Can I get a joint savings account for three people? (2024)

Hooo Posts: 16 Forumite

20 April 2015 at 2:44PM in

I have around £80k that I need to keep safe and earn a bit of interest. It's shared equally with my brother and sister. I'd really like to put it in a savings account in all three names, but all the accounts I've found so far specify a maximum of two people.
Does anyone know of an account that allows three?

TakeCareOfThePennies_2 Posts: 111 Forumite
20 April 2015 at 2:56PM edited 20 April 2015 at 3:12PM

Hooo,
There are various ways the question could be answered with varying degrees of complexity (e.g. accounts held in trust, which would require you to find someone to act as trustee for the three of you, someone who you can, well ... trust, as the name implies, because they would be the only person able to manage the account and release money to you three, i.e. "the beneficiaries" ).
You might just make your life easier if you split it three ways today, put it into three separate accounts and get it over and done with ! If you don't trust your siblings not to spend it, you could always pay it into a pension account in their name !
Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best, saves you the hassle of fighting the system or faffing around with paperwork.
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Hooo Posts: 16 Forumite
20 April 2015 at 3:12PM

Well, believe it or not I had thought of that option! There are a couple of reasons why I don't like it. The money is needed to finance an ongoing shared responsibility, and I want to ensure that none of us could decide to "borrow" their share for something else. Also, if one of us dies, their share will have to go through probate, and would have had to have been declared in their will. I would much rather keep it as a single account, but I'd rather not go into setting up a trust.
TakeCareOfThePennies_2 Posts: 111 Forumite
20 April 2015 at 3:17PM edited 20 April 2015 at 3:22PM

Well, believe it or not I had thought of that option!
Fair enough, you never know ! Sometimes the most obvious answers stare us all in the face !
Well, if you fancy fighting the system, next easiest thing to do is find a bank that will allow multiple signatories on an account. Theoretically possible, it should be bread and butter work for any bank, but in today's "computer says no" template banking you'll probably struggle to get past the script-reading hurdle.
bowlhead99 Posts: 12,295
Forumite
20 April 2015 at 5:08PM

Bank accounts can legally be held jointly in more than two names and the general terms and conditions at some banks and building societies will have things like "if there are two owners and one is a non taxpayer you can give us a form to pay half of the interest gross and half net, but not if there are more than two joint owners".
Of course, this doesn't mean that all or even a majority of the accounts at that particular bank or building society will allow lots of joint holders. Probably not the highest-interest paying ones, and obviously not ISAs, and not some of the ones designed to be operated exclusively online where their forms only allow you to input two people's names because they set it up like that due to it working for 99.9% of the customer base and didn't want to over-complicate it, etc.
Nationwide is an example of a firm offering multiple joint holders though you probably have to apply in branch.
Without wanting to pry too much - if the ongoing obligation is a joint mortgage, just set up a joint account with that same financial institution. Or if it relates to jointly held assets like a property, there may be scope to include a maintenance clause in the existing ownership document (e.g. tenants in common deed of trust) which says that the account 12345 at bank xyz in the name of Hooo is to be funded equally and held on trust by Hooo for the three beneficial co-owners ; without creating a brand new set of trust documentation.
Hooo Posts: 16 Forumite
20 April 2015 at 6:09PM

Thanks, I'll give Nationwide a go.
The money is to pay the inheritance tax on a property, so that we don't have to sell it. Unfortunately it's not enough to cover the tax, so I'm planning to use it to pay the tax in installments. Obviously when the money runs out we'll need another plan, but that's a few years away. In the meantime, I want the money kept as a single shared amount, in case something happens to one of us.
KGriff Posts: 185 Forumite
20 April 2015 at 11:10PM edited 20 April 2015 at 11:16PM

Doesn't the payment of the inheritance tax fall within the probate process and administration of the deceased's estate?
Would the firm of solicitors involved, not take the money due, together with a signed instruction on behalf of the three beneficiaries of the property, to make the required payments on the behalf of all three siblings involved?
I am certainly not that knowledgable about probate, but at least you have a method in place where the solicitors firm take control and would be operating on a written instruction of all three.
No one could then withdraw the cash and perhaps seek the legal position of what happens if any of the three die.
The law society covers you if the solicitor goes rogue or if the firm closes the work is normally passed to another firm of solicitors to complete.
I'm not sure if this is a legitimate course of action to take, as it is not an area I have much experience with personally, but it may be worthwhile speaking to the solicitor handling the estate to see if they could suggest a solution to the problem.
I think it would be safer than three signatures on a withdrawal slip and provide more reassurance to everyone involved.

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Can I get a joint savings account for three people? (2024)

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