Joint account maths question!

MIZZ12

Hi, am trying to wrap my head around this and would appreciate your input please!!
Myself and my husband have a joint account for household bills which we pay into in equal amounts each month.  If I make a purchase for myself, say for £30 and accidentally pay using the joint account, do I reimburse the joint account by the full £30, or do I just need to pay back £15 (on the basis that half of the money in the joint is mine and half is my husband's)?
Hopefully you would see what I am getting at !
Thanks so much in advance!

Brie

It would depend if the £30 was spent on what counts as a household bill (therefore 50% pay back) or something for yourself - whether that is a haircut, new clothes, lunch out with friends (100% back).

Different couples may have different ideas what counts as a household bill.    

enthusiasticsaver

If it is household purchase surely that is what the account is for so no reimbursement needed? If personal you need to reimburse full amount.

MIZZ12

enthusiasticsaver said:

If it is household purchase surely that is what the account is for so no reimbursement needed? If personal you need to reimburse full amount.

Yes, it was a personal spend.  What I don't quite understand is, if the original purchase on the joint account was for £30, then doesn't that mean that I have already paid for half of it, so why wouldn't I only need to reimburse £15?  Would be good to understand from that perspective.   Thank you!

surreysaver

If you've taken £30 out of the joint account, but only put £15 back in, the joint account is still £15 short.
If you had paid for your personal expense directly, you would have paid £30, not £15

MorningcoffeeIV

You'd repay £30. If you only repay £15, you've nicked £7.50 of his money. 

mikeylpool

What you're describing here is exactly how me and my partner work. Ultimately how you work is up to you though.

But I'll give you my thought.

The joint account is for bills (in our case we might also use it if we're out together having a meal or something similar).
If she goes and buys something not for the house - lets say a handbag - and has used the joint account then she can't pay usig the joint account as this isn't what it's for - your half that goes into the joint is for Bills and joint(ly agreed) purchases only.

McKneff

You took 30 out, put 30 back. 
It's as simple as that....

TheBanker

MIZZ12 said:

enthusiasticsaver said:

If it is household purchase surely that is what the account is for so no reimbursement needed? If personal you need to reimburse full amount.

Yes, it was a personal spend.  What I don't quite understand is, if the original purchase on the joint account was for £30, then doesn't that mean that I have already paid for half of it, so why wouldn't I only need to reimburse £15?  Would be good to understand from that perspective.   Thank you!

Simple maths:

Joint account balance is £100. Each of you owns half i.e. £50 each.
You spend £30 on something that's not joint. Joint account balance is now £70 so you each own £35.
You put £15 back. Joint account balance is now £85 so you each own £42.50.
Your partner is £7.50 short of where they started. 

If you want to get away with only taking £15 out of your personal account, you need to give it to your partner directly, not pay it into the joint account. But then there will still only be £70 in the joint account which might not be enough to cover the joint bills... 

Rob5342

If you accidentally pay with the wrong card then it should be obvious to anyone that transferring that amount over will restore things to how they would have been had you used the correct card.

RG2015

MIZZ12 said:

Hi, am trying to wrap my head around this and would appreciate your input please!!
Myself and my husband have a joint account for household bills which we pay into in equal amounts each month.  If I make a purchase for myself, say for £30 and accidentally pay using the joint account, do I reimburse the joint account by the full £30, or do I just need to pay back £15 (on the basis that half of the money in the joint is mine and half is my husband's)?
Hopefully you would see what I am getting at !
Thanks so much in advance!

You use the term accidentally which implies this was not your intention. The best way of correcting an unintentional action is to reverse it. By paying the £30 back you reverse the clock and end up where you would have been.

I would also question your suggestion that half of the money is yours. If the purpose of the account is household bills it is neither yours nor your husband’s.