Just married with no joint account.

duchy

justme1985 wrote: »

We don't have a joint account and when we got a cheque for both of us we tried to pay it into DH's account. I asked if it was ok and they said no (probably would have gotten away with it if I hadn't pointed it out!).

Luckily his parents have a joint account so they took the cheque and gave us the cash.

Sounds more like the bank were hoping you'd open another joint account and help them reach their weekly target of newly opened accounts.

I agree if you hadn't mentioned it it wouldn't have been an issue.

DigForVictory

Keep a maiden name account somewhere!
Relatives can be forgetful & asking them to rewrite a cheque can be ticklish. (Says she with a truly spectacular bookmark, using both my family diminutive and my maiden name, now laminated & produced as an ocasional reminder/warning.)

pollypenny

We've always had a joint account. It's made us sit down and budget together, otherwise I know one of us would have run up debts.

We decide on big expenditure together.

White-as-Snow

justme1985 wrote: »

We don't have a joint account and when we got a cheque for both of us we tried to pay it into DH's account. I asked if it was ok and they said no (probably would have gotten away with it if I hadn't pointed it out!).

Luckily his parents have a joint account so they took the cheque and gave us the cash.

Brilliant!

Tuesday_Tenor

duchy wrote: »

I agree if you hadn't mentioned it it wouldn't have been an issue.

It is an incredible weakness in the system that you can pay any cheque into any account. It's all done on account numbers, with only a minute fraction checked at random.

I once had an overseas friend staying here who was given a cheque in HIS very unusual Congalese name, in payment for a painting he had done while he was here. He then told me that he didn't have a bank account here, and asked me if he could sign the cheque over to me, and I give him the cash.

I rang my bank to check this. The customer support person said ' I shouldn't really tell you this, but there's no need for him to countersigned it over to you. Just put it in the paying-in envelope unchanged, and it will go through' !

I presume it will all be traceable should it be done fraudulently and the donor report to his/her bank that the intended recipient never received it. That rather assumes the intended recipient is aware of the expected cheque in the first place, though.

I was amazed to be able to pay into my account a cheque made out to somone completely different! In this case he got his cash, of course!

Percy1983

Interestingly our bank wouldn't let us pay into any or our individual accounts or our joint account as it still had her maiden name on.

Of course we got her name changed (was going to do it anyway) and then paid it into the joint account.

wendz86

We had to set up an account for this reason but we literally just paid in the cheques and then withdrew the money and keeping the account open for any other cheques we might receive.

Edwardia

Whe I was at uni, one of my lecturers had a friend come in as guest lecturer right at the start. He was an economics lecturer and he did a lecture and seminar on finance as a student.

One of the things he impressed upon us, was not to have a joint account.

Other person can look at balance, forget or conveniently forget that there are bills to be paid and go splurge on.

You might think that your marriage will last but the divorce rate is high. S/he could clean joint current and savings account out and run off to the Bahamas or er Blackpool.

And then there is the credit rating issue. While one poster says her partner shared, I lived next to a couple who could only get a mortgage on her salary and credit rating bc husband's debts were so bad. If she had linked her finances to his, she told me, they never would have gotten a mortgage.

My father's IFA told me not to get joint account bc husband had bad credit rating and debts. It's excellent now and almost all debts gone.

Supposing you have good job, solid work record, great credit score. You're married, struggling financially because of his debts and suddenly you need to find dosh for a new boiler in winter. If you have a joint a/c with him you're less likely to be able to get an overdraft or credit card.

So keeping finances separate can be a lifeline. Don't let rose-tinted specs blind you to the possibility that he could push you into more debt or leave with the savings. I'm not saying it happens all the time obvs.

But when economics lecturer, IFA and banker friends ALL told me don't have a joint account then I took notice.

In 21st century do women need to prove their love by handing over name and getting joint account ?

Percy1983

There is no right/wrong answer on joint accounts its down to the couple.

In our case it was just easier to setup a joint account for the mortgage/bills, I will say our wages don't go in but we both transfer in when we get paid while keeping money in our seperate accounts to spend as we please. By definition a put more in, but hey who cares its more impotant we both do work we enjoy rather than chasing higher wages all the time.

In our case we both know what is going in and out so both know where we are upto etc. As said just because it works for us doesn't mean its suitable for everybody.

tyllwyd

Would it be possible to set up a joint savings account maybe? (Just wondering, no advice, I have no idea if this would/wouldn't be a good plan.)