Are there any ramifications to having a joint account?

[Anonymous]

I want to add my girlfreinds name to my checking account.  Not so we can share the account -- but just so we can easily transfer money between our two accounts.  (if her name is on it, then we can do transfers from a web page, instead of depositing checks, etc)

Anyway -- I am pretty sure this would not change anything on my credit report / FICO score -- but just wanted to make sure there is not anything I am missing.

[haulingthescoreup]

Yes, don't do it.

Oh, wait, you mean a joint checking account. No impact on scores, because it's not a credit account.

[llecs]

I'd argue a slight chance if there's an inquiry added. YMMV based on the bank.

However, I also say don't do it. If you default it goes on her credit and vice versa because the account links both of your names. And I'm not saying your friend would do anything wrong, but looking at it differently, she can clear your account and you hers. You may want to study your options further. I know some banks are more advanced than others, but DW and I have seperate checking accounts, but I have the ability to transfer into hers and vice versa. One of my accounts lets me do a transfer to any bank (or within the same bank) and another lets me use a bill pay feature by which the money bounces into any account of my choosing. This comes in handy because a couple of the banks we bank with don't have any nearby branches...ones even in another side of the country. It's easier now to move money back and forth.

[haulingthescoreup]

Good point! USAA lets you move money to another person's checking account at USAA or to an outside institution, even if your name isn't on the account. You have to wait a couple of days the first time to let everything shake out, but once it's established, you can make future transfers in seconds.

[vanillabean]

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@llecs wrote:

I'm not saying your friend would do anything wrong, but looking at it differently, she can clear your account and you hers.

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You can probably drown in a glass of water, suffocate from chewing a pretzel or certainly die from any of those fifty knives in your kitchen, lol. When you ask for a black coffee, why is it needed in this day and age to have a caution hot sticker on it? If you asked for it, you would know!

Marriages and friendships are as disposable as a paper cocktail napkin. You'd rather build up facebook friends than nurture the few that matter. Life wasn't the same hotel cupcake to earlier generations. The divorce rate is double that of 1960. First marriages that end in divorce average about 6 years.

This fact illustrates that a shift in relationships does actually exist. Now it's common to imagine your fiance as someone that can clear your account, and you would still marry that person as long as you have separate accounts, although likely a joint mortage and of course joint children.

DW and I have one joint checking account and one joint savings account. Until a little over a year ago, our only credit card was joint. Now we have a mixture of joint, individual and authorized user, but that's due to scoring rules. A high utilization weighs less on separate cards.

So while credit reports don't know about checking accounts, a highly shared life can handsomely benefit the scores of both. Join what is good, separate what's bad. Which reminds me. Why don't we have a couples and their credit forum?

[llecs]

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@Anonymous-own-fico wrote:

You can probably drown in a glass of water.....

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Hey, it can happen.

All I'm doing is pointing out an extreme. However, I've seen quite a few posts in here of disenchanted relationships whereby one of the two either ran up a card or more or even cleared out a bank account or two.