Bank accounts- Poll

Mrs. Sarah&Micah · October 2010

DH and I are thinking about finally (after 3+ years of marriage) joining our bank accounts. Currently we are both with different banks and have our own checking/savings accounts as well as a joint ING savings account, but now with a baby on the way, we are thinking that at the very least we need to put each others names on our accounts, but we are also thinking maybe we should just move me to the same bank that he goes to and set up a joint account for our family.

How do you guys do it?

What is your bank account situation in your household?

Do you ever have any issues with how you deal with money etc?

Any suggestions/advice?

wittyschaffy · October 2010

DH has a savings and checking account at a bank. I have a savings and checking through a credit union and we have a joint account through that same credit union.

We direct deposit part of DH's paychecks into our joint account so I can pay bills (I can transfer between my account and our joint account through the banks online system so I don't deposit money directly into the shared account from my paychecks). Because we do that, there isn't really any hassle whatsoever with having 2 different banks. Sometimes it is nice actually because he uses a "national" bank so he can use ATMs without as many fees as I get using a small bank. However, being members of a credit union generally means there is less bureaucracy about getting loans and the rates are generally better than big banks. Our current arrangement means we get the best of both worlds!

I personally think it is important to maintain your own individual smaller accounts and have at least one that you share.

Kambria11 · October 2010

We each have a checking and savings account of our own, and then we have a joint checking that pays all house and joint bills. We each contribute the exact same amount to the joint checking and savings each month.

We also have a joint savings for a big trip to Hawaii we are taking with our family in 2013 and a joint savings for my daughter's wedding next year.

We were both older when we started living together and then got married, so we each are pretty independent with our money, CC, and stuff.

pourroni · October 2010

We have joint savings and checking and I have a seperate investment account that was set up by my gma when she sold her farm prior to me getting married.

It was a no brainer for us to combine. That is what both of our parents do and we just thought it was the right thing to do for us.

The only issue we have run across is that because I pay all of the bills and manage the check register DH doesn't realize how much money we do or don't have. But I feel like we have great communication so if he is planning on spending anything more than a few dollars here and there he will let me know or check the register before he purchases anything.

My adivce, just keep open communication on what is being paid, how much, and what your balance is so there is no confusion. Make a rule about keeping reciepts or who is writing things down or checking online for your balance.

pattymctatty · October 2010

Joint everything except for my retirement and each of our "fun" money checking accounts.

Fun money and savings accounts are with ING, regular joint checking/savings account is with Wells Fargo.

I pay the bills, credit card (just one which is paid in full every month, Delta Skymiles AMEX), mortgage, set up the automatic savings transfers, etc... DH set up his student loan payments because those were the only ones that I couldn't do.

We have a rough budget that we stick too - getting cash for certain budget areas, discussing the amounts in checking/savings at minimum once a week. We went over the budget together, discussing our hobbies, bill amounts, what we spend in each area. It took us a week to come up with something we could both agree on.

We also have goals: we want to go on a vacation next year, so any extra $$ leftover each month gets transferred.

ercsa29 · October 2010

We have 1 bank account and 1 ING savings account. Paychecks are direct deposit into the bank account and there is automatic debit each week into the ING account (DH gets paid weekly).

We combined accounts before we were married, it was just way easier to do things that way. We haven't had any problems yet. We don't really go shopping and if we do, we're most likely together.

We discuss purchases over $50. I handle all the bills.

When he used to work days he would stop and get coffee at the gas station a few mornings a week and I was getting annoyed. He likes the coffee at home better but was too tired to make it at 4:30am. Now that he works nights he just brings coffee to work.

I don't really have any advice, sorry! We're not big spenders so there really hasn't been anything to argue about with regards to our bank account.

brifox711 · October 2010

We did the same thing and combined accounts before Carly was born. It has been so much easier, and I am SO glad we did it.

What is your bank account situation in your household? We have a joint savings and checking where most of our money goes and where all of our bills are paid from. I also have my own checking and savings account at a bank where I have had an account since I was little. We budget $50 a week for each of us to spend on lunches, extras, etc...and I put that money in this account.

Do you ever have any issues with how you deal with money etc? Before we combined accounts I never balanced my checking account. I always just checked my account online and kind of just knew what I have in there. Randy on the other hand was, and still is, very diligent about keeping track of everything. It just took a little extra effort on my part in the beginning to be better about saving receipts and such.

Any suggestions/advice? I would suggest making a budget, so you are both clear on where your money is going and where you want your money to be going.

thedutchgirl · October 2010

How do you guys do it? **We have joint checking and a couple of joint savings. Credit cards are separate, although the two we've opened since being married (Delta AMEX and Capital One for no international transaction fee) the other spouse is an authorized user with a card. Everything is joint in our house. Bills., etc. We discuss "big" purchases. I'd say that is probably above $200, although we have no set level.What is your bank account situation in your household? **See above.Do you ever have any issues with how you deal with money etc? **No. Before we moved here, for the first year of marriage and when we lived together before that we had separate accounts. We tried to make it even who paid for what (we both made about the same at the time), but some resentment built because we weren't totally down to the penny on it, and someone often ended up feeling like he or she had spent more. Moving here I didn't have a job, so separate accounts seemed pointless. It had the added bonus of solving our money squabbles.Any suggestions/advice? **Do what works for you. There's no right answer. There's just what is right for you.

luvinlifeMN · October 2010

How do you guys do it? All of our paychecks go into a joint checking account. We then move the same dollar amount each month into our own personal checking accounts. We pay all bills and contribute towards retirement and savings out of the joint account. We also take a set amount of cash out each month for date nights out of the joint account and once that is gone, we don't get to go out anymore that month. If we need clothing or shoes, we also use the joint account because neither of us have issues with over-spending in that catergory.

Our individual accounts pay for our personal 'wants' (not needs): lunches at work if you choose not to pack one, night out with friends, books... basically anything for us personally. Our personal 'allowance' has cut down on all petty fights we had about money because it is 'ours' we can spend it how we choose with out judgment from the other person. I

Any suggestions/advice? Be open! Set up expectations before you combine finances. Be aware that you may have to adjust expectations as you learn how each other runs things. I think communication is the key to fewer issues.

razamataz · October 2010

We have two joint checking accounts at the same bank. One is primarily for me and where my paychecks are deposited and the other is primarily for him and where his income is deposited.

Certain bills are paid from "his" account and others from "mine" - but as I said, they are both technically joint and I can move money between them easily - so it is more like two sub-accounts of one larger account. We keep them separate because DH is self employed and it makes it easier if he has a separate (yet linked/joint) account for his income.

We also have a joint savings linked to both accounts and then an ING account under my name but linked to DH's account. Confusing, yes?

DH also has a bank account back in the UK that I do nothing with - he uses that primarily for "fun" stuff.

Our system is kinda messy and I'd like to simplify it, but with DH being self-employed this works for us.

It sometimes causes issues with DH because he feels he doesn't have access to "my"accounts on par with the access I have to his, but that is simply because I am the one who manages the bills and does the shopping - so I have check-cards for both accounts whereas he only has one for "his" account. He could have one for "my" account but I don't see the point and I don't think he'd ever use it, so why bother? Any times he throws the "unequal access" card at me, I bring up his UK account and the fact that I have absolutely no access to that account nor do I even know how much is in it - so he can put up or shut-up.

Termiknitter · October 2010

How do you guys do it?

We both have individual checking and savings accounts and one joint checking account. All are at the same bank.

What is your bank account situation in your household?

We looked at our budget for bills and household stuff (groceries, things for the dogs, etc.) and split that 60/40 (according to how much we each get paid). We each have our paychecks direct deposited into our personal accounts, and then transfer our household money to the joint account on payday, and I pay the bills. It's really easy to transfer money between accounts, because they're all at the same bank, so my online access allows me to see my personal accounts and the joint account and DH's online access allows him to see his personal accounts and the joint account. We each pay personal bills (car payments, student loans) separately out of our personal accounts.

Do you ever have any issues with how you deal with money etc?

Not really. This system works really well for us. We reanalyze the household budget about every six months to see if we should be contributing mroe to the joint account, and as we get pay raises, we adjust the amount we contribute to the joint account.

Any suggestions/advice? Just do what works best for you; there is no right or wrong answer. I do think it's important that both parties know where the money is going and agree on how money is being spent.

Breezy8407 · October 2010

We have joint everything - checking, savings, and one credit card (we each have a card for the same account). I suppose our 401k's are separate, but that's it.

I guess neither of us ever considered having separate accounts. We both grew up in households wiht joint everything, so I don't think it ever really occurred to us to do anything different.

Neither of us really makes what I like to call "fun money" meaning money outside our normal salaries. H does some odds and ends at school for extra money and he will spend that on stuff for himself sometimes, but most of the time it all goes to the same place and we share everything.

GermanGirl2007 · October 2010

What is your bank account situation in your household? We have a joint checking and joint savings. Our paychecks are directly deposited into our joint checking with a certain percentage going into our joint savings. We also each have our own separate checking and savings. This is so we can spend money how we want out of those accounts without getting frustrated about what it is being spent on.

Do you ever have any issues with how you deal with money etc? I am the primary money person in our house in the sense that I make sure the bills are being paid, I am the one that makes sure money is going into the appropriate accounts, and I am the one that kind of keeps my husband in the loop about our financial situation. First, because I am honestly better at it than he is, and second because he has little interest in dealing with it. That said, I KNOW that we have different spending and saving styles, so that sometimes causes problems. BUT we are getting a lot better at talking through those things so it doesn't cause as many arguments anymore.

Any suggestions/advice? I agree with having a budget laid out ahead of time. I guess it depends somewhat on both of your spending styles too, but what we do is have a percentage of each of our checks that goes into our personal accounts so we can spend it however we want, and when it's gone it's gone. Otherwise it is too easy to argue about HOW money is being spent.

BeccaMarie · October 2010

We have one joint checking and savings at a CU. We both have a chunk of each paycheck direct deposited here. The mortgage is pulled directly from this account. Those are the only transactions at that location - it is our 'hidden' savings.

We each have our own savings and our own checking at the same bank. We are on each other's accounts (so when we log into on-line banking, we can see all accounts) but never touch either one's account.

We make different amounts, but our budget is set-up such that after each of us pays 'our' share of the bills, we both have the same left over at the end of the month to do whatever we want with. (though we check with each other prior to making any individual purchase >$200)

Unless we are anticipating a large purchase, we each maintain a 'cushion' equal to one paycheck in our checking at all times, and the rest of our money is in our respective savings.

Having separate accounts just works for us, but we definitely manage the money jointly.

(We also have a savings at a third institution that we don't add to anymore, but leave there to earn interest. We both feel strongly that we don't want all of our money at any one place.)

mbgreenwalt · October 2010

Techinically we have separate accounts (separate banks), but I handle all of the finances. I don't know why we haven't joined accounts yet, laziness I guess. We do have access to each others account though. We pay the house payment and have our savings in DH's account and we pay all the bills and fun money out of my account. It works for us and I don't see us changing anytime soon.

Ellie has her own savings account. I put $25 dollars/paycheck in her account, any gift money she gets and her piggy bank when it fills up (spare change).

MrsAshley16 · October 2010

We both still have our own checking and saving accounts, and I have our only credit card (all through the dame CU). His checks go into his checking account, my checks are split between my accounts. We make about the same every paycheck, so I split the bills even between us. His truck payment, the house payment, our auto and life insurance and the cable and water bills ate all paid automatically. I pay all of our other bills every paycheck online. I handle all of our money and the budget. If DH wants to buy something, hd just checks with me to make sure he had enough money. It's never bothered me to manage both of our accounts, I've been doing it since we moved in together 7 years ago

DH would be at a complete loss though if anything ever happened to me, and that worries me.

mefindlay · October 2010

We have joint accounts at 2 banks. I have kept my checking and savings account from my hometown bank (I MUCH prefer a smaller bank) and D is on my checking account there. We have a checking and a savings account Up Here too. Mostly, everything is joint. There are a few credit cards that are only in my name, and I haven't changed things on those yet, but I need to.

We share everything - I agree that this takes a lot of resentment out of money squabbles. Basically, everything is a household resource, and members of the household contribute as much as they can. I've always made more money, and D had a bit of a tough time finding full time work, so it wouldn't be fair to expect the same amount from both of us.

We always put too much on the credit card, and it gets tough to pay off. Otherwise, we do okay.

I've been wanting to check out Mint.com and keep track of accounts on there - especially since Microsoft stopped making MS Money and I don't have a program on the Mac for it - I have to warm up my laptop with its cranky screen to keep track of all my account stuff. If both of you can enter transactions or whatever on there, it might help keep track of stuff.

ETweet · October 2010

We have all of our accounts at the same financial institution for easy online transfers. We have a joint account and our own individual accounts. All of our income gets directly deposited into the joint account and every other week we transfer $X into our individual accounts for our own personal use. DH and I feel strongly that we should still feel as if we have our own money that we can spend however we please, while still having the family fund that everyone contributes to.

nicole0066 · October 2010

We have a joint checking/savings account and it's so much easier than when it was separate. We've got it figured out which of our paychecks and which part are needed to pay certain bills. For us it's much easier to have all the money in one place so that we are able to see how much we really have rather than paying bills out of separate accounts.

mrs.katematch · October 2010

We have one checking and one savings -- not a concern in the world for how each other "does things" and it's much easier to keep track of and manage the business of "us."

We have separate retirement accounts that were employer initiated.

We have separate credit cards, but manage them very closely and nothing is "secret."

Our only issue with money is the challenge of living with one income over the last year -- but that's slowly improving as I am now working (albeit for a small base-pay and minimal tips, but that'll get better as I advance).

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