Opening a secret bank account for windfall I've just received, any advice please?

[sickofthisrain]

Today out of the blue I got handed a cheque for a fair amount of money. H was not there, it's made out to me, and I can probably
ensure he doesn't find out.

It's spooky timing as I was thinking about starting to put money aside from the joint account in a safety fund but this seems a bit of a golden opportunity to do it all in one go.

Bearing in mind H is very aware of all our finances, where can I open an account and keep it totally secret? Any advice very gratefully received, haven't opened my own account since my student days..

Why would you want to hide this money from DH? Is there something going on?

How would you feel if he had a secret account full of money?

not usre how you would avoid statements arriving unless you could do internet account - egg or similar?

anywhere that does online statements (no post)

why do you need a hidden fund?

Are you safe?

How about buying premium bonds?

could you confide in the person who gave you the money - explain you want to keep it secret and perhaps use their address for statements to be sent to if they dont mind?

Smile do an internet account with no paper statements. You'd have to do something re the paper mail to set up though. Is there another address you could use for correspondence? Work maybe?

a post office account?

I bank with Barclay and NatWest and both do online statements.

You sound like you shouldn't be married to someone that you don't want to share your good fortune with though which is a bit sad.

Are you trying to leave?

lloydstsb do online statements with no postal statements.

Barclays do online, but continue with the paper statements.

I use lloyds and never get a paper statement

I think when you open an account - any account - they do a standard credit check, and establish that you are who you say you are for money-laundering risks etc. So the address you give the bank would have to match other ID - and the electoral roll. But presumably you could do that in person at the branch (Smile is online part of Co-op Bank, I think), and then ask that any paperwork is sent elsewhere.

Do not buy premium bonds. Bad, bad rate of return. Pretty much any bank should be able to open an internet account for you there and then and arrange for you to have no postal statements. Many internet savings accounts offer a fair interest rate if you are prepared to leave the money untouched.

You will need to take ID, photo and proof of address, if you aren't already an account holder

I think it's a very sensible idea to have an 'emergency' account. Noone should be questioning this, if you feel you need it, then you should have some independance or safety net.

Can you set up an account which only requires a passbook? I'm sure you can request not to receive paper statements on quite a few bank accounts these days.

Open a savings account with an old fashioned book - Nationwide do a Cashbuilder book one. Then there are no statements to come or anything, and it is instant access. You just need to hide the book.

If you can't get to a Nationwide, then NS&I do an investment account with a book, but you can only withdraw by post

I opened a Barclays savings account and do not get any post on it at all. It is a fixed term of one year with a fixed interest rate so they don't do statements.

At my request they sent me a letter to confirm it was open but I suspect you could just ask them to leave it in the bank for you to collect. They don't write at the end of the term either, it just drops to an ordinary savings account and sits there until you go into the branch to withdraw the money.

BTW - just make sure you request no junk mail/other offers are sent. You know the type..."Dear Mrs so and so. As a valued customer we would like to offer you...etc"

That would be a bit of a giveaway!

how much money do you have as a family? there was a mumsnetter whos husband found about her private account as the tax office said they had more money than the dh thought

Thanks everyone, it's a long story on other threads but I'm just starting to wake up to the fact that H is demonstrating some emotionally abusive behaviours. I don't know how much longer I can put up with it tbh and might need to make some scary decisions soon which involve moving away for support.

I'm not planning to do anything with this money, it's intended for the dc's and they won't go without, but I have no money in my own name, everything is joint, and H has always dealt with it all. I can't tell the person who gave it me, although I think they would understand.

Is it a bad idea? My friend who went through a nasty divorce and is now happily remarried, told me that she still has her own emergency stash, even though there is no reason to think she'll ever need it. She advised me to do the same. Maybe I could split the money so some still goes into the joint account to cover my tracks in case it's ever mentioned.

littleducks, we have money tied up all over the place in businesses, shares etc so it's fairly complicated as it is. H earns very well so the money isn't needed for anything immediate at home.
Would a few thousand tip the balance either way? How would the tax office find out?

If it's intended for your DC's in the long run, I'd open account in their names with you as the signatory, with no statements to the house. You just need their birth certificates and all your id's etc.. But whip it back off them before they turn 16 and get control of the account, should you need it.

You would have to declare the interest that you earn to the tax office - which is why premium bonds might be a better idea. As another poster has said, there is no interest earned - but you do stand a chance of winning.

The risk you take is that you would be notified of any winnings by post.

The Tax office would find out (possibly) if you self assessed and your declaration of interest earned on savings did not match up - but tax returns aren't joint, and I am assuming this account wouldn't be. Maybe it was for Tax Credits that the Tax office found out in the other case. TRy a passbook account, like Cheltenham and Gloucester or nationwide as someone suggested.

Can you set up a PO box?
I really don't know if it's possible but when I lived in Australia it was a normal thing to do as plently of people I met lived in B&Bs.

ring up to make an appt to open the bank account, don't just turn up like I did it doesn't go down well. (the Halifax made me feel very silly and small, so I went else where)

does your dh fill in a tax return? i will try to find the thread as it not something that would happen to me, far too poor

I think you should be able to put money away without anyone questioning your reasons - after all you didn't ask for a judgement, just advice as to the best way to do it!

But...now you have given your reasons you probably need to think, for your own peace of mind, how you would feel about this secret stash if you do spilt up from your DH.

By this I mean two things. The first is that in the event of a divorce and subsequent financial settlement, you would both be required by law to declare all your finances - would you be happy to lie? It is, I believe, an offence to do so, and you could be made to repay money if you were found out at a later date.

Secondly, how would you feel about yourself if this happened? I mean, how would you feel of your DH didn't declare all his finances in that event so that he could have a bigger share of the pot? I trust that my ExH didn't do that (although he certainly has the wherewithall to do so), but if he had done soit would have soured our reasonably amicable (most of the time!) divorce beyond me ever trusting him again, which would be a pretty sorry state of affairs as he is my DCs' father

Oh, thirdly, what if you don't split up and he finds out that you made provision for that particular rainy day - what would happen then?

I'm not judging at all...I'm worrying that it's an all-round risky proposition maybe?

Nationwide certainly do an online account with no paper statements.