marriage and bank account questions

tricklesthegreek

Hello.
I have just got married and my maiden name vangalis is still on my bank account. We have been given cheques addressed to Mr and Mrs Stobbs - can my husband pay these into his bank account that is just Mr Stobbs? My surname is actually going to be Vangalis Stobbs - so would this mean cheques have to be addressed in this name or can I still have cheques written to me as Vangalis or Stobbs?
We do not intend to hold a joint bank account as I am a discharged bankrupt and I do not wish to pull his credit rating down - the only other way around I can think of is can we open a joint savings account in both our names or would this still create a financial link and therefore affect his financial status?

rachelonna

He can cash the cheque if it says Mr and Mrs on it

Also, I would suggest you do not open any joint anything, including adding him as an additional cardholder in order to keep his credit record clean

I am pretty sure that the bank would still cash cheques written Vangalis only even if your name was Vangalis Stobbs, but that's because most banks don't pay much attention to what name is on the cheque!

I would recommend that he cashes all the cheques that you have received. There usually isn't cheques with only Mrs Vangalis on it, so you should be fine. If for whatever reason someone did that, I would still get him to cash it, and if that doesn't work, change your name to Vangalis Stobbs asap and then cash it in. I think you'll be fine

j2011

He can cash the cheque if it says Mr and Mrs on it

Since when?

My wife and I had to specifically open a joint account to pay in a cheque made out to Mr and Mrs J

madgagoo

rachelonna wrote: »

He can cash the cheque if it says Mr and Mrs on it

Wrong! If it's written out in joint names then it has to go into a joint account. There is no way around that.

I would go to your (or another) bank and take the normal proofs of ID plus marriage certificate and open a joint savings account (make sure you confirm with the bank that it will not involve a credit check) to pay them into.

I would leave the account open once they've cleared, just in case you get any joint cheques in the future.

Technically any cheques payable to Vangalis won't be allowed to go into an account under the name of Vangalis-Stobbs, however if you take the marriage certificate with you when you go to pay them in then you should be ok.

MoneySaverLog

A joint savings account is not a credit product so is not credit checked so no financial link as opposed to a bank account which is credit checked.