Best value for 1st joint account (no preference)

swiftlx

Hi All,

I'm soon to be moving in with my student girlfriend, and we are looking to open a joint account.

Our plan is to take the total cost of food, rent, bills etc. and halve it, pay this amount each into a central account so all dd's come out of one account.

Is this a good idea?

any better suggestions/advice?

and what is the best bank/building society account to go for?

I am currently with Halifax, and she is with Natwest.

Thank you.

Chris

bristol_pilot

It is not a good idea to open a joint account with your girlfriend, or indeed any other person.

Doing so creates a "financial association". If one of you gets a bad credit rating, it will affect the other person's credit rating for years to come. If there is an overdraft facility on the account, you are both liable for the full amount of the overdraft even if it was entirely run up by the other person. Any goods bought from the joint account belong to the person who did the shopping, even if the money was put in partly or entirely by the other person. If you split up you will find it very difficult to get the account closed.

Keep the finances separate and pay half of each bill each, take it in turns or keep track of who is contributing what in a notebook or whatever. Anything but a joint account.

debbie42

I've had a joint account with my husband for 20 years or so and it's worked ok for us. I'd have found the previous approach a tad tedious regarding splitting bills over that time .

I'm not saying it was necessarily that sensible, by the way, but it's worked out rather well for us!

bristol_pilot

debbie42, it's not so bad if you're married (because you are somewhat financially linked then anyway!) but a young person opening a joint account with a girlfriend/boyfriend/housemate/friend goes wrong so often I thought the OP ought to be advised about it.

swiftlx

Thank you both for your help.

contrasting views... how about if one of us were to setup a separate account in their own name and then we can both transfer the 1/2 each into that?

what would the advantage of a joint account be over this way?

ta Chris

meme_3

At the end of the day, this is all about trust!

Joint finances work in long term, stable relationships, but they can turn very sour, and it is easy for someone to be left picking up the pieces from someone else's mistakes.

Only you can decide if your trust is justified.

Otherwise, pay cash for everything (this is not at all practical by the way).

Bokkens

The answer you are looking for is the Alliance and Leicester premier account.
Lots of useful benefits.
You can manage it online,
They pay you to join £50 each if you have seperate accounts, do it this way you can always use just the one once you've got your £100.
Don't have the switching service.
Have the credit card each as it is a excellent MULE card for moving money from a credit card into another bank account.
Don't be stuck with just one account keep the other accounts you have open and use those for paying the bills.Have a account for each purpose and don't pay any charges or interest to the bank move you money where it will earn you interest throughout the month,this is easier if you are online.