amounts because he earns more than twice what I do) and most of the bills / direct debits come out of there. Either I or we go food shopping and I use the card to pay, or a day before he's going food shopping (rarely!) I transfer money back to his account so he can use his card.

We still pay our own car insurance and mobile bills from our own accounts, and he pays the DMP and mortgage (his house before we met) and I pay the home improvement loans (kitchen and loan from my parents).