Opening a joint account prior to completion

lazer

Hi all,

I am just wondering if it wouild affect my mortgage at all if I opened a joint account with my fianc! tomorrow?

My mortgage has been approved, and I am due to complete next Friday. The house and mortgage are both solely mine (For now anyway, might look into changes after we get married in October)

I do not not want to do anything to jepordise the mortgage, but also I want the account opened asap, as we need it for paying wedding costs etc.

I could theoritically wait a week, but I live in a semi rural area and no banks are open on a saturday, however I am staying in the city this weekend so it would be very handy if we could open it tomorrow morning

Thanks

mrjam

In my opinion, for the sake of 1 week, leave it. It may make no difference whatsoever, however it seems far more sensible to me to wait those 7 days and 100% not jeapordise the mortgage, than to risk it.

lazer

mrjam wrote: »

In my opinion, for the sake of 1 week, leave it. It may make no difference whatsoever, however it seems far more sensible to me to wait those 7 days and 100% not jeapordise the mortgage, than to risk it.

Thanks, thats my initial thoughts to, but we've already put it off for ages, as I was initially due to complete before Christmas, (Offer was accepted in August!! and the house was empty so expected a quick completion) and the 7 days could turn into a month before we get a chance to open an account again.
I'm just very impatient and want to start getting the wedding organised properly!

JimmyTheWig

I agree with mrjam.

What's your finace's credit history like? Why is the house just going in your name?

The problem would be that by opening a joint account with him, your credit reports will become linked. If the mortgage company do a final check (which, I believe, that can do) they would see this and if they don't like what they see they can withdraw the mortgage offer.
This would mean that you couldn't complete on Friday. If you've already exchanged contracts to do so, that's going to put you in serious difficulties.

It might be that your finance's credit report is fine (even if you think it is, it's worth checking) and you have other reasons for him not going on the house / mortgage. In which case you should be fine. Though personally I'm not sure I'd risk it even then.

I believe that a savings account doesn't go on your credit report. Others might be able to confirm. Could you open a joint savings account?

lazer

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I agree with mrjam.

What's your finace's credit history like? Why is the house just going in your name?

The problem would be that by opening a joint account with him, your credit reports will become linked. If the mortgage company do a final check (which, I believe, that can do) they would see this and if they don't like what they see they can withdraw the mortgage offer.
This would mean that you couldn't complete on Friday. If you've already exchanged contracts to do so, that's going to put you in serious difficulties.

It might be that your finance's credit report is fine (even if you think it is, it's worth checking) and you have other reasons for him not going on the house / mortgage. In which case you should be fine. Though personally I'm not sure I'd risk it even then.

I believe that a savings account doesn't go on your credit report. Others might be able to confirm. Could you open a joint savings account?

Simply - the house is going in mine name because it is my house - we weren't engaged when the offer was accepted on the house, and he already has a house, so at this point we're not even sure where we will be living after the wedding, I will be living in the house before the wedding.
I had been looking for a house for about a year before hand, I moved home for what I thought would be a short temporary period and am still there over a year later!
His credit rating is fine, recently checked it and its clean but its also very limited, just mobile phone and car loan really.

Can anyone confirm about the savings accounts - as this would be a great solution?

KingElvis

It's best NOT to apply for anything that involves a credit serach between exchange and completion.

JimmyTheWig

Thanks for the update, lazer. Sorry I assumed he had credit problems!

Hopefully someone can confirm about the savings account. Or a call to your prefered bank might be best.

[And if your finance wants to build his credit history, I'd suggest he takes out an entry-level credit card and uses it for stuff he would otherwise buy each month (e.g. petrol) and pays it off in full every month. That way he won't be charged interest, but will build credit history.]

mrjam

lazer wrote: »

Thanks, thats my initial thoughts to, but we've already put it off for ages, as I was initially due to complete before Christmas, (Offer was accepted in August!! and the house was empty so expected a quick completion) and the 7 days could turn into a month before we get a chance to open an account again.
I'm just very impatient and want to start getting the wedding organised properly!

You're impatient, i get that. Do you want the house or not? Because quite frankly, if you're not willing to wait 7 days "just in case" then it doesnt seem like you're that bothered. This is a joint account afterall, i could even understand it if you were pining for a new sports car, or some amazing home entertainment system, but you're trying to justify risking your mortgage application on an account number and a debit card? :rotfl:Sorry, i might come across as insensitive, but it's a no brainer, although from your response it seems to me you're probably going to go ahead and do what you want (i.e open the account) anyway, so our answers are irrelevant. Either way, best of luck.

lazer

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Thanks for the update, lazer. Sorry I assumed he had credit problems!

Hopefully someone can confirm about the savings account. Or a call to your prefered bank might be best.

[And if your finance wants to build his credit history, I'd suggest he takes out an entry-level credit card and uses it for stuff he would otherwise buy each month (e.g. petrol) and pays it off in full every month. That way he won't be charged interest, but will build credit history.]

Thanks - he has done this recenlty and got the card just a few months ago and os building up his rating.
Hopefully one of us will have a nice reward card of some sort by October to pay the wedding on and get a lot of rewards back - thats the aim anyway! I have the mbna reward card at the min but the limit is not high enough to pay the hotel (around £8 - 10k - very scary!!)

lazer

mrjam wrote: »

You're impatient, i get that. Do you want the house or not? Because quite frankly, if you're not willing to wait 7 days "just in case" then it doesnt seem like you're that bothered. This is a joint account afterall, i could even understand it if you were pining for a new sports car, or some amazing home entertainment system, but you're trying to justify risking your mortgage application on an account number and a debit card? :rotfl:Sorry, i might come across as insensitive, but it's a no brainer, although from your response it seems to me you're probably going to go ahead and do what you want (i.e open the account) anyway, so our answers are irrelevant. Either way, best of luck.

That is why I am asking - I do not want to jeopordise the mortgage and of course I want the house!

There is more to this than just the joint account, although to be honest I think that a joint account for wedding funds is better to pine after than a sports car! It's the excitement of recently getting engaged and the first step in starting our lives together!

Also we are getting married in Ireland and the hotel will be paid for in Euro's, my parents are giving us a significant contribution towards the hotel, and we get this when the account is open to pay it to. We would then like to transfer it into a Euro account, when the rate is still good and it has got worse again today.
As i said above we would ideally like to pay it on credit card, but by changing the money now we are mitigating the risk, if the rate goes against us, we will pay in Euro's from the euro account, if the rate stays relatively similar, we will pay by credit (reap the rewards) and pay off with the money in the Euro account!

I will listen to what people tell me, and the advice seems to be to leave it, which is what i will probably do.