Advice on Managing Husband's Debt

fossil

My husband and I are separated but working on getting back together. We have 2 small children. He works full time earning a fair salary and I do some tutoring from home. He is about 6K in debt and has a 2K overdraft, and I need to know how to work things so that things get paid off and the debt doesn't happen again. He has said he is happy for me to take control of things.

My idea was to have a joint account where all our earnings land first. From here, we would direct debit or standing order money to pay bills and go into other accounts such as food shopping, clothes and shoes, holidays..... Possibly these would be joint accounts, but with only one card, which I would look after. Then we would each transfer an amount of money to our own personal account for day to day expenses. I think this last bit worries me a bit. I am very careful with money and this includes the small expenses - I would make sandwiches rather than buy them, take my own bottle of water rather than buy something etc. He is not, and I am afraid that he would take advantage. If he went into the red on his personal account, would they treat it as an overdraft, or start bouncing cheques? Are there any other ways to stop him going overdrawn?

I would like to know any other tactics people might have used in similar circumstances. Also, I wonder what to do about his current overdraft. I would rather consolidate it into a debt and deal with it, rather than just leave it hanging.

Many thanks in advance.

Lydia

madmoney_2

Hi There and first of all welcome to the board!!
Regarding the joint account, as things seem to be unstable between you and your partner i would advise against it, as if you do have a joint account you are then financially linked to your partner on your credit report and they could come after you should he not have learnt his lesson!!
With my other half i know it may sound harsh but I have his bank card, and all the bills come out of my account so I control the finances without actually being linked to him!!!
Regarding the debt why not pop up your soa (see southernscousers sticky for first time posters at the top of the board for this), then we will be able to help more!
Hope this helps!!

tallyhoh

You have my sympathy as I have a partner who's VERY bad with money. It was either I took over or he had to leave type bad.

We have tried it two different ways, both worked but the first one was when I worked & had enough of my own money to see us through the month: We both have seperate accounts, I dont believe in joint accounts.

1) I paid for everything for the 1st month & kept a strict record of expenses (even down to a tin of beans). At the end of the month we divided the cost 50/50. Anything left in our accounts was our own. Big expenses had to be discussed beforehand.

2) I dont work now so I worked out how much monthly expenses were and he gives me that much the day he gets paid. If there are any extras I pay & he pays me back end of the month.

OH only has a basic account so he cant go overdrawn and as he gives me the money as soon as he's paid theres no silly squabbles over housekeeping.
I still keep a record each month of where the money goes so that he can see how much stuff costs.

Good Luck, let us know how you get on.