online account for purpose of paying bills in shared accommodation - advice please!

poi-boi

this is my first post so hi everyone!

i'm looking for some advice regarding online current accounts please (i think).

the reason being that i'm moving into a house with some friends and our plan is to pay all the bills from a single online account, with the funds coming from each of our personal accounts once a month by standing order.

thus saving all the i owe you this but you owe me that but you used my milk etc. malarkey (been done t-shirt...).

so was wondering if anyone had done this before and what type of account to use, or if possible a recommendation of a specific account.

any feedback will be much appreciated, cheers peeps.

techno_geek

Lloyds TSB current account offers online features, along with internet access etc... thats what I'm using next year.
All my housemates (5 of them) are added as joint account holders, and that is working well!

poi-boi

hey thanks for replying, so can you have that account as well as an existing current account? also i'm not too bothered about having it as a joint account as i'd rather be the one in control lol, just an account that it is easy to get and is easy to access online, only needs so's going in dd's going out.

thanks again i'm gonna check out the lloyds tsb one!

bristol_pilot

Opening a joint current account with some housemates is pretty foolish. Firstly, you have created a financial association with each other so if one of you gets a bad credit rating it may affect the others. Secondly, all the money in the account is legally considered to belong to each account holder regardless of who paid it in so one housemate could draw out all the money and spend it and there is nothing the others could do. Thirdly, all joint account holders are jointly and severally liable for all debts on the account, so your housemates could run up a £10k overdraft (or whatever max the bank will lend) and YOU are responsible for repaying it. Ultimately you could be declared bankrupt if you fail to do so, while your former housemate has disappeared from the planet.

If you are going to open an (online) account for this purpose, keep it in your name. It will probably be most convenient if you use the online service of whatever bank you have your main account with. Halifax allows you to open several online Websavers with differently named 'pots' e.g. car, bills etc - this could be suitable for your needs.

jamiesun

You'd better to vote a treasurer.... who will open a sole account to sort out your bills....
Opening a joint account is not recommended. If someone of you have financial problem, that might affect others' credit who hold the joint account with him.

bristol_pilot

jamiesun wrote: »

You'd better to vote a treasurer.... who will open a sole account to sort out your bills....
Opening a joint account is not recommended. If someone of you have financial problem, that might affect others' credit who hold the joint account with him.

Yes, good idea. Just had another thought - if you pay Council Tax (via the Treasurer), the Treasurer should be the same person who is named on the Council Tax bill - otherwise, if the Treasurer runs off with the cash the council has no option but to chase the person named on the bill. Whether the Treasurer has collected the money from the other housemates then run off with it will not be taken into account at all. Oh the joys of house sharing!

jamiesun

bristol_pilot wrote: »

Yes, good idea. Just had another thought - if you pay Council Tax (via the Treasurer), the Treasurer should be the same person who is named on the Council Tax bill - otherwise, if the Treasurer runs off with the cash the council has no option but to chase the person named on the bill. Whether the Treasurer has collected the money from the other housemates then run off with it will not be taken into account at all. Oh the joys of house sharing!

Or they can invite a priest nearby to be their treasurer....?:T

poi-boi

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

It was never my intention to set up a joint account as i wanted to be the treasurer, I wasn't sure if I could have two current accounts running alongside.

I spoke to my current provider NatWest and they agreed to set up another current account as well as my student account.

If anyone else is in a similar situation I'd say your best option would be to speak to your current provider first.