[JillyArmeen]

I'll be living in a student house in 2nd year with 7 other people. We've already sorted out our water and tv licence, but none of us want the gas/electricity bills to be in our name. I would just put it in my name to get it all over with, but I'm just not confident in the fact that every one of those 7 people is going to pay me on time. Had a look at Glide, but they seem very expensive. Any advice on what we could do/what our options are?

[Ayshizzle]

(Original post by JillyArmeen)
I'll be living in a student house in 2nd year with 7 other people. We've already sorted out our water and tv licence, but none of us want the gas/electricity bills to be in our name. I would just put it in my name to get it all over with, but I'm just not confident in the fact that every one of those 7 people is going to pay me on time. Had a look at Glide, but they seem very expensive. Any advice on what we could do/what our options are?

Nope, put the bills in everyones name. That makes it fair.

[NavyStripes]

This may not be an answer to your question as you've already sorted some of the bills out but I just finished second year and what me and the housemates did worked well. We went to the bank when we moved in and set up a joint account where we each paid rent and a set monthly amount into. All rent and bills then cams out o there, as well as money for toilet paper and cleaning products etc. As we could all see it on online banking, we could check up on the balance and trust each other. At th end of the year, once summer bills are paid, we can split the amount left over ready for when loan money is running out.

[ily_em]

(Original post by NavyStripes)
This may not be an answer to your question as you've already sorted some of the bills out but I just finished second year and what me and the housemates did worked well. We went to the bank when we moved in and set up a joint account where we each paid rent and a set monthly amount into. All rent and bills then cams out o there, as well as money for toilet paper and cleaning products etc. As we could all see it on online banking, we could check up on the balance and trust each other. At th end of the year, once summer bills are paid, we can split the amount left over ready for when loan money is running out.

What bank were you with? We couldn't find one that would let us have an account with more than 2 people's names on it

[JillyArmeen]

I've heard that joint accounts are a bad idea as if the people you're in a joint account with get bad credit rating in the future, you're still linked with them and their bad credit rating can affect you. Also, I don't think all 8 of us can have a joint account

[NavyStripes]

(Original post by ily_em)
What bank were you with? We couldn't find one that would let us have an account with more than 2 people's names on it

We are with natwest which originally said we could have all 5, then said only 2 but as we had previously been told 5 would be okay, they allowed us with 4 so i am not on it but we get statements through the post so its okay and i trust them.

(Original post by JillyArmeen)
I've heard that joint accounts are a bad idea as if the people you're in a joint account with get bad credit rating in the future, you're still linked with them and their bad credit rating can affect you. Also, I don't think all 8 of us can have a joint account

I hadn't actually heard this before and nobody mentioned it when we started that but tempted to check that up. I guess credit rating is affected if people dont pay you for whats coming out of account privately.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S5830

[thecrimsonidol]

I'm with Glide and they are good. A bit more pricey, but they over-charge you, so you may get some money back at the end if you havent used your full quota of supplies. And their service is good.

[EGjeff]

Used Glide in my second year, they're effective at what they do but as you've noticed, you obviously you pay a little bit more for the priviledge! We did get some back at the end of the year but christ was it an effort, took months.

What we did in third year, roughly worked out how much it would come to per week and overcompensate a little bit - each person set up a direct debit for xxx amount into one persons account (used for bills only), at the end of the year anything that was left was distributed back out.

Just have a stern word and make it clear that you won't have any pissing around when it comes to paying, if they're all your friends they'll understand

[Pawsies]

ecotricity.


great customer service and for £20 extra a year you can have pure green energy which is great.

check them out

[tsnake23]

(Original post by NavyStripes)
I hadn't actually heard this before and nobody mentioned it when we started that but tempted to check that up. I guess credit rating is affected if people dont pay you for whats coming out of account privately.

Yes its true, your now financially linked to the people that you held the joint account with even if you've since closed it.

It means that any time in the future, if one of the other people that was on the account has a bad credit rating (e.g. they don't pay their phone bill, credit card bill in a certain month) then everyone associated with their account has their credit rating negatively affected.

To get rid of them from your credit rating you need to request a financial disassociation for your credit report with the 3 credit agencies. Search Google for how to do this.

To OP: whatever you do, don't create a joint account to share bills.