Not married but considering joint account - advice please

[Wavypurple]

DP and I are not married but have been together for four years, living together for two.

We share the household bills, some come out of his account some from mine. Constantly sending money back and forth for food shopping, household expenses and dinners out etc.

I was wondering if anyone on here is in this situation and has a joint account with their partner. Has this worked for you?

I would never in one million years put all of my money into said account. The idea would be to put in £200 or so each month so that we could use that account for household expenses.

Thanks in advance. Also sorry if this is a stupid question. I’m always trying to learn more about financial planning etc.

First calculate your total bill output. I would have a third account that you both put the same percentage of your take home pay in, which will aid in potential inequality and would cover those bills. All bills come out of that. The rest of your money is yours.

Thank you the percentage part is something I wouldn’t have considered

We did it before we got married - for household expenses only. As suggested we paid in in proportion to our respective salaries.

I don’t see why not. It’s not really marriage that necessitates a joint account for bills, but living together. It just makes everything easier.

DH and I have a joint account that we've used since we moved in together pre-marriage. We use it for groceries, takeaways, night out together and small bits for the house. Bills come out of his account just because he already had accounts from the flat he owned and the mortgage is his. We used to pay half each into the joint account and I paid "rent" but now I pay the full joint account money and he pays the bills. He pays more because he earns more (80k to my 25k, £1100 him £700 me) but we've always been on the same page with spending and it's never caused any problems.

When DH moved in before we married we had a joint account for joint expenses. So bills, food, anything we shared really. We started off with putting £300 in each, each month, then played around with it the amount we'd deposit till it was a good amount. We earned similar amounts, so what we had left each wasn't too different.

We both had our own properties. I can't remember what we did mortgage payment wise, I think we each paid our own off as we were wary about the legalities of it.

That’s what we did before we were married. Worked out cost of bills, agreed how much each of us would contribute, then set up standing orders to transfer that amount each into the joint account.

Before we married we had joint accounts for everything - extremely generous boyfriend who just thought we were a team and that’s that!

Depends on his credit score etc. I’d want full details before joining together financially with a partner.

Something I do with my partner is have a Monzo tab. It’s a little fiddly as you go in to each shared payment then add to the tab, but given transactions pop up straight away it’s not too tricky. You then go in on payday and settle up whoever owes money to it. Means I usually pay and gf just settles up her half at end of the month. And when she buys things it goes towards paying her portion of the tab. It’s pretty neat actually.

To clarify - I’d want full details because my credit score was negatively affected by my ex who had addictions etc and would always avoid this if possible.

I do just this. Dp is financially responsible and safe - so am I. We both maintain our own private accounts and the joint never has that much in after bills etc have gone out each month. Just makes it easier (as you say)
I’d be slightly worried if you do online banking and logging in by either of you allows full access to all of your private accounts. If so no matter I would probably shift savings out of that bank just so you are exposed should things change.

Are NOT exposed - that should read.

It can work well BUT be very aware that anything anyone does on that shared account (because you have joint finances) can affect your credit rating.

You may to avoid accounts with overdrafts, etc. Think about the pros/cons and also consider the alternatives above which won't potentially affect your credit rating.

I say this as someone who has just discovered that one of the credit rating agencies still has me financially erroneously linked with someone who I haven't shared an account with since 2009

Me & DP have done this for 30 years. Each of us have our salaries paid into our own accounts, and we both pay £X00 into a joint account every month. All the household bills are paid out of this account, as was the mortgage when we had one. The account is set up to run a modest surplus to cover unforeseen expenses, eg the dishwasher needing fixing.

The rest of our money is our own to spend, save or invest as we see fit. We each pay for our own cars, phones, subscriptions etc. Works perfectly. No arguments about money because there is nothing to argue about.

I had one when cohabiting with now ex h. At the beginning it was to cover bills and shared expenses when he moved into my home. Once married and when kids arrived we also had joint savings and over time more and more activity moved to the joint as we built a life together. We actually still have a joint account now that all the kids clothes and activities are paid from.

My (new) partner was previously married for nearly 20 years and they never had a joint account which baffles me but clearly worked for them. He does now have one with me. I like it because it is totally transparent where money is going and means responsibility is shared as both parties can check it etc.

I’m not married but we’ve been together 14 years and have children and a mortgage. We’ve had a joint account ever since we moved in together- both earn similar amounts, for a while I earnt a bit more but we just put everything in the same pot and are sensible. We discuss big purchases together and it’s worked well for us.

I have a joint account with my other half for exactly this situation (we're not married). He moved in with me, I worked out the monthly budget for all household bills & food, plus a bit extra for meals out, unexpected repairs, etc. Then we did the maths, and each set up direct debits to transfer the same percentage of our salaries to make up that amount each month. Works very well.

We use a surplus current account of DPs like a joint account and pay in a standing order to meet the bills each month then if there's leftover money we divvy it out every so often. I pay the food shop on my credit card and he sends me his half. Might seem a faff but we like it and would probably continue if we get married. We both prefer having our own spending money and not having to justify who spent what. We've never argued about money either.

@Wavypurple

Thank you the percentage part is something I wouldn’t have considered

Definitely run a joint account if you're both financially responsible and don't have bad credit or a tendency to dip into the pot for non joint things.

But whether or not percentages of take home pay is fair depends on relative earnings as if there's a big difference, the lower earner will end up with a lot less of their own money, which may not be fair, eg if they work the same hours but are just in a low paid profession, or contribute in other ways, eg more of the domestic responsibilities. But don't feel it is necessary to split 50/50 either. The fairest way would probably to have the same or similar personal money left and choose the amounts going into the joint pot based on that outcome.

We have had a joint bank account forever, way before getting married.
I think it just makes it so much easier to keep track of household expenses. With all these new banking apps it is also very straightforward to see how much you spent on groceries one month vs the next.

My only reservation would be if the other person has poor credit history, bankruptcies IVAs etc, as being linked financially can create problems.

How much to contribute to the joint account depends on circumstances and preferences. If the difference in incomes is high, I think it makes sense for the higher earner to contribute more, not jsut in £ but also proportionally to their net pay.

We use the Splitwise app and settle up once or twice a month. We do also have a joint account but we don’t use it for day to day expenses. (Currently it has money in it for a house reno).

Partner and I pay a set amount each month into joint. We earn similar amounts.
Currently it’s more than enough to cover monthly expenses. Don’t see that changing even when our salaries go up so we won’t put more in. Holidays etc we’ll each put in a set amount the month before (as we did when moving house). Works well.

We have a starling joint account and I love it. We put in £900 each and that covers rent, bills, food shopping, Netflix, any meals out or activities that we do together. If there’s anything leftover at the end of the month we’ll move it to a holiday pot or buy something for the house.

The other thing I love is that when we go on holiday we’ll each transfer in the same amount and then just use the joint card so that everything is split totally evenly. The reason for setting one up in the first place was that I tend to be the one that does the food shopping or buys homewear and I was forever asking DP to transfer me half. This way it’s much easier.

Not married but my partner and I (together 12 years) have had a joint account for about 8 years now. We get paid into our own accounts, but put a large amount of salary into the joint account to cover mortgage, bills, food shopping etc plus other expenses. We also use this account for some savings as well as individual savings accounts. Much easier than when we used to have to work everything out and pay each other at the end of every month!

I see someone else has already recommended Starling. It’s great,easy to use and very transparent. We use it for joint savings and one off bills.