Today's Lesson

[Skirmisher]

Never ever ever ever ever open a joint bank account with a girlfriend/boyfriend.

I had the pleasure of telling yet another romantic minded idiot how they owe over thirteen hundred dollars to the bank to cover debts incurred by their SO. That being on top of the fact that they also have had their credit rating bruised with the report of a closed account due to unsatisfactory(read overdrawn) performance.

"But...but we broke up" he says.
"I told her I wanted to close the acct" he says.

Can't help ya I say.

Please please wait till married to do the joint acct thing? Yes I know that getting married is far from meaning its going to last forever, but at least fewer people get married and then divorced than start dating and then break up every day.

Even then make sure that you each have your own separate individual acct juuuust in case. Hell if you are not wanting to hurt your husbands/wifes feelings then have the statement sent to a friend of relative, but please protect yourself.

This means you Anticor!:bounce:

[Vesi]

Ouch.

My husband and I have always had seperate accounts. He pays certain bills and I pay certain bills. Don't know and don't care what he has in his account. My family thinks I'm nuts on this, but I really don't care how much he has in there. He earns his money just like I earn mine. As long as he pays his part, I'm fine with this arrangement. No joint accounts in this family = lots less hassles and arguements over money.

Vesi

[AnticorRifling]

This means you Anticor!

Thanks mom!

We have a joint account that the bill money from each of our checks goes into (bills/2) + 100 from each for rainy day etc and then the rest from each check goes towards our seperate accounts.

[SpunGirl]

My fiancee and I opened a joint checking account the second year we lived together, and we never had an issue with it. I suck at money, and he's very good with it. Besides, it made it easier for me - my check got direct deposited, my bills got paid by Mr. Money-Expert and I learned to curb my spending a little.

Of course, I also trust him implicity, or I wouldn't have married him. But different things work for different people.

-K

[Vesi]

My husband is a lot better handling money than I am. However, he can sometimes be a pain in the rear about it. So, to keep things civil, we chose to have seperate accounts. I have been working and on my own since I was 18, and didn't want to have to 'account' for what I spent. I would have thrown heavy objects at him if he started asking me what a check was for. To each his own. Whatever works best. Too bad some people have to learn the hard way.(like Skirmisher's poor customer)

Vesi

Edited to add: I know all his extra money will go to our daughter because he's that kind of guy. (he has told me that and since I know how much he loves her I believe it) That is one reason I never ask. If it's going to her then I'm happy.

[Edited on 8-20-2003 by Vesi]