What is a joint bank account?
Joint bank accounts aren't just for couples – friends, housemates and business partners might also want to share an account to make managing finances easier.
What's crucial is that these accounts are easy to access, with great customer service and account perks.
Here we reveal the best joint bank account providers and explain how to deal with common issues around earning interest, debt and mental incapacity.
If you're looking for our full bank account reviews, see our guide to the best banks.
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Best joint bank accounts
All of the banks and building societies in the table below let you set up a joint account as either-to-sign (where any account holder can authorise transactions).
We've also shown you those that permit both-to-sign joint accounts (where all account holders must authorise transactions).
Accounts are listed alphabetically but you can sort by other columns by clicking the three horizontal lines icons.
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER Starling Bank | 83% | 2 | No | No |
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER First Direct | 82% | 2 | Yes | No |
eco buy Nationwide Building Society | 78% | 2 | Yes | No |
Dankse Bank | 76% | 2 | No | No |
Barclays | 74% | 2 | Yes | Yes |
Halifax | 74% | 2 | Yes | No |
eco buy The Co-operative Bank | 73% | 3 | Yes | No |
Table note:Data correct as of October 2023. Triodos Bankis also an Eco Provider that offers joint bank accounts, but isn't on this table because it didn't receive the minimum number of respondents for a customer score. Customer score: Our rating for customer satisfaction, based on feedback from real customers. The score is made up of a customer's overall satisfaction with the brand, and how likely they are to recommend that brand to a friend. We surveyed 4,550 members of the general public in August 2023. Our full table includes scores and star ratings for all banks.
Joint bank account provider reviews
Starling and First Direct are the only Which? Recommended Providers for current accounts and both banks earned five stars for customer service and complaints handling following our most recent survey.
A joint Starling account
You can only apply for a joint Starling account once both parties have opened a personal account first. This can be done in minutes by downloading the Starling app from the official Google Play store or Apple Store.
Once you both have an account, you can request a new joint account directly from your Starling app and follow the instructions.
Starling pays 3.25% AER (variable) interest on balances up to £5,000 and is fee-free for foreign withdrawals and debit card purchases.
Its five-star rated app has various useful features such as Saving Spaces (to track your savings goals), spending insights and analytics, and a Bills Manager. If you're a parent, you can apply for a Kite debit card for your child and manage this from your joint account.
A joint First Direct account
The First Direct 1st Account can be opened online as a joint account by UK residents aged 18+ in around 10 minutes.
It's an account with lots of perks: a £250 interest-free overdraft (though it charges a whopping 39.9% EAR thereafter); no fees for foreign debit card purchases and cash withdrawals; and access to a Regular Saver paying 7% on monthly deposits of between £25 and £300, fixed for 12 months.
First Direct regularly offers a generous switching incentive (at the time of writing, it paid a £175 welcome bonus if you used the Current Account Switching Service and paid in at least £1,000 within three months) but the offer is limited to one payment per account or joint account.
You can pay in cash and cheques at branches of parent bank HSBC. If you have accounts with both brands, keep your total deposits below £85,000 so that your money is fully covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Watch: why should you get a joint bank account?
Can a joint bank account affect your credit rating?
Yes, joint accounts create a financial link between you and any other account holders – known as 'financial associates' – meaning prospective lenders may look at their credit report as well as yours when assessing applications.
If you share a bank account with someone who has a poor credit history, it could make it more difficult for you to get credit, even in your own name.
Warning
Joint bank accounts and debt
No matter who pays in and who spends what, each account holder is jointly responsible for any debt.
If you've agreed to an either-to-sign joint account, any account holder can increase or decrease an overdraft without the permission of the other(s).
The bank could pursue any account holder for an overdrawn balance, even if they were unaware of it.
- Find out more: How to pay off your debts
Disputes and closing a joint bank account
What to do in a dispute
If there's a dispute, you must tell your bank immediately.
After being notified of a disagreement, providers will register the dispute and either freeze the account or switch it to 'both-to-sign' so that it no longer accepts instructions from just one account holder.
This means that debit cards and cheque books are blocked, and access to online or telephone banking is suspended until the dispute is resolved, or you both agree to close the account.
In some cases, direct debits and standing orders are automatically cancelled, so you may be advised to open a new sole account to cover essential bills.
What to do if you want to close an account
Some providers will let one person close a joint account, as long as there isn't a dispute registered. But otherwise, you'll both need to sign and send an account closure form or visit a branch together.
You won't be able to close an account until any overdraft has been paid off.
Your bank or building society will also need to know how the money will be distributed between you, and what should happen to any standing orders or direct debits.
Remember that details of all financial associations will remain on your credit report unless you tell the credit reference agencies otherwise.
Contact all three agencies – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion – to issue a 'notice of disassociation'. This means that the other account holder's financial circ*mstances won't affect your credit applications in future.
Joint bank accounts and 'mental incapacity'
Providers in England and Wales may freeze a joint account when one person loses mental capacity, unless a power of attorney is already in place to make decisions on their behalf.
This is designed to protect the vulnerable, but it can take several months and a lot of money for a deputy to be appointed by the Court of Protection.
This would involve temporarily blocking debit cards, withdrawals, online banking and even direct debits – only Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks, Co-operative Bank, First Direct, Nationwide, Post Office, Santander, TSB and Virgin Money told Which? the account would remain in full service for the other account holders.
In Scotland, banks must automatically allow the other account holders to carry on using the account under the Incapacity Scotland Act 2000, provided it was set up on an either-to-sign basis.
In Northern Ireland, practices vary between banks.
Set up Power of Attorney with Which?
With Which? Wills, you can set up Power of Attorney and get support from our legal experts as you go through the application process.
Visit our Power of Attorney site and see how we can help you get the peace of mind you're looking for.
What happens to a joint bank account when someone dies?
When an account holder dies, money held in joint names usually passes automatically to the surviving account holder, which means that they are still able to access the funds, and probate is avoided.
Under Scottish law, a deceased's share doesn't pass automatically by survivorship to the remaining owner, but the bank may allow them to continue to operate it.
After receiving the death certificate, the bank can transfer the account into the surviving party's sole name, although any existing overdraft facilities may be reviewed.
The tax implications can be less straightforward:
- If the account is held by spouses or civil partners, the money is usually exempt from inheritance tax (IHT);
- For anyone else – such as unmarried partners or other relations – HMRC will want to know how much money was deposited and withdrawn by each owner, and any IHT due must be paid by the beneficiary.
For example, if a son or daughter operates a joint account on behalf of an elderly parent, and never contributed to the account, all of the money will be treated as part of the deceased's estate.
- Find out more:How to reduce your inheritance tax bill
What you need to know when opening a joint bank account
You can usually add someone to an existing single account to convert it into a joint account - you might both be asked to visit your local branch, and a standalone credit search will need to be carried out on the new party.
If you want to open an additional joint account, some banks will let you do this online as well as in a branch. Either way, you'll need to provide income and employment details, as well proof of your identity and address.
While some banks will only let two people open a joint account, others have no limit, as you can see from the table below.
Each joint-account holder must sign a document called a mandate that sets out how the account will be set up:
- Most joint accounts are operated on an 'either-to-sign' basis, where each account holder can give payment and withdrawal instructions independently.
- A few banks allow you to run the account on a 'both-to-sign' basis, where each account holder must authorise transactions.
Both-to-sign accounts can be useful for small businesses and charities, but they're impractical for most people because each account holder must sign every cheque and give permission for withdrawals (either in-branch or by both going through security checks over the phone).
Most of the big banks let you operate joint accounts online and via mobile banking apps, assuming it's set up on an either-to-sign basis (if both-to-sign, account holders must typically transact together in branch and therefore not through online or mobile banking).
Once you've set up a joint bank account with someone, you'll each be given individual usernames and passwords to access the account.
Find out more:How to be safe when banking online
Many of the best savings accounts can be opened in joint names.
Having two of your can also help make the most of current accounts that pay high interest.
Banks tend to let you hold just one interest-paying current account in your name alone, but you can open an additional account in joint names.
Bank of Scotland is an exception - you can add 'Vantage' to a maximum three accounts per person (six between two people) to earn interest.
- Find out more:How to find the best savings account
Unlike interest-paying accounts, there's little to be gained by opening multiple cashback current accounts, as banks tend to restrict benefits - for example, Barclays customers can only hold one Rewards Wallet each.
However, a joint account is a good way of getting more value from a packaged account, as you'll both be covered, but will pay just the same monthly fee between you.
The introduction of the personal savings allowance (PSA) in April 2016 means that annual interest from bank and savings accounts is now tax-free up to £500 for higher-rate taxpayers and £1,000 for basic-rate taxpayers.
Where two joint account holders are in different tax brackets, HMRC told us that half of the interest earned is attributed to each account holder, and then set against their individual PSA.
For example, if the account earned £500 in interest, the basic-rate taxpayer's remaining tax-free allowance would be £750, while the higher-rate taxpayer's allowance would drop to £250.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is the safety net that pays compensation to you in the event that your bank or building society goes bust.
Accounts held in joint names benefit from double the protection in the event of a bank going bust - because the FSCS assumes that each account holder holds an equal share.
This can be useful for couples, because a two-person joint account would be covered up to £170,000 in total (£85,000 per person), assuming neither party had any other savings with that provider.
However, if you have a joint account with an elderly parent for example, half of the money is still 'credited' to you for FSCS purposes, so make sure this doesn't mean your total savings with that bank (from your other accounts) exceeds the upper compensation limit.
Things get even trickier when banks operate under the same licence. For example, if you had a joint account with First Direct and a sole account with its parent bank HSBC, you would only be entitled to claim compensation of up to £85,000 across the two if it collapsed.
Use our FSCS protection tool to check if your bank shares its savings protection limit.
