Spliting Joint Costs

RandomUser923759

I do think some of the responses on this forum get far too personal, off topic and judgmental.

I have just caught up on some of the recent posts and I will put my comments here seen as you guys took the time to make a post - and I'd quite like to get it across that I am being reasonable here.

Personally I wholeheartedly disagree with 50/50 split. The example with the classic car restoration is perfect, but if it works for you then good - this isn't something I am looking to change - especially not until a child or mortgage comes into the mix.

I was asking for the two following things:

I get the crux of this post is two fold:

1. How do you feel about these larger companies caring so little about the customer.

Any comments on how you feel banks can innovate and improve customer experience.

2. How do you split costs on a card you share with a partner fairly and efficiently?

I have made my choice about how the split will be done for me and my partner - that is not up for negotiation - neither is the fact that all the costs will hit the one amex for maximum points.

I simply wondered if anyone had any ideas on a more automated way of doing it.


As for the comments like "that's not being a couple/family to me" - well I am sorry - but my opinion - as a 32 year old gay man - is that it is 2019. My partner and I have a lot of joint costs and a lot of individual costs and it simply wouldn't be fair to divide it equally or recharge on an average basis.

My job dictates a lot of my thinking on this area as I world as a Finance Systems Manager - so I am more than an able accountant but also very tech heavy in my role.

I of course have spreadsheets and pivots - I use bank aggregators etc. I was hoping for some like minded discussion.

My posts around 20.00 here and there in Tesco etc are by far a generalisation. A huge percentage of the time we split it quite blindly - but there will be the occasion when he or I go on a health kick and spend a fortune on fads. To me this is not fair to split.

We have a strong social life both separately and together so again the bars we frequent most are often split equally, unless there is a very obvious night that is a sole spender.

I like to get a lot advantage from my amazon prime and am quite into gadgets - it wouldn't be fair to split this either.

We both despise cash too as we waste the change - so this is not an option. Our amex bill is often 200 + transactions as we like to buy coffees, breakfast, lunch out and shop in the evening for food to cook.

Another merchant that is annoying to split is TFL charges as I tube it most days - but my OH likes to try and save money by cycling.

To me splitting down the middle is a very outdated way to be living - exception being when the mother or father is not working in the early months/first year of a baby's life. We are both at a point in our lives where we save more than enough towards our first deposit on a house but also balance it out by living a young lifestyle. When the day comes that we have more responsibilities and spending balances - then it might make more sense to 50/50 it.

Zero_Sum

It really sounds like you just need seperate accounts/ cards

sheramber

Zero_Sum wrote: »

It really sounds like you just need seperate accounts/ cards

They do but they want the advantage of one card charge to gain Amex points.

Maybe you and your partner should keep a daily log of your individual spending , add ip up at the end of the week and total if for the month . That way you wouldn't have to work out who spent what. It would be done by the person doing the spending.

RandomUser923759

This is what we do, but its cumbersome. Literally seeing if any bright sparks had an automated way to help.

northwalesd

mrchrisbrogan wrote: »

Literally seeing if any bright sparks had an automated way to help.

I think you'll have to accept that nobody does.

Rich1976

The way me and my husband do it is that we have a joint account that our salaries go into and all household direct debits and standing orders to our savings come out of.

We also have a credit card ( I am the primary holder and he is the additional card holder) and we use this for food, petrol and any other joint spends for the house

We also have another card for joint fun money such as a meal out, going for a coffee, cinema etc

Then we have our individual current accounts for our own personal fun money. These accounts are for each of us to spend as we wish.

This arrangement generally work for us

Flobberchops

mrchrisbrogan wrote: »

I had a really long chat with Amex online yesterday. I frustrates me highly with these massive companies that they do not listen to their customers.

Correct, they're massive. They have the task of creating systems complex enough to handle most of their userbase's needs but without becoming too unwieldy. You surely should have suspected, then, that they're not in the position to change their processes to suit individual customers.

My argument was that there would be zero extra benefit to us - spending would be static just easier split. As these big companies do - they did not listen.

They heard you, but were unwilling to entertain your special pleading that for X/Y/Z reason you should be exempt from their usual fees, because this useful thing you're proposing apparently has "zero extra benefit". Customer service operatives aren't thick; they can spot people angling for a free lunch.

Next I put forward an idea:

How about in the amex app they allow you to have a user named split toggle. Toggle left - card spends on category 1 (for me sole) toggle right - card spends on category 2 (joint costs on my card)

The agent really understood my idea and liked it - I asked if I could put it forward and get a reference to follow up on the idea - what a surprise - not possible.....

Because as potentially good as your idea is, 1) Amex almost certainly have no established process for accepting and evaluating ideas shouted from the peanut gallery, and they sure as hell aren't going to start just for you and 2) No, the customer service representative ISN'T going to give you implied patent rights on your suggestion.

1. How do you feel about these larger companies caring so little about the customer.

It makes me seriously wonder if you've ever worked in a role where you have to interact with the public, because you're coming at this from an angle of bizarre high expectations. If I go to a McDonalds I can ask them to make me a Big Mac with no pickles in it. This is a reasonable request for a company to make a small change to the standardised product. If I ask them to make me a pickle burger using all the pickles in the jar, and still only charge me £1.29 because I won't enjoy it any more than a normal burger and am receiving zero extra benefit, oh, and I want it in writing that it's all my idea and can I have the promise that the McDonald's CEO will write me an email telling me what he thinks of it... at that point they'd be offering to direct me to Burger King.

2. How do you split costs on a card you share with a partner fairly and efficiently?

By having two entirely separate accounts for sole spending and a joint account only for joint, household, or otherwise shared spending. Look, a perfectly good wheel already exists. Why reinvent it?

sheramber

AMEX were willing to do what you wanted but you had to pay for the priviledge.

Rich1976

Exactly. A Joint and individual accounts work for us. Anything on the joint account is split equally as this is for our house and petrol.

The individual accounts we each can do what we like with and the money that is transferred to these accounts is
with whatever is left after our house direct debits have been calculated at the start of each month.

There is no point making your joint and individual finances more complicated than they need to be

Both sit down and agree what is a joint spend that you are both responsible for paying and use one or more account for that. Then agree what you will be individually be responsible for 'personal pocket money' and each use an account completely independent of each other.

As long as you agree beforehand it should work. Communication is key in any relationship and working towards shared goals before spending any personal money also helps