Can I put my name on my sons utilities Bills ?

LorrieJ

Hi
Could any of you good people answer the above. My son is moving into his 1bed flat and I have offered to help out with his Utility Bills Gas/Electric as well as Broadband ( Pay them for 6 months ) until he’s back on his feet after all his moving expenses- furniture,rent deposits etc etc etc !
Can I set a DD in my name with who ever he decides to go with ?

Thank you in advance
Lorrie

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I expect you can but would it not be better for all the bills to be in your son's name and you just have a standing order to his account.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Stuff in your name might be difficult to cancel or swap when you subsidy expires.[/FONT]

matelodave

I agree with Tom - put them in your sons name and let him pay and you re-imburse him if that's what you want to do.

Taking over his account might give you problems in the future and make it easy for him to avoid paying his way.

It's not until he realises actually how much it costs and that he's got to put the money aside that he'll learn to sort out his finances.

It will also concentrate his mind on learning how to be energy efficient, being responsible and how to prioritise what's essential and whats not.

I dont know how good he is, but if you are paying his leccy/gas bills he may feel that a £30-£40/month contract for a mobile phone, plus broadband, plus SKY etc is more important that the utilities.

Robisere

I think LorrieJ knows the son and how he handles money better than we do here, but I do agree with the Standing Order idea. It is a regular payment that you can end at your own time of choosing, and cannot be changed without your express permission through your own account.

It's quite easy to do, especially via internet banking. Through the years, I have set up a few S.O.'s for family members. I pay my rent via S.O., despite the efforts of my social landlord to persuade me to change to a D.D.

AndyPK

so much easier for them to be in his name, if you only intend to pay short term.

Maybe you would like it in your name, do you can switch tariff/supplier every year for him?