What’s a joint bank account?

Essentially it means that two or more people have access to the account, and therefore the money in that account. Both or all account holders can pay into the account and withdraw cash (providing all have permission).

They’re mostly used but either a married couple, or couples who live together, or housemates to pay bills.

What to be aware of…

• If the other people you share with have bad credit ratings, it can affect your score, because by sharing a bank account you will be ‘co-scoring’ – unsure of what a credit rating is? click here – we’ve got a guide for that
  
• The others in the account can see your spending, this may not always be a good thing if you prefer to keep some things private
  
• If you fall out with your housemate/partner, it can be risky
  
• If the account gets overdrawn, it’s everyone’s responsibility which may backfire if one person ends up having to cover another’s debts

But the good news is…

• It’s very handy if you’re paying the same in and the same out, and you’re comfortable sharing money and managing expenses together… it saves the kerfuffle of transferring on each occasion to each other or one person being responsible for all the bills, for example
  
• If any disagreements happen, you can freeze a joint account so that no one can withdraw money (including the person that froze the account)