bank account....help

EIHRHM · October 2011

Dh and I have had his and mine and we each pay bills, if one gets low we ask the other for money, lately he hasnt been the best about remembering to pay bills and I have had to get after him which has made him moody about me being on his back. I brought it up tonight that maybe we should just have one account and i would be in charge of paying the bills. He didnt have much to say about it, he just said ok. I thought it would have caused a discussion but it didnt.

Do you and DH have one account or separate accounts?

Pros? Cons?

What made you make this change?

What did you guys do to make the change to one account better?

I am a little nervous about this change as its a large one too be making

TIA!

nybride10 · October 2011

Do you and DH have one account or separate accounts? we have a joint checking and savings account with our main bank and we have an account thats in the baby's namewe also have an account thats in my dh's name. a certain amount of money gets taken out of his paycheck and gets put into a bank account for saving expenses (right now we're saving for a house)What made you make this change? we did it right after the wedding for the same reasons you listed in your post. What did you guys do to make the change to one account better? yes - we know what we're spending. how much money we have. since i do most of the bill paying everything is coming out of one account.

fwiw- we use a monthly calendar to track bills. as the paper statements come in we write the due date on the calendar and check it off as we pay it. we're able to keep track of tiny bills. our mortgage gets automatically taken out of our bank account each month.

cutekate · October 2011

We have both separate savings and separate checking and 1 joint checking. H is incharge of bill paying and every other week when we get paid I write him a check from my solo checking. He's way better with money and being on time with bills I am way better at spending! We are going back and forth on having 1 joint checking account so all the money comes from there. But he likes TD bank which I hate and I like chase. Neither is willing to make the switch!

Midgette · October 2011

Do you and DH have one account or separate accounts? We have joint account - Saving and CheckingPros? Cons? - Pros - I dont pay the bills I dont like it and he loves being on top of things like thisCons - If I wanna buy him something as a surprise it is harder to do because he knows where all the money is going. Except for the part of my check which I take out every time I get paidWhat made you make this change? - We had a joint savings when we got engaged and then after we got married we closed my accounts and kept his open, makes it easier to save and pay billsWhat did you guys do to make the change to one account better?He likes to pay the bills online and I was paying everything by check - he hated that! So I told him then fine joint accounts and he pays the bills. It is easier to track all our money and know when we can spend a little extra or not.

rblucy · October 2011

I think everyone handles finances different and there is no right or wrong way. I don't find it odd that he would willingly hand over all finances to you, especially if he has trouble remembering to pay things on time. That said, you'll prob have an easier time if all money is deposited into 1 checking account rather than asking him for money every time you want to pay a bill.

chrisnjay05212010 · October 2011

DH and I went through this process about 6 months after we got married. We were having really terrible fights over bills/money amongst other newlywed pains. It was actually DH's idea to combine things and while the transition was tough, it has worked out for us for the better in the long run. It doesnt work for everyone just depends on the couple. I manage all the bills now and being an accountant, its just in my nature and I dont really mind doing it. DH actually gets a portion of his check dumped into a checking account he has with his job and he uses that money for gas and any food he may need while working

Do you and DH have one account or separate accounts? We have a joint checking and a joint savings and DH has a checking for what i mentioned above.

Pros? Cons?

Pros- its "our" money, there is no his and hers. You both contriute equally to the bills

Cons- some times its hard if one is not telling the other if they are using the account, you log in to check and there are charges you dont recognize. One might feel like they aren't getting to use a fair share of the money for other things.

What made you make this change? DH wasn't paying bills on time that i asked him to pay which would lead to arguing on top of feeling like i was paying the bulk of the bills myself

What did you guys do to make the change to one account better? It was easier for us to allocate a portion of the money to a different account for DH to use for work and the rest comes to the joint account for bills or whatever else we need.

I am a little nervous about this change as its a large one too be making.

It is a big change to make and its not always easy. The one thing I can tell you is you have to make the decision that you think is right for the two of you. Everyone is going to give their opinion of what you should and shouldn't do, but you guys are the ones in the relationship, it may take a bit of trying different things but you'll figure it out.

mrsredmoose · October 2011

We kept our checking accounts from when we were single, but added each other to make them both joint. We rarely draw from the other's account, but always give a heads up.

DH did not have a savings account, so I added him to mine.

This works best for us. DH pays the house bills and I pay my own credit card (charge all of the groceries). We go over finances a few times a month and make sure we are on the same page. We just bought a new car, so we will see how that works out (so far I made the first payment, he made the second). I keep an excel spreadsheet of due dates and payments which is helpful to me. This works for us, so I don't think there are any cons. We're comfortable sharing accounts and passwords.

I think there are so many ways that will work depending on the couple. I guess the key is being honest and able to trust your spouse. I do think it's important that both can handle and take responsibility for the finances in case of an emergency.

ELF4321 · October 2011

We combined checking and savings accounts when we got married and I took over all bill paying responsibilities. DH is less than attentive to bill due dates and it freaked me out because my credit was stellar and I didn't want him f-ing it up by paying bills late. He was okay with me taking over everything and it's worked well for us.

We do NOT use the debit card at all, though, so it's easier to track everything. I think it could be a disaster if we were each using the debit card and not necessarily aware of what the other was buying. We just charge everything to our credit card and then we pay it off at the end of the month so it's one bill getting paid instead of 20 different little debit charges. He also doesn't go to the ATM to take cash out without checking with me to make sure we have enough in there to cover everything.

LilacStar11 · October 2011

Since we got married we have always had one account. We have the general understanding that what is one's is the others. So when we both worked, we both contributed. I quit my job and we lived off of his salary. Then he was downsized and we lived off of my savings.

We kinda just share everything but we have the same opinion about saving/spending money. If you don't then it is harder. GL!

mjbressan · October 2011

We have has one account since we've been married. It is considered "our" money and not his or mine even though we don't make the same amount. I think it is much easier to have all of the finances in one place for paying bills. The only con I have encountered is when one of us wants to take money out to get the other something, it's never a secret.

Nikosmom · October 2011

Do you and DH have one account or separate accounts?

We each have individual checking accounts and one joint account

Pros? Cons?

DH pays the mortgage and I pay everything else. To make it somewhat even that we are dishing out the same ammount of money each month. The bills I oay come out of my personal checking account. DH puts money in our joint account and we pay the mortgage through that. He also has a CC that he pays from his personal account. This is what works for us. I am really the one that handles the bills, he just makes sure the money is in the right account.

What made you make this change?

This was something we decided to do in the beginning and it works for us. He has been considering moving all our accounts to Chase (where I bank) I LOVE THEM!

What did you guys do to make the change to one account better?

Besides the mortgage, our joint accoutn is for extras.

HTH! GL

bank account....help

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