Joint bank account

BNT

I agree with everyone who says that what works for you is the right way, regardless of what other people do. Just be open to change over time. What works now, might not work at a later stage. Opening and closing bank bank accounts and moving direct debits, etc. is pretty straightforward these days, so change is easy to effect.

mark5

I think people find if hard to accept when people have different ideas to themselves.

Why buy a car on pcp when it's cheaper to pay cash?
Why go on holidays in peak period it's cheaper to go outside school holidays?
Why shop in Tesco when Aldi is cheaper?
Why pay into a pension, when they never pay out?
Why do you support a football team 200 miles from where you live?

Above are a few of the comments I constantly get from people at work who have different ideas to myself. They have valid points but so do I for my choices, if it works for you and your partner it's fine!

zcrat41

I think that method is fine until you have kids. Then as a woman it can feel demeaning to be given money rather than have free access to it.

seven-day-weekend

BNT wrote: »

We have a couple of joint accounts and a few individual accounts. We set it up that way in order to make sue of the best interest rates and for tax planning purposes. We shift money between them as required. We are married, so there is no sense of 'my money' and 'her money'; it is 'our money', but happens to be in different accounts.

Same as us.

boliston

zcrat41 wrote: »

I think that method is fine until you have kids. Then as a woman it can feel demeaning to be given money rather than have free access to it.

Surely if you are spending money that you have not earnt then you are being "given" it regardless of where it comes from.

Top_Girl

We don't have joint accounts. In fact, Top Bloke moved in with me and my son and all the bills are still in my name, he gives me half when he gets paid.

I have a savings account in my son's name, one in mine and a credit card that are solely mine and my business.

I don't know why you would have completely joint financial affairs tbh. I'm a saver and I like to know where every penny goes. He's much more laid back about it all. As long as we're both paying our own way, that's our individual concern. If I am ever short, I'd ask him for help without question, and he'd ask me.

Pixie5740

april87 wrote: »

Hi Gabriel, we don't have a joint account either. My OH and I have a similar sort of system as yourselves. We trust each other, he knows all my passwords etc but it just has never occurred to us to get a joint bank account. We did find that when family gave us cheques as wedding gifts, that most of them were addressed to Mr & Mrs X, we had to say that we didn't have a joint account, and most of them were shocked. Like you I do think it is a generation thing.

A bit off topic but I used to work in a bank's internet banking department. On a daily basis we dealt with distraught customers who trusted their loved ones with passwords only to one day discover that the loved one had cleared their accounts. (Not just couples but quite often children who'd offered to set up internet banking for elderly parents). Now since the customer had breached the T&C by giving out the passwords in the first place the bank didn't have to do anything.

Two cases stick in my mind years later. One woman who trusted her partner with her internet banking details discovered that one day her partner of X years had emptied all her savings into his own account and then rocked up to the branch and withdrawn the lot in cash the very same day. We're talking a lot of money but as far as the bank was concerned her login details had been used so she had authorised it.

Another gentleman was upset to find out his son who he trusted to set up his internet banking was shocked when his son transferred £20k out of his savings account to buy himself a new car. Again, as far as the bank was concerned he authorised it.

iris

My husband died recently and I am so glad we had a joint account. All direct debits have continued as normal and I have been able to take over the account in my sole name.

ani*fan

This is really interesting. I had no idea there were so many different ways to organise yourselves financially as a couple.

Me and OH have separate accounts for our wages to be paid into. We then shift half the bill money each into our joint account. Everything gets paid from there, rent, gas, electricity, council tax, except our mobile bills and our individual credit cards which we pay from our own accounts.

We earn a similar amount so take the same amount of disposable income every month and decide together on what to do with the rest, paying down debt, saving for house, wedding etc. It all belongs to us both.

seven-day-weekend

I have several joint accounts with my husband for everyday expenses and we have individual ones for savings and personal spending. Income from all sources goes into one of the joint accounts and then is decanted out into savings and spending accounts.