Joint bank accounts or stick with individual ones?

pledgeX

If everything goes well on the house front I should be moving in with the gf into our first house within the next couple of months.

One thing we need to sort out when we move in is how to setup our bank accounts. Currently we have the following accounts:

Me:
1 x NatWest Credit Card account
1 x Natwest current account (main account)
1 x Natwest online saving account
1 x Nationwide current account (unused as they stopped the one reason I opened it - free cash withdrawals abroad)

Gf:
1 x Nationwide current account (main account)
1 x Natwest current account (unused)

I was wondering what the best way to setup our accounts would be. I thought perhaps getting a joint account which we both paid in X amount a month to cover all the bills and then we just use that and have personal savings in our individual accounts still? Or maybe use the unused accounts for this same purpose so we don't need to open a new account.

I can see pro's and con's for both sides, e.g. joint account means you're financially linked, but then if we use an individual account only one person will be able to access the money, only one card for individual accounts etc.

The gf and I are not married (probably will be within the next few years though). Obviously we would like to think all things will be great in the future, but if we were to split, we don't want it to be messy and have links and have one person having access to all the accounts etc.

How do you all arrange your finances?

Sharon87

I'd first do a credit check to make sure everything's ok on both your credit files. Then only you can decide if you trust each another enough to share a bank account.

If you don't use a joint account just use one of the accounts (or a new one) pay in a certain amount each month and get DDs set up for the bills. Set up online banking so you can both access it. There's no need to have a card for withdrawals if it's just for bills. This is what I do for my house share, money goes into my account, bills come out, no need to have a card for it.