Mortgage advise re. Bank accounts

leereni

I am considering getting my partner to transfer all her banking to my account and setting it up as a joint account. This is because it will be easier to manage our finances and save more. I was wondering if anyone would advise against this? We are looking at buying in about 1 - 1 1/2 years. She has had her account for years and I wouldn't want to decrease her credit score .

getmore4less

What does she want?

creating joint financial when you don't have to is genraly not a good idea.


Why do you think you can't save more with seperate accounts.

leereni

Thanks for the reply.

We want to have a joint account so that we can stop each other spending money unnecessarily by monitoring each others finances. I think getting a large amount into one account will also be mentally encouraging when saving.

Also saw a financial advisor the other day about something else. Although it wasn't his professional advice, but he told me he and his now wife opened a joint account so that they could 'save a large wad' every month, which made it mentally satisfying and made it seem as if the goal of having a decent deposit wasn't too far away.

joedenise

If you really BOTH want to open a joint account then do it. You can always keep your individual accounts and just transfer a similar amount into them for personal spends.

But I would only say have the joint account if you both want it and not just because some financial adviser told you he and his wife did so.

Denise

leereni

We are not doing it because of what the financial advisor said. I was considering it before anyway in order to make it seem like we were both making inroads into saving for a deposit.

opinions4u

If you both have clean credit histories and the discipline to keep it that way, fine.

But make sure you each keep an account for yourselves and some "spending money" for a bit of freedom (and birthday pressies etc).

leereni

My girlfriend has an excellent credit history, we're as I've got an average one. No ccj's, bankruptcy or defaults. Was in some arrangements about 3-4 years ago and had some late payments then. But if we are applying for a mortgage anyway, then the joint account won't make a difference.

blueberrypie

leereni wrote: »

My girlfriend has an excellent credit history, we're as I've got an average one. No ccj's, bankruptcy or defaults. Was in some arrangements about 3-4 years ago and had some late payments then. But if we are applying for a mortgage anyway, then the joint account won't make a difference.

Your history will pull your girlfriend's credit rating down. You are correct that that will happen anyway once you get a mortgage together, but you could improve your own credit history in the next year or two and avoid affecting hers at all.

If you really want to have a joint account, make it a savings account. Each of you can have your salaries paid into your own current account. Together you can calculate what you each need to pay for necessary expenditures each month, and agree that the remainder will be transferred to the joint savings account. Any extra expenditure - needing money to be withdrawn from the savings account - can be jointly agreed.

getmore4less

if the goal is saving then cash ISA would be worth looking at.

Get one each and set a savings goal.

if you can't manage spending with seperate accounts what makes you think a joint account will fix the problem?

Do a joint budget and monitor the spends against that, where the money is makes no difference if you do it properly.

leereni

Ok agree on the savings account idea, only issue are he omits yo can save with them as we are looking at saving about 15000 over th next year.

What effect will my credit ratin have on hers over the next year if we are not going to apply for any financial products?

opinions4u

leereni wrote: »

My girlfriend has an excellent credit history, we're as I've got an average one. No ccj's, bankruptcy or defaults. Was in some arrangements about 3-4 years ago and had some late payments then. But if we are applying for a mortgage anyway, then the joint account won't make a difference.

While the mortgage will create a financial association anyway, my instinct isstill that you should avoid a joint current account.

Joint savings account - fine.