Hi.

I had a chat conversation with a support employee at bunq, who helped me out greatly. My question was somewhat simple. I just want to have a single bunq account which is legally owned by me and my girlfriend (or any other person for that matter).

So this means that I do not want:

  • A single joint account where we both still need a bunq account, which also means we pay the monthly fee twice.
  • A connected account, because this will not make us both the legal owner of the account.

I want to have a fully functional account in both of our names with all normal features, like easy investment, auto save, salary splitting and all the other features. Why does bunq not support this? It seems like any other (traditional) bank does support this, like the ING.

Why do I want this?
Some people only pay rental expenses together, others share their money according to their income and some people (like me) fully share all financials with their partner. It seems like the last category is not supported by bunq, and why shouldn't it be?

I wouldn't even mind to pay a higher monthly fee for this kind of pack, but I don't see why it would be more expensive.

Please let me know what you think.

Cheers.

    Also, if this is already possible and I'm just incapable. Let me know.

      I think this is only possible by opening two accounts and then create one shared account. You do not need to open other sub accounts.

      But this way you have to pay double, which is far from ideal.

        Yes that’s all I wanted too - but I was forced to open another account that I don’t need or use

          @Maurits-Aquamarine-Akita#237742 What do you mean? Do you mean a joint account? What is a shared account?

          I currently removed all of our personal bank accounts and made 4 joint accounts which will be used instead. This is really not ideal, but it works.

          Please let me know if you meant something else.

            @Victoria-Silver-Swan#237747 I’m glad I’m not the only one. How did you currently set everything up?

              It's true that in order to use a Joint account, you need multiple bunq plans (one for each person). For a single Joint account, two Easy Bank plans suffice, so you could say that a Joint account is priced at around 6 Euros/month at bunq. And if you want multiple distinct Joint account at bunq, you would need Easy Money plans, so everything between two and 25 Joint accounts is priced at around 16 Euros/month at bunq.

              I would like to know: is it just a price question here, do you just want things to be cheaper? Because then I would totally understand you, but at the same time it's a rather obvious ask. As a user, of course I would like all the services that I use to be as cheap as possible.

              Or do you find issues with how the costs are billed to you? Because in that case, well I gotta admit that I don't really see an issue. You just set the Joint account as the billing account and everything will be taken from there (you don't even need to have any personal bank accounts at bunq). Would it make a big difference to have 1x 6 Euro invoice vs. now having 2x 3 Euro invoices? I rather see the advantage of having it distinct, then it's also clear in case there are any incidental costs who is responsible for them. Indeed maybe not a huge deal if you share everything financial with your partner anyway, but calling it "not supported by bunq"? Admittedly, I don't see that. And I'm also using bunq with my wife.

                Easy Bank kostet 2,99. Darin ist eine Karte enthalten. Selbst wenn man nur die Karte nutzt, ist das im Verhältnis zu anderen Banken nicht sonderlich teuer. Deswegen sehe ich das Problem beim gemeinsamen Konto nicht wirklich.

                  @DanielL#237802 Ja, so nutzen meine Frau und ich das auch. Finde das seitens bunq gut gelöst und auch preislich okay.

                    @Jakob-Y#237796 Thank you for your clear reply. Well, the costs are not really an issue because we both still get access to all features on a personal level. The problem is that I just want to have one account with all features under one both of our names, so not two accounts with 10 joint accounts in between (missing some features like easy investment).

                    So basically if you live in a household where you split all bills equally, having a personal account each and one joint account together makes sense. However, if you want to share all finances including investments, automatic savings etc, this is not possible. I'm just missing a joint subscription instead of a joint account between two personal accounts.

                    So basically a EN/OF (in dutch terms) subscription with ALL features included in a normal subscription. Not 10 joint accounts with two personal accounts.

                    Why is this not a thing? That's basically my question. The costs are not really of my concern, because the current structure itself makes no sense to me for couples who share 100% of their finances, like I do.

                    Joint accounts currently make sense for:

                    1. Roommates who share bills together, but pay for their clothing (or whatever) themselves.
                    2. Couples who pay almost all bills together, but still split investments, or personal expenses such as clothing.

                    A joint account does not make sense for:

                    1. People who share 100% of their finances together and do not want to have personal bank accounts.

                    What I would like to see is this is separate subscription for shared finances of two people, which is a really basic feature since every other bank support this.

                      @DanielL#237802 I do not speak German, but I translated your response. Basically, I know how to share an account. But how about auto saving, easy investments, personal request links, different currency accounts, or whatever. I'm just in need of a separate subscription for couples with all features included in a personal account.

                        @Johannes-Red-Panda-463593470#237811 I do not speak German, so I translated your response. I get that you are OK with how you use bunq, but it seems like you are a basic user who probably uses 1/2 bank account(s). But I want to use all features, which is currently impossible as a couple. You would need to use all features on your personal account, which makes sharing impossible.

                          @rauldeheer#237845 Now I understand better 🙂 Yes, you are right. My wife is only interested in the core functionality. Means using Apple Pay in shops and paying online with credit card. Everything else including investment is my job. I would consider us a modern couple, but when it comes to money we are maybe old fashioned 😉 And so bunq works here perfect for us. Our situation is different to what you want.

                            a year later

                            @Jakob-Y#237796 It's true that in order to use a Joint account, you need multiple bunq plans (one for each person). For a single Joint account, two Easy Bank plans suffice, so you could say that a Joint account is priced at around 6 Euros/month at bunq. And if you want multiple distinct Joint account at bunq, you would need Easy Money plans, so everything between two and 25 Joint accounts is priced at around 16 Euros/month at bunq.
                            this thread is a bit older, but i just found it while searching for information and it fits to my request

                            my wife and i would be very interested in going back to bunq and even making it our central bank account. however, when i look at what bunq now charges for a simple joint account, it's really not economically feasible. and we would be quite willing to spend 8 to 10€ a month for a joint account with the features of bunq. But not 18€. For that money, you can get a local contact person somewhere else, whom you only have to call and who then does everything for you, a credit card with a high credit limit, etc.

                            I would really like the old pricing model (anno 2017, 2018...?) or a new one where I can open a "big" account and add my partner.

                              @Michael-ERL#275828 My comment is still true indeed as far as I can see. You can both get Easy Bank and you would get a Joint account and a card of your choice for each of you. Additionally you also both can open a regular private sub-account and take advantage of all the other features in the Easy Bank plan: https://together.bunq.com/d/44002

                                24 days later

                                @Jakob-Y#275841 we are still considering using bunq again. it really only gets interesting with bunq when you use more than one account.

                                what i couldn't figure out from the current account models so far... if i upgrade my account to easy bank and my wife opens an easy money account, can we share only one account or can i also give her access to other subaccounts of my easy bank account?

                                for example, if i set up an account for vacations, one for our free time, or individual savings sub-accounts for our children and have money automatically deposited there each month. can i share these with her as well?
                                (kids are not old enough for their own "real" bank accounts yet, otherwise a bunq pack would be a consideration again).

                                when we first tried bunq 2019 we didn't need a full price account each to cover these scenarios. there was one account for 9.99 to cover it. bunq was really quite close to becoming our main bank connection and we only moved away from bunq because our two employers each had a problem with the Dutch IBAN and it wasn't worth the hassle to us.

                                With the new account models, I honestly don't really know anymore whether 8.99+2.99 is enough or whether it really has to be 8.99+8.99.

                                  @Michael-ERL#276681 You need at least Easy Bank to share accounts. So two Easy Bank (€2,99) accounts is enough to share one Joint account with each other.

                                  You can easily see which feature is part of what plan on https://bunq.com/benefits/