The best joint bank accounts

Santander Edge current account

Santander’s the only provider that pays cashback on bills and the Santander Edge is  a decent choice if you’re planning on using your joint account to pay for your council tax, energy, water, mobile or TV bills as well as joint expenses.

You can earn 1% cashback on bills paid by direct debit each month, up to £10. It’s not a huge amount, but if you’re paying these bills anyway, it’s better than nothing.

There’s also another 1%, up to £10 a month, on specific household spend via your debit card, such as at the supermarket, fuel and train and bus tickets.

You’ll need to pay £500 into your account each month to qualify for the cashback, and set up two direct debits. 

Now, the catch is, the account costs £3 a month or £36 a year. So you’ll need to spend £300 a month on bills and essential household spend, just to cover the fee. 

This should be doable, with the average Band D council tax for this year costing £2,171, or £180 a month, energy at about £145 a month and water about £45 a month. Those three bills alone would cost the average household £370. 

Another benefit to the Santander Edge account is that you get access to the Santander Edge Saver that pays a top rate of 6% on balances up to £4,000. As a joint account holder you can open up one of these each.

Santander’s Edge Up current account is similar but you can earn up to £15 cashback each month in the two categories. You’ll also get 3% interest up to £25,000. However, you’ll need to pay £1,500 into the account every month and pay a monthly fee of £5 – which will really eat into your cashback so we don’t think it’s worth it.

Club Lloyds

It’s worth a mention for the free 12 month subscription to Disney+, worth around £60.

The Club Lloyds account costs £3 a month but the fee is waived if you pay £2,000 into the account each month. This should be doable between two people and you can take the organisation out of it by setting up standing orders if you need to. 

With the Club Lloyds account you get to pick from four ‘Lifestyle Benefits’ – the Disney+ subscription as I’ve already mentioned, six cinema tickets, an annual digital Coffee Club and Gourmet Society membership or an annual magazine subscription. As with most of these joint accounts, the perks have to be shared – which make some of them less valuable. 

If you fancy more rewards you can actually open up one joint account and each also have a personal Club Lloyds account, giving you triple the benefits.

You can also get access to a 6.25% monthly saver on deposits of up to £400 a month.

Monzo joint account

Monzo bank customers love Monzo (just ask Be Clever With Your Cash senior writer, Zoe!). The app is straight forward and the joint account offers complete transparency so both account holders can see what the other is spending. You’ll also get notifications when money leaves the account and from which person’s card so if there’s an issue with a fraudulent payment, you can see straight away where the problem is.

You also get access to joint savings pots so you can save together.

Now, other banks also offer these features – like Starling – but Monzo’s our pick for best joint account app as offers extras. For example, you can use its shared tabs to keep on top of what you owe each other, say if one of you has covered the food shop from your own account or paid for your upcoming holiday you’re going on together, you can note it down for you both to see. You can also use the app to split bills, say if you’ve agreed to pay different amounts.

You can send payment requests, too. Not only can you send these to your partner if they owe you or the joint account money, but you can use this with anyone else.

So if you went out to dinner with your parter and your mutual friends and paid for dinner from your joint account, you can send these payment requests to the other diners to reimburse you straight back into your joint account.

Because of these extras, we think the Monzo joint account is a brilliant app for managing money as a couple be that within the joint account or alongside it.

Virgin Money Club M Account

The Virgin Money Club M current account costs £12.50 and includes worldwide family multi-trip travel insurance, worldwide family mobile and gadget insurance. However the breakdown cover is just for the account holder. So get this as a joint account and it’ll cover both of you. 

Have a think about how useful the benefits will be to you, for example how often you go on holiday, and whether a packaged bank account is worth it.

You’ll also get 1% interest on the balance up to £1,000, which isn’t worth writing home about, and access to a 2.5% saving account – which you can beat elsewhere. 

Santander Edge Saver

The Santander Edge Saver account is a good option for couples who want to save as the 6% rate can’t be beaten. Yes, it’s only paid on £4,000 per account, but keep the maximum in the account you’ll earn £240 in a year. As a couple you can have one each, so that’s £8,000 in total.

Remember, to get this account you’ve got to have the Santander Edge current account, which charges a £3 monthly fee (though there is a way to avoid the fee)

Generally though, it’s only worth it if you can cover it with the cashback paid on your bills and essential spend or avoid it completely. And the 6% savings rate is only offered for a year.

First Direct Regular Saver

First Direct’s joint account is quite basic but one benefit it gives you is access to a 7% regular saver. 

Regular saving accounts are really worthwhile for saving small and regular amounts – so it’s a great option if you’re starting to save with your partner.

You can pay up to £300 in each month and the rate is fixed for a year. If you pay in the maximum each month you’ll earn £134.50 in 12 months.

First Direct 1st Account

You can get a £250 interest-free overdraft with the First Direct 1st Account, if you’re approved. It’s not a huge amount, but it may help you if you get stuck.

Plus if you switch your joint account to First Direct you’ll get £175 between you plus £45 in cashback.