Bank Account Question

gpeeples · July 2013

So this is my first time posting on these boards. I've posted on The Knot, but I figured this question would be better for this board. My husband and I got married last month, so I added him to my bank account, so we can both access it. He wants to close his account all together and just use the one account. I have no problem with sharing a bank account, but I was just wondering if there's any advantage to having two accounts?

Kat174 · July 2013

We kept a joint savings account and then each had our seperate accounts so that if one of us went Nucking Futz shopping we didn't have to discuss with the other if we could afford it.

Personally, now going through the divorce process, be careful with joint... Either one of you can close it. So if things in your relationship go wrong, he can take the money and spend it all he wants before you divorce. It's harder when your accounts are seperate to begin with.

The banks make it easy to Xfer between accounts even when they aren't attached these days.. Might want to consider this.

lindanp · July 2013

It really depends on how you want to merge your money. We have a joint checking/savings and each have our own checking. Come Christmas time, it will be nice to not see where he spends his "fun" money. Of course all three accounts are with the same credit union so transfers are a breeze; I definitely recommend that.

Erikan73 · July 2013

We opted for each keep an individual account and do a joint account. We each get a weekly allowance in our budget. What each of us does with that said money is our business. My husband tends to use his for going out to lunch with co-workers, I used mine sometimes for eating out but have a tendency to save it up for something special. But our allowance is our "do whatever you want with it" money. It's nice to have money that I don't have to account and the same goes for him. The reason it works well for us is that once your allowance is gone, it's gone (allowance money doesn't include gas money) This way we have money for our bills (joint account) and neither of us is feeling deprived and then goes crazy and spend bill money we shouldn't be spending. I'm sure this wouldn't work for everyone, but this is what we're doing.

MrsS728 · July 2013

We opted to have a joint checking/savings, but still keep our separate CCs. We also kept an entirely separate savings account (originally mine) for our down payment. To this day, his name is not on it (but we are closing on our house in 20 days!!). It made it easier for us to pay bills and save money instead of juggling money back and forth.

However, to each his/her own. Do what's best for you guys and that's all the matters.

Apollo11235 · July 2013

Congratulations on your recent wedding!

We have 3 checking accounts at 3 different banks: we kept our accounts from before we married for our "fun money", and we opened a joint online checking account with ING Direct (now CapitalOne360) for basically the rest of our expenses. It works well for us, but of course there are other perfectly valid ways to do it.

gpeeples · July 2013

Thanks for your advice everyone! We actually merged our finances about a year before we got married, so that it doesn't really matter who pays for what, and neither of us spend "fun money" without consulting the other first. We both have good credit, but I think what I was basically wondering was if it would affect our credit to only have one account, or affect our ability to buy a house in the future? His bank is only located in another state, since we moved a couple years ago, so he isn't thrilled with his bank anyway. He thought it might be easier to just use my account for his direct deposit rather than finding a new bank.

Apollo11235 · July 2013

gpeeples:
Thanks for your advice everyone! We actually merged our finances about a year before we got married, so that it doesn't really matter who pays for what, and neither of us spend "fun money" without consulting the other first. We both have good credit, but I think what I was basically wondering was if it would affect our credit to only have one account, or affect our ability to buy a house in the future? His bank is only located in another state, since we moved a couple years ago, so he isn't thrilled with his bank anyway. He thought it might be easier to just use my account for his direct deposit rather than finding a new bank.

Checking and savings accounts don't go on your credit report, so it doesn't matter how many you have. If the second account just feels like a burden, close it.

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