Should You Get A Joint Account As A Couple?
Getting a joint account as a couple can feel like a massive step, especially if you’re not married. For some people they might feel anxious about sharing these details. Others may not want their partner to know how much they have in savings or what they spend. But having a joint account doesn’t mean you can only have a joint account. In my opinion it is 100% healthy to have your own accounts alongside a joint account.
Me and Luke got our first joint account after he moved into my flat. And this was purely used for food. We put money in each week towards our weekly food shop. This meant it was fair what we were spending and we could both access it to make payments. Now we’re waiting to move into our house I’m going to get him added to our bills account. This is where my wages come into and all of our bills come out from. Everything from mortgage and council tax to van loans and Netflix.
The most important things to consider before you get a joint account as a couple
The single most important thing you should do as a couple is be open and honest. If you’re in a relationship where you want a joint account you need to discuss money in an open and frank way. Discuss how much you earn, your savings, your debt and the kinds of expenditure you have. When you open a joint account you’re finacially bonding yourself together. So your connection will be seen on your credit score. Therefore if one of you has really bad credit it could negatively impact the other. So this discussion is so important to know where you both stand and whether it’s the best thing for you to do.
The other big thing is having trust in one another. By opening a joint account you’re giving your partner access to either all or a proportion of your money. Before you set up an account it’s important to ensure you’re both on the same thoughtwave and you both trust one another.
Another consideration is if you have an overdraft or a credit card with your partner you’re jointly responsible for repaying it. If they can’t make payments or are unwilling to, you will be responsible for paying it back.
A healthy way of having a joint account
While you may have a joint account for bills/ food, or you may have a joint account for general ‘spending’ money it’s healthy to have an account of your own and your own money. While being open and honest is important we all need a little space. Even if it’s as simple as buying birthday and Christmas presents and not wanting the other to know where it’s coming from.
How we split is after our bills and savings are split out we get our own ‘fun’ money each week. This would be for fuel for our car/ van and for anything we want to buy. For us as it’s our own money to decide how to spend that goes into our individual accounts that the other doesn’t have access to.
If you’re going to go full hog and have everything in a joint account make sure you set boundaries and limits. This way there shouldn’t be any nasty surprises which come along.
Pro’s of having a joint account as a couple
It can help stop arguments if you both put money into an account to cover bills and shared expenses like the food shopping. You can choose to split this however you like depending on how much you each earn. It could be a set amount like £600 each a month. Or it could be a certain percentage of your wages. So the person earning more pays a little more. The method and split you choose is up to you as a couple.
Money supermarket did some research which showed that over half (59%) of couples with a joint account felt it made managing money together easier. And of those 47% of couples believed it was easier to track what they were spending, and a third (33%) said they were able to make better decisions about money together.
Do you have a joint account as a couple?
Pin It
18 responses to “Should You Get A Joint Account As A Couple?”
Leave a Reply
All About Me
Rhian Westbury
Travels and Destinations
Nothing currently planned
I have always had a separate account to my husband as I found that worked easier when it came to handling finances as we both pay different things from our earnings. This post explains clearly the pros and cons if we do in future consider to have a joint account as a couple.
You’ve got to do what works for you both as a couple and it sounds like you’ve found what works for you x
We have a joint account to pay household bills and the mortagem but also outr own spearate accounts too and that works quite well for us.
We keep talking about it but never actually get round to setting one up! We don’t have one as yet but definitely will, probably once we are married.
John and I got together 20 years ago and within our first year we had a joint account and have stayed joint since that day. It just felt normal and natural to us.
We have had a joint account for years, there’s never been a reason not to trust each other and we can see all of our money and budget appropriately, its worked for us.
Such a good post! We haven’t got joint accounts but purely because we haven’t had enough time to sort them out! haha
A great post, we have always had a joint account and also have our own separate accounts as well.
My boyfriend and I opened a joint Monzo account when we moved in together and it was the best decision. Honestly, it makes life so much easier and I was actually genuinely excited to open an account with him! x
Louise | http://www.formidablejoy.com
I’m so glad that its made your lives easier living together and having a joint account x
There are pros and cons of having individual and joint accounts. Joint accounts for the main bills are a good idea
This is such an important thing to discuss, I think these days everyone should have a joint and a separate independent account from their other half as these days you never know x
Yeah having your own independence is so important as well as you’re right you never know and you have to protect yourself too x
It’s so important to make these types of decisions carefully. My husband and I have a joint account and our own accounts – we pool all of our money and make financial decisions together.
Oooh this is such an interesting post, great to see the pros and cons of it all. It’s such an important decision and you need to make sure you’re making the right one! xo
We keep our own bank accounts but have a joint account for food and bills which works really well for us.
I think that’s definitely the most common way to do it as the food/ bills are generally joint expenses x
We have a joint account for the household expenses to come out of. We both have individual accounts too