Joint accounts don't work like that

[edible_hat]

I get paid weekly in cash, so I go to my credit union at least once a week (either the branch near work or the branch near home).

A couple of days ago while I waited in line to deposit my pittance, I heard shouting from the front of the line. I try not to pry into other people's financial affairs but this guy made it hard not to listen in.

He was upset because they were charging double the interest on a loan. Or so he thought. The loan is a joint one which he shares with his wife. They get two statements every month - one addressed to her, one to him. By law every person involved in a joint account must get their own copy of the statements (I know this because at the age of 11 I asked my parents why they always got two letters from the bank that handled their mortgage).

Being the man of an... old fashioned... household, he was opening and reading the statement addressed to his wife as well as the one for him. And he thought that they were separate statements, one for each half of the month or something. So he thought the interest debits on the loan were happening twice.

I didn't find out how it ended because it became my turn to do my business with the other teller.

[Javarod]

Interesting, that's not how it typically works here as far as i know (i'm familiar with deposit, credit card and utility accounts, not mortgages), here you get one statement sent to the primary (who's ever name is first) on the account, though i'd expect one can request individual statements.

[Mamadrae]

Where I live you can pick. My husband and I get 1 statement, though I can easily call up and get another and have them start giving me one.

[taxguykarl]

My wife and I have a joint account. It is addressed to both of us.

[wagegoth]

It's a violation of federal law to open someone else's mail, even if they're your spouse.

[edible_hat]

Interesting, that's not how it typically works here as far as i know

The law's probably different. Here, every person involved in a joint account has to receive a statement. Some of my parents' investments are in both their names and they get two copies (one for mum, one for dad) of all the paperwork. Some is in the name of a very small company they set up to get more control over their investments (there are some things that people can't invest in but companies can), for those they get one copy addressed to the company.