Joint banking a good idea?

Question

I've always handled the finances. Now we need to join our accounts, even though the balances are "off balance"?

Answer 1

Well that depends on your situation. In my marriage, my husband and I have our own savings, checking, credit accts and have ONE joint account we both put equal amounts of money into as we both work and make pretty much the same. The joint acct is only used for paying the bills, buying household items and such. For our mortgage, we put in equal amounts.

Personally, I think it's a good idea to have your own separate accts, plus one joint acct as in my case, my husband is the bigger spender of the two and having our own money for "just in cases" is something we agreed upon prior to getting married and it works out fine for us.

Answer 2

I agree with some of the others: joint for household, etc., and separate for personal use. How are you going to join accounts when you don't know what the exact balances are? Going to the bank and asking them to help you might be a good idea. Then you can start over. I suspect neither account has enough in them to rectify a financial situation and that's why you feel the need to join them. You need some financial assistance. The bank can give you the help you need.

Answer 3

My mom always says if you trust him enough to marry him then you should put him on the account.

But I am a Financial Specialist and my experience is, if he can't balance his own checkbook he's only going to mess up yours. Plus if you break up he can drain your account. I say have a joint household account and then two separate accounts. Am I paranoid? Well after nearly a decade in this business I've seen it all so I sorta am.

But it's also worth mentioning that my parents have been married happily 31 years but they still fight when Dad forgets to tell Mom he used the check card and the accounts out of balance

Answer 4

My husband and I each have our separate accounts, and then each month we deposit $ into a joint account to pay all the joint bills like rent and utilities. That way, we each can spend what we want to. This is especially handy when you buy gifts and don't want the other person to know what you spent. Also, if you both use ATM to buy things from the joint account and forget to tell each other about it, it could cause confusion.

Answer 5

Oh, gosh, good luck. I thought I wanted us to have joint banking once we got married. Yeah right, all that was a bad idea and we went back to separate accounts. My husband would spend so I would spend that was a big no, no. So now he pays all the bill and I pay my own bills but I do buy his clothes and wants when they pop up.

Answer 6

It's not a bad idea whether you are married or not. as a matter of fact this will encourage both of you to be wise spender , after all both of you are trying to build a better future. So you should start saving the sooner the better.

Answer 7

TAKE IT FROM ONE WHO KNOW'S! DON'T DO IT!!! DON'T DO IT!!!!MY SPOUSE AND I HAVE A JOINT, AND BOTH HAVE OUR SEPARET ACCOUNTS, BUT HE WILL USE THE JOINT AND NOT TELL ME AND WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENS, THE ACCOUNT IS OVER DRAWN AND IT TAKES WEEKS TO GET THE ACCOUNT TO THE POSSITIVE. AND WHAT IS SO BAD BY THE TIME IT'S OVER WITH I COULD OF MADE A HOUSE PAYMENT WITH THE MONEY FOR OVERDRAWN FEES. DON'T DO IT!!!!!

Answer 8

If you are married and share debts, you should share money and other responsibilities. If you aren't married, keep your money seperate.

Answer 9

DONT DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!