Joint accounts - do you use one?

Psykicpup

Yes we do but I wish we didnt!
I had no credit rating to the point that our bank wouldnt let me have a card for our joint account but I am the one who has cleared all our debts & mine but he has been in the habit of ignoring final demands & things meaning my credit rating is being held down my him!

Morglin

We had seperate accounts when we met and married, and kept them (just couldn't be bothered to change them).

But, we share all the finances, have full access to each other's accounts, and know what is in both accounts as we do online banking.

Bills are paid from both, depending on who has what on the day they are due.

Lin

seven-day-weekend

We have been married for 35 years.

We have always had joint accounts. Anything that comes into them is ours, and any billls we have to pay are also ours, regardless of which one of us actually put most money in, or which one of us has generated the expense.

We do have separate accounts for savings, but simply because it is more a more effiicient use of money.

Neither of us would dream of spending more than about fifty pounds on 'sundries' from any of the accounts, including our solo savings accounts, without consulting the other.

Redbedhead

Currently we have the following:

Joint current account
Joint savings account
Joint credit card

We each then have our own current, savings and credit cards.

My (now) H moved in with me into a house I already owned, so all bills came out in my name. We couldn't see the point in changing this as we always planned on being a house together (2 years after we first decided this we are finally looking :rolleyes: ) and then we agreed we would look at the finances and decide whether we would keep things the way they are or change them to fully joint.

Gut feelings currently are that we won't go fully joint as we both like having some of 'our own' money that we can spend as we choose, whether that be on pressies for the other half, toiletries (me!) or techy bits (H!).

So we may change from our current system of receiving money in to our single accounts and paying an amount in to the joint account, to receiving everything in the joint account and paying ourselves 'spending money' into our single accounts.

We do however both know what the others financial situation is, i.e. if one is short one month or what the other has saved.

ailuro2

When my dh (then bf) moved into my flat he paid for half of all the bills except the mortgage, I used to keep all the food receipts,fuel bills etc. and we'd go through them every so often to make sure he wasn't paying too much/paying too little.

This worked fine, but after dd announced her impending arrival we moved,got a joint mortgage and bank account and have shared everything since.We have separate ISAs but that's about all...

One thing I feel is worth mentioning, my s-i-l recently got refused a contract phone because she had no credit rating as all their accounts were joint but dh's name was first on them all, she had an old credit card in only her name so had to start using it to build up a rating.:rolleyes:

Timmne

I can't believe the split on this! Very interesting....

To those that pay bits into a joint account for the bills and keep the rest for yourselves, don't you feel like one of you it getting a better deal all the time? What about things like emergency car repairs? Do you split them too or does one of you offer to pay it?

Although my GF and I share all our money in one pot, there can still be secrets (such as presents) as we both use credit cards which are paid off automatically from the joint account.

chergar

We have one joint account - thats it. Everything goes in and everything goes out. I do not go out to work, I am a sahm but I have full access to whatever is in the bank.

We are sensible in we know how much is left over after direct debits/payments etc and know we have £x of throwaway/luxury money and then discuss the 'big' purchases. We also know that gifts etc shouldn't cost more than £x as it is the thought that counts but again these 'gifts' come from our luxury/throwaway money.

forumfan_2

We have always had seperate accounts, we have been together 18 years and it has never been a problem. I think that if you are honest, fair and not extravagant this works perfectly well.

Certain things come out of each account (mortgage from one and bills from the other) but it means that we both have a rough idea what money is available from the account.

During this time our salaries have fluctuated with either one of us earning more than the other so we just use the account with the most money in it at the time for going out, holidays, etc

victory

We have 1 joint account that pays all the bills and 2 seperate individual ones that the money in is ours to spend as we please, that way things like going out for dinner, xmas, birthdays etc can be paid for by the OP and it feels more special:D

DustDevil

Hi,

Me and H2B have seperate current accounts into which our wages go. We then pay a similar percentage of our wages into current account to cover mortgage, food and all other joint bills.

We also have a joint credit card which is paid off in full each month from the joint account. Anything left in own account (not much at mo as saving for honeymoon etc.) is our own to spend on whatever we want!

No kids and both have full time jobs but expect this would change if we have kids. Works great for us!