Best Joint Account UK: Only Three Apps Actually Offer One
The best joint account UK couples can open comes from three apps: Monzo, Starling and Revolut. Chase and Kroo still offer none. How to pick.
Ask which app is the best joint account UK couples should open and you hit a problem before you get to features: most of the app banks people already use do not offer a joint account at all. Chase has never launched one. Kroo has not either. That narrows the real shortlist to three, and once you know that, the decision gets much easier.
This page covers the three apps that genuinely do joint accounts in 2026, what each one is good at, and the two things almost every comparison leaves out: what a joint account does to your credit file, and the switching rule that traps people who later want to unpick it.
Which app banks actually offer a joint account
| App | Joint account? | Cost | Both need a personal account first? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monzo | Yes | Free | Yes, both holders need a Monzo personal account |
| Starling | Yes | Free | Yes to apply, but you can close them afterwards |
| Revolut | Yes | Free on the Standard plan | Yes, both must be Revolut customers |
| Chase | No | n/a | n/a |
| Kroo | No | n/a | n/a |
Chase says so plainly on its own support pages: “Sorry, we don’t currently offer joint accounts. You can, however, apply to open a Chase account in your own name.” If you and your partner both bank with Chase and want a shared pot, you are opening a second relationship somewhere else. Our Chase vs Monzo comparison goes into what else separates them.
Monzo joint account: the best for shared budgeting
Monzo’s joint account is the one to beat if your problem is visibility. Both of you get a debit card, both get an instant notification the moment either card is used, and the account gets its own Pots, so you can ringfence the rent, the car insurance and the holiday fund inside the same balance.
Two details matter in practice. First, both of you need your own Monzo personal account before you can open the joint one, and one of you invites the other from the app. Second, your personal account stays private: opening a joint account does not expose your own spending to the other holder. Monzo is explicit that the joint account is the only thing shared.
It also is not only for couples. Monzo’s own guidance points out that siblings and housemates open them too, which matters if you are looking for a shared-bills account rather than a relationship account.
The catch: there is no overdraft on a Monzo joint account. If you were relying on an arranged overdraft as a buffer on the bills account, this is not it.
Starling joint account: the cleanest exit route
Starling’s joint account covers the same ground, with Spaces instead of Pots and a Bills Manager that pays direct debits and standing orders straight out of a nominated Space. Both holders must be UK residents aged 18 or over with a Starling personal account to apply.
The quiet advantage is what happens afterwards. Starling does not require you to keep your personal accounts open once the joint account exists. Neither can an existing personal account be converted into a joint one, and Starling cannot add a second person to your sole account, so the joint account is always a fresh account with a fresh number. That is worth knowing before you print stationery or hand the details to an employer.
Like Monzo, Starling offers no overdraft on a joint current account, and some personal-only features such as euro accounts do not carry across.
If you are choosing between the two on the wider app rather than the joint account alone, we have compared them properly in Monzo vs Starling.
Revolut joint account: good app, check the entity
Revolut added UK joint accounts and they work well: two holders, matching physical or virtual cards, and dedicated Pockets you can point recurring payments at. On the free Standard plan there is no monthly charge; the paid tiers carry a monthly fee and add travel and spending perks that have nothing to do with the joint account itself.
Here is the part worth slowing down for. Revolut Bank UK Ltd only exited the regulator’s mobilisation phase on 11 March 2026, when the Prudential Regulation Authority lifted the restrictions on its banking licence. Revolut then began moving its 13 million UK customers across to the bank entity, where eligible deposits are FSCS protected. Revolut’s own announcement adds a caveat most write-ups skipped: customers signing up from 11 March 2026 onwards “may still be onboarded on to an EMI account with Revolut Ltd.”
An e-money account is not a bank account. Your money is safeguarded rather than FSCS protected, which is a different and weaker promise if the firm fails. Before you park a shared emergency buffer in a Revolut joint account, check in the app which entity holds your money. If it still says Revolut Ltd, treat it as a spending account, not a savings one. Our piece on whether digital banks are safe explains the difference in more detail.
What your money is protected by
Deposit protection went up on 1 December 2025. The FSCS now covers £120,000 per eligible person, per banking licence, up from £85,000.
For a joint account that is genuinely useful, because each holder is protected in their own right. Two eligible holders on one account means up to £240,000 of cover on that balance. The trap is the same one that has always applied: the limit is per banking licence across everything you hold there. If you have a personal account with £100,000 and half a joint account with the same bank, those balances stack against your single £120,000 limit, not against separate ones.
The switching rule that catches people out
The Current Account Switch Service moves your payments and redirects incoming ones, and it runs on a seven working day timetable. For joint accounts it comes with two conditions worth memorising:
- You can switch a joint account to another joint account, but only if both holders agree to the switch.
- You cannot use the service to switch a joint account into a sole account.
That second rule is the one that hurts. If a relationship ends, or one of you simply wants their salary and direct debits back under their own name, the switch service will not do it for you. You open a sole account, move every payment across by hand, then close the joint account. Budget a fortnight of admin, not a weekend. There is more on the mechanics in our guide to switching a UK bank account.
The credit file link nobody mentions in the ads
Open a joint account with someone and the credit reference agencies record a financial association between you. From then on, lenders assessing either of you can see and consider the other person’s credit history. If your partner misses payments on a card you have never touched, it can still show up in decisions made about you.
Closing the account does not automatically clear the link. To break it you file a notice of disassociation with each credit reference agency separately, and they will not process it until every joint product between you is closed or moved into one name. Experian takes it online; Equifax and TransUnion have their own forms. Allow around 28 days per agency, and remember that filing with one does nothing to the other two.
None of that is a reason to avoid a joint account. It is a reason to keep the joint account narrow. Plenty of couples run a shared bills account for rent, council tax and utilities, keep their salaries and savings in their own names, and never create a joint loan or joint card. That structure gets you the shared-money benefit with the smallest possible entanglement.
How to choose in one minute
- You want to see where shared money goes. Monzo. Instant notifications on both sides and Pots inside the joint account are hard to beat.
- You want automated bill paying and a clean exit. Starling. Bills Manager plus no requirement to keep personal accounts open.
- You spend abroad together a lot. Revolut, but confirm your account sits with Revolut Bank UK Ltd before you hold anything meaningful in it.
- You only need to split the odd dinner and the food shop. Do not open a joint account at all. A splitting app does that job without touching your credit file, and we have ranked them in the best apps for splitting bills.
For the wider picture of which current account app suits you day to day, see the best banking apps in the UK.
Frequently asked questions
Can you open a joint account if only one of you has the app? No, not with any of the three. Monzo, Starling and Revolut all require both people to be existing customers with their own account before the joint account can be created. One of you opens it and invites the other.
Does a joint account affect my credit score? The account itself is reported like any other account, but the bigger effect is the financial association it creates between you and the other holder. Lenders can factor in their credit history when assessing you. The link survives the account closing until you file a notice of disassociation with each credit reference agency.
Can I get an overdraft on a joint account? Not with Monzo or Starling. Neither offers an arranged overdraft on a joint current account, which is one of the clearest gaps between a joint account and a personal one at the app banks.
How much of a joint account is FSCS protected? Since 1 December 2025 the limit is £120,000 per eligible person per banking licence, so two eligible holders on one joint account are covered up to £240,000 on that balance. Anything else you hold with the same banking licence counts against your own £120,000.
Can I switch a joint account into my sole name? Not through the Current Account Switch Service. It will move a joint account to another joint account if both holders agree, but it cannot convert a joint account to a sole one. You have to open a sole account and move the payments across yourself.
Do Chase or Kroo have joint accounts yet? No. Chase’s support pages still state it does not offer joint accounts, and Kroo offers personal current accounts only. Both have said they are working on new account types, but neither has launched one.
