A Joint bank account helps you greatly in managing your finances when you are in a relationship. Though couples don’t want to share everything, it is always a good idea to have a control on the finances when you are paying your bills together or repaying a joint mortgage. Some people may not have a clear idea about how a joint account works and its benefits. If you are one among them, then here are a few things that you need to know about joint accounts.

What is a Joint Bank Account?

As the name suggests, a joint bank account is a financial asset that is owned by two or more individuals. All the account owners will have access to the account. A joint bank account is common among couples but there are other situations where people opt for joint accounts. Senior Citizens can open a joint account with their caretaker so that the care taker can take care of paying their bills. Opening a joint account might look like a logical step after you get married or after you start living with your partner, but there are many things that you need to consider before opening it.

Joint Bank Account Benefits

•Easy Budgeting -  Having a joint bank account will help you in streamlining your expenses. It facilitates easy budgeting and also makes the expenses more transparent. Payment of bills is very convenient and easy with a joint account, each of the account owners can deposit a certain amount of money in the account for the payment of utility bills where one check is sufficient to pay the bills. Also you can use this account to save money for family holidays and vacations. •Convenient Money Handling – Any one of the account owners can write a check or use a debit card to pay the monthly bills. This will help when your spouse is not in town and you need money urgently, provided that the joint bank account does not need both signatures on a check. This would have been a big problem if you maintain separate accounts and the money is in your spouse’s account. You would then need to wait until your partner comes home for  him/her to write the check or get the cash. A joint bank account makes money handling simpler and easier.

•Accountability – Most of the time we lose track of our expenses and we can tend to overspend. Once you have a joint account, it means that you are both automatically responsible for keeping track of the money in the account. This will keep a check on your expenses and your partner’s as well.

•Other benefits – A joint bank account also provides several non economic benefits. Some of them are that it encourages more transparent communication about finances. It increases the trust between the newly married couple as you work together to meet financial ends. It creates a feeling of “our” money rather than “my” money which in turn results in a strong relationship. No more fights over splitting of bills.

Joint Account Drawbacks

•A certain amount of risk is involved in maintaining a joint bank account. Banks don’t really care about whose money it is in the joint account. As long as the money is in the account, the account owners are responsible for all the transactions associated with it. If the co-owner of the account writes a bad check, then you are also responsible for the returned checks as joint owner of that account. Also if your co-owner is the subject of a law suit, then his/her creditors can confiscate the money in the account even if the money belongs to you.

•Selecting a Bank – Selecting a bank is very important when you open a joint account. Here is a list of banks that offer the best joint accounts in the country.

1.Bank of America.
2.JP Morgan Chase.
3.Wells Fargo.
4.U.S. Bank.
5.Capital One.

All the above mentioned banks provide great service and you can also maintain your joint account online with them. There are also many local banks that offer joint accounts with many features. It is always better to do some proper research and comparisons before opening a joint bank account.

Opening a joint account has lots of benefits and it makes your budgeting much simpler and easier. However this type of account will only be successful as long as the partners are trustworthy and the relationship is going well. If you are married and are looking for a way to manage your family expenses in an organized manner, then a joint bank account is the way forward for you.