I’m about to move in to a flat share with two of my friends. We really want one account with a sort code and account number which we can have our direct debits for utilities/rent to come out of which is in all of our names. None of the big banks, including Monzo allow more than two people on a joint account. I’m not suggesting we allow more than two people to be in a joint account, but almost like a sub account/pot where multiple people can have their name on the account and all equally have access to money to oversee things. Thoughts?
Shared pots coming
In the meantime, try the new version of bill splitting!
Love the idea! Seems like the kind of thing I could use to convince friends to sign up for Monzo too.
Wow, super speedy response! Thanks. I heard of this yesterday I think. I need to check it out!
Game-changer much? It seems no other bank offers this kind of thing. Unless it’s a charity account or a business account…
I had friends do that when I was at uni - so at least a few years ago they were available.
But! Generally if you have a joint account you’re linking your financial records at the credit reference bureaux (which means if one of you has bad credit there might be a knock on effect to others) and you will all become jointly liable for the funds in the account. So do read the small print!
Depending on how joint pots work out, that might be good for you. Otherwise bill splitting (especially if you could split a predicted bill - I’m not sure that’s a thing yet, though!)
Would recommend Acasa in the meantime for keeping track:
DON’T have a joint account with housemates. As mentioned above, you’re financially linked at the Credit Reference Agencies not only for the time you hold the account, but for six years afterwards too, so if your friend decided they want to wreck their credit file, they’ll wreck yours too.
If Monzo create shared pots, somehow, which aren’t legally linked, then great, but the prototypes/concepts we’ve seen before have flaws in that only one person really controls the money, despite anyone being able to contribute, meaning unscrupulous people could just take the funds. Even if withdrawal rights are delegated, there may be probate implications if the controller of the pot dies suddenly.
It will be very interesting to see what Monzo invent. Personally, I’m sceptical about the legal ramifications of shared pots, and would probably consider a powerful bill splitting app.
I’m at university and live in a shared house. We actually have a reasonably good system - one person has an account just for paying stuff and we pay rent + bills money into that and it comes out. I pay some utilities and that comes out of my Monzo account directly so I get reimbursed for that.
I did chat with some friends about this recently - I think we determined that “shared pots” would be a good idea if only to add transparency. Personally, I’m not too worried about legal ramifications - at the moment our one (very trustworthy) housemate could not pay rent for 2 months and then vanish with all the cash!
Disclaimer: no idea if this will happen, I’m not sure of decisions on implementation (if any have been made)