How do you feel about joint checking accounts, prior to marriage?

[MOB Karen]

I thought this would be a very interesting topic, especially when both of you are working. Please share if you would like to.

[usahgrad]

It wasn't really an issue for me one way or another. I added Jason onto my accounts after we were married (because I was going in to change my name anyways...). We still haven't added me onto his. Doesn't really matter to me. My mother thinks this is strange. She has this strange idea that I should know everything about his bank account. Here's my deal; right now, because he's unemployed, I don't count on his paychecks for the big stuff; rent, bills, etc. HOWEVER, because he works now and then under the table and gets unemployment (only one more of those checks coming in...yikes!) I do expect him to be putting gas in the car and paying for the groceries. If we come to some point where he can't, then the issue won't be his money, it will be the fact that he needs to get out there and hire onto some crappy job he doesn't want to do or we're going to starve. I don't feel I need to know exactly how much is in his account and I think he feels the same about mine.

[WebLady]

I don't know I have mixed feelings on this issue. Before marriage I think it's risky but I guess it depends on the couple, trust and other issues.

My ex and I had a joint acct and kept having problems because he'd forget to tell me he took out money (I took care of the bills and balanced the checkbook) or he'd get mad at me for asking why he did :bbrolleyes:

DH and I do no have a joint acct but his name is secondary on my accts as am I on his ... like in an emergency or death we can get into the other's acct.

ETA - As for knowing what is in his accts I've no clue and I really don't care. As long as he takes care of us and pays the bills, I don't care to know. He takes care of all the bills and most other paperwork and I like it that way ;) My family thinks I am asking for trouble, but I have to trust my husband and our relationship.

[andysgirl07]

We both have separate ones and a joint one. The joint one is our wedding fund (right now). After we get married, we will pay our bills and such from that one. We're keeping separate ones for things like Christmas and birthday presents.

[countrygirl777]

I really believe it has to do with the couple. For my situation, my Husband to be was (and still is) very irresponsible with his checking account. He kept spending and spending not checking what he even had in there, and his account kept going into negative.

So I decided it was best I added him to my account, and cancelled out his old one. He likes it that I take care of the bills and make sure that they get paid on time. As where I am very organized and he is not.

But I know some men are very protective of their money, and they want total control of it. So it really just depends on how trusting you are with each other.

Becky;)

[ikkin510]

Steve and I have seperate accounts right now. Mine pays my bills, and his pay his. He is slowly starting to change the address on some of his accounts to my address. We plan on combining our accounts once we are married. I am better with money then he is so he is glad to hand it over to me. I am a stickler about having to get things paid on time and try to...whenever possible, pay a little extra on everything to pay off the debit faster. He doesn't understand that kind of stuff. We will still have one seprate account that will be his spending money so I don't have to worry about him not telling me how much he spent on what.

[rainbowtreat]

I added Nicholas to my account as soon as he moved in with me. Our money is added together to pay the bills. I work at the bank so I can check every thing day to day to see what has cleared and what has not. But I got tired of dealing with the check book. He figures out the budget each month so it only made sense to me that he do the check book and he is fine with that.

My sister and her husband have different accoutn and when it comes to the kids birthdays and such they buy their own gifts. So a gift is from dad and one is from mom. It hink this is foolish but it works for them.

[WhiskeyGirl]

Pretty well right after we got engaged we made ours joint bank accounts. When I lost my job, I got to use his money, plus I was getting unemployment, but it was never an issue. We were engaged for four months and we bought a brand new $35,000 car together. (we have since sold it and bought two trucks) My parents didn't like the idea of us joining our accounts, but it was my life and we knew that we would be together forever. It was just easier to have the same account and besides if I couldn't trust him then, how could I have married him? The answer is, I trusted him one hundred percent. There just was no reason for his and mine and ours kind of thing. It was and always has been OURS. :) It got to be annoying when we'd go to the grocery store and wonder who was going to pay for groceries this time, so it was just easier to join the two.

[Amber818]

We have been meaning to get a joint one for awhile but stuff always comes up. I am absolutley terrible with finances...just terrible. So I can't wait to close mine and go onto his. All he says is just remember to give me your receipts so I can balance everything! It is going to be so nice....

[Kacie_bride]

We have our own separate accounts right now. We will join after the wedding. It does not matter really because I have no money since I am not working. I have my financial aid money in my account and that is it. I carry around his credit card to use for gas money and I also have his ATM card if I need any cash.

[AngelinLove]

Well, right now we each have our own savings and checking accounts, and we haev a joint savings account (wedding fund). After the wedding we plan to close his savings account and keep our joint savings as a "house down-payment fund", but we will keep my personal savings open as a emergency fund/regular savings account. We decided that we will add each other to our checking accounts, but basically just keep them seperate. Joel handles all teh bills and writing the checks and all that, because if I did we would be homeless, carless, and who know what else, and we just handle our everyday spening and finances differently. So to avoid any major issues, we fingure we will just keep things how they are with the checking accounts, it just works!!!

[theweddinghelper]

We have shared joint accts. for years.(Since we first lived together.)
At first, I had to get used to asking him if he had any receipts everyday bc he would forget to tell me.Now,he makes most of our money and I handle all the finances and bills. He learned to ask me before he bought anything major. I keep him up to date w/ our finances and all is well! :)

[LaceyinPgh]

Sean and I have had a joint account for years. We got it after we moved in together. I was still finishing up schoola nd not working so there was no point in me having an account. But at the smae time I was the one who was always running all the eraands like going for groceries and the dry cleaning. It has worked for us. I know that both of our checks go into the account and I can go and spend whatever I need. No questions asked. Sean handles ALL of the bills. I don't like knowing about the finances. I just want to know that I can have the money to do what I want when it needs done. We also have two joint savings accounts. One was for the wedding and every day occurances and the other is to pay the taxes on Sean's business. My name is on both of those but to be honest when the statements come in, I usually don't even open them. I figure if there is a problem Sean will deal with it. He can handles millions of dollars for other people, I think he can handle ours bank accounts and investments.

[katieandalex]

When my FH and I first moved in together, we had separate accounts and we split everything 50/50. But it became a huge hastle and finally after we had lived together for about 1.5 years or so, we decided to just do a joint account. Its been really nice because then we have a lot more money, its easier to just write out checks from one account and be able to save money for both of our futures.

[Jenn060306]

Mark and i openned an account together prior to the wedding but ended up having to close it because we never had enough money in it. So we just left it with him and his accounts and me with my accounts. I always had his bank card to buy stuff for the wedding and he gave me cash on a regular basis because i paid the bills from my account. We now have a joint account that all the bills will be paid from and we both will transfer a percentage of our pay into.

[brewsells]

We have seperate accounts right now, but plan to get a joint once we are married. I think as long as you have trust in each other, it is fine to get one before hand. Right now, I balance both accounts and it will just be a lot easier to only deal with one.

[countrygirl]

J and I just opened a joint acct this Saturday. He is terrible w money, and I have become pretty good the past year. I will acutally be incontrol of the accts, he will of course have access to them, but he doesn't track his money, and this way, I can do it.

[CindySue]

Brian and I are going to be getting a joint account for household expenses only. The way it is now it that most of the bills are in his name. So I have to give him a check, he has to deposit it, THEN write a check for the bills. If we have a joint account for this, then I can write some of the checks and it separates our money from bill money. Will we ever completely combine all of our money? I dont know yet. We havent really discussed that part.