Moving in together - joint account or not?

beadgirl87

Hi,
Me and my boyfriend are planning to move in together in a couple of months and are both saving for the rent deposit and furniture needed etc. We have been discussing how to sort out the finances and I am not sure what the best thing is to do.
We are both 25, have full time jobs, both have available overdrafts of about £1000 each, both in credit with bank. I also have a credit card, paid off every month, he has a bank loan which he is paying fine.

We will have the tenancy in our joint names, and the council tax. Will share all household bills and food spend, and keep the cars, petrol and entertainment separate.

Do we get all the utilities in joint names too?
Do we get a joint bank account to both pay into for the household bills to go out of?
Do I get an account in just my name and have him transfer money every month (and me too) to pay the bills?

I am aware of the issues of people breaking up and having issues with joint accounts, someone spending on the account, 1 person not paying the bills etc.
Now I am not planning on breaking up or anything going wrong, but I want to work out the best thing to do now, as you need to be prepared for whatever may happen. I am also thinking of our credit ratings as don't want to end up affecting each other negativly by accident.
It will be me doing most of the sorting out the bills and getting the right deals so I know I will want online access.
Any tips or advice? Am I completely overthinking this?
Thank you in advance.

grumbler

Was discussed briefly in this recent thread: Household bank account

liltdiddylilt

Hi

I think joint accounts have their uses - but whatever you do, do NOT direct your salary, or his, into this account.

You could open one, put the DD's from there (yes, in joint names is fine for the utilities) and each set up a standing order for your own share of the bills from your own account.

I had a joint account with my ex when we bought a house together. I never seemed to have any money & always felt like I had to ask him if I could spend. We broke up, and split the account down and started paying half towards all of the bills each for the final 6 months we had to live together... All of a sudden I had a spare £600 a month. I'd been paying his car loan, petrol, insurance, and for all of the food, without even knowing!

Lesson learnt!!! Good luck in your new home & hope your relationship goes much better than mine did!

~Lily

beadgirl87

Thank you,
I have checked out the other thread, it is interesting.
thank you to liltdiddylilt for your advice - we will keep our incomes separate and just share the house costs for the time being.
Maybe we will get hold of our credit reports and if we both seem ok then get it joint, but if one is us is really good or really bad, keep it in 1 name to have less effect on the other one.

trailingspouse

Re utilities, it's worth bearing in mind that a utility bill in your own name is often required as proof of residence, so it's worth having some in your name and some in his name.

anamenottaken

trailingspouse wrote: »

Re utilities, it's worth bearing in mind that a utility bill in your own name is often required as proof of residence, so it's worth having some in your name and some in his name.

Joint names - double the ID evidence????

Monsternextdoor

I'm married and we don't have joint accounts.