Account with two debit cards? (for shopping)

King_Mustard

What are the best solutions to get an account with two cards (one for my partner and I) if one of the two has a poor credit history?

I believe a standard joint account will not only affect one but both credit ratings as soon as you open a joint bank account, as together you will be ‘co-scored’.

Any ideas?

JuicyJesus

You could get a credit card with an additional card-holder, which would potentially not create a joint link. I say "potentially" as it's impossible to say for certain.

Realistically the only way to avoid any chance of your credit histories being linked is to have your finances be completely separate.

Socajam

I just did this to help someone and guess what this person ended up running the card up after promising me that they will not do so.
I am now waiting for them to repay me 4950 pounds.
So much for my generosity for helping them to rebuild their credit. I would never ever put myself in that situation, not for anyone - words mean nothing these days.

SnowTiger

King_Mustard wrote: »

What are the best solutions to get an account with two cards (one for my partner and I) if one of the two has a poor credit history?

I believe a standard joint account will not only affect one but both credit ratings as soon as you open a joint bank account, as together you will be ‘co-scored’.

Any ideas?

I have a joint Monzo account. It's not reported to any of the three CRAs.

Do you really need a joint account? With Internet and app banking it (usually) takes seconds to transfer money from one account to another.

Takmon

Socajam wrote: »

I just did this to help someone and guess what this person ended up running the card up after promising me that they will not do so.
I am now waiting for them to repay me 4950 pounds.
So much for my generosity for helping them to rebuild their credit. I would never ever put myself in that situation, not for anyone - words mean nothing these days.

Adding someone as an additional card holder on a credit card account doesn't appear on their credit report so will not help them rebuild their credit.

King_Mustard

We're not trying to rebuild credit.

At the moment, my main account has a sub-account (meaning there's no card) that I use for food money. I don't want to put the monthly food money in with my main account in case I run out (should never happen but if it ever did, I'd feel awful). The sub-account is a safety blanket.

Each month, my partner transfers money to me and I put it into the sub-account, along with my contribution.

If it was just one weekly shop, it'd be easy. I'd pay on my main account's card then recover the money from the sub-account into main account.

But often, my partner will be out and buy something mid-week and I have to transfer the money from my main account to them, then I recover that money from my sub-account to my main account. Or if I get anything, I need to pay out of the main account before transferring money between account to recover the loss from my main account.

It's just a pain, with all the transferring.

An account with two cards would be preferable, so we can both pay directly into it and withdraw throughout the week at random times.

I hope that makes sense.

colsten

You can only get two debit cards if you have a joint account, which will, at most banks, create a financial association between the account holders. App-only banks such as Monzo may not report to CRAs, so that might be an ideal solution for you, to replace your "sub account" (out of interest, which bank offers a sub account?).

tehone

A simple way around this is to get a Curve card (in your name), this allows you both to use the same debit card at the same time.

tehone

https://www.curve.app/en-gb/

There is a referral thread on here for a £5 bonus

King_Mustard

colsten wrote: »

You can only get two debit cards if you have a joint account, which will, at most banks, create a financial association between the account holders. App-only banks such as Monzo may not report to CRAs, so that might be an ideal solution for you, to replace your "sub account" (out of interest, which bank offers a sub account?).

My partner uses Monzo as her primary bank, so I guess that would create the link again? I perhaps have to find an alternative similar to Monzo?

tehone wrote: »

A simple way around this is to get a Curve card (in your name), this allows you both to use the same debit card at the same time.

We want a card each for when we pick up random bits of shopping each throughout the week.

colsten

King_Mustard wrote: »

My partner uses Monzo as her primary bank, so I guess that would create the link again? I perhaps have to find an alternative similar to Monzo?

No it shouldn't, as Monzo don't report to the CRAs. Not presently, anyway.

EDIT: scratch that. I have just checked my Credit Karma (previously Noddle) report. Both, Monzo and Starling are listed now. So that leaves you either with a financial association if it has to be a debit card, or with the credit card option.