First joint account

kiss_me_now9

My OH and I are moving into our first (rented) flat together at the start of May, so we wanted to get a joint account set up for bills and rent to be taken out of.

Do we just chose a bank that has an account we want, go in and tell them we want to open it? Will they run checks? I'm still a student and as such I have a student account and am in my (free) OD, will this count against me?

When we have it set up is it best to have our wages paid into it and then the rent and bills taken from it or should we pay our wages into our own personal accounts and then pay the rent and bill money into the joint account so it's there to be taken at the end of the month? I can't quite figure out in my head how it's going to work, lol. I realise that's probably a personal preference question though.

happy_bunny_2

First Direct will credit check you both. Your OD should be ok as long as you don't have any late payment markers etc.

They are known as being one of the strictest, but also the best, we use them.

The last bit as you say is preference, but they might be more likely to give you an account if you both pay in your wages. You can change this after opening if you need to.

grumbler

kiss_me_now9 wrote: »

...wanted to get a joint account set up for bills and rent to be taken out of. ....

Why does it have to be a joint account? What a joint account can do that a dedicated single account cannot?
The only extra that it really does is creating a financial association between you that will link your credit files together. I hope both files are equally good or bad, so the link will not do any harm.