Best of Question Time: How do I escape a joint account? Save hard, or spend more on my family? Top tips for beginner investors

**Martin Lewis** (0:01)
So you get yourself a cash ice, and you take your cash ice, and you take the three points on the back of the cash ice, and you put the cash ice in the back of the cash ice.

**Dan** (0:05)
Do I stop putting so much emphasis on paying off the debt, and spend a little bit more money spending time with my wife and my son making memories?

**Martin Lewis** (0:14)
This is not the first time I've heard of this scenario.

**Julie** (0:17)
It was like a revelation.

**Martin Lewis** (0:19)
Hello, and welcome to the cunningly named The Martin Lewis Podcast. I do wonder what that's gonna be about. And this is a special best of Question Time episode, where the curator of questions himself, Professor Sir Matthew Burnham Esquire, has chosen his favorite questions that you are Esquire's extremely savvy questioners have asked me on absolutely anything and everything, open brackets within reason, closed brackets.
In this best of Question Time episode, you've asked me, how do I escape a joint account? Should I continue to save hard, overpay my mortgage and invest or spend a bit more enjoying life with my young family? What are your top tips for beginner investors? We have a lovely success story involving a nine-year-old who's doing jobs for her parents for pocket money. I remember that. It really is very nice. Plus, do I find the dead ringers impression of me funny? Play the theme tune.

**Matt** (1:25)
I've got an email from Greg here. He sent it to martinlewispodcast.bvc.co.uk. He says, hello, Martin, Matt. No, Martin, no, Matt.
I think he had a bit of a panic of who to address it to.

**Martin Lewis** (1:38)
Fine. Your question's being read out. You're good. Don't worry, Greg.

**Matt** (1:41)
He says, I have a question on behalf of a friend of my wife's. She, the friend, split from her longtime partner recently. They had separate bank accounts, but a joint account for bills, etc.,
which had an overdraft facility. The account was at zero, but hadn't been closed and was still registered to the house that they shared where she still lives. Recently, she's noticed that the account has gone overdrawn with her ex spending money on his debit card. She repaid this, but before she could close the account or get herself removed, he spent more money to the extent that she doesn't have enough money to clear it. What can she do about this as the overdraft is obviously costing her per day?
Can she get the bank to stop any future transactions from his card? She's panicking over this, and initially, the bank said there was nothing they could do, as he has the right to use the account. However, it's quite clear he isn't going to contribute any money towards clearing the overdraft.

**Martin Lewis** (2:32)
This is not the first time I've heard of this scenario, and it is a very difficult scenario, and it's something that the economic abuse charity looks into. Now, I'm not saying in this case, you know, because let's be plain, in some cases, economic abuse is a form of domestic abuse. That's not what we're saying in this case at all, but this has really serious repercussions on people, especially if they can't talk to their ex-partner. Now, the actual rule is it depends on the bank account, I'm afraid to say. Some banks will allow one person to close a joint account, but then typically that's where it is a one-to-sign joint account, while others require you both to complete a form and submit it. So the simplest thing is if there is still an amicable relationship or at least a cordial relationship between your friend and her ex-partner, that they should have the conversation and they should agree some formula and agree to close the account together. I'm suspecting from the way that you've written this, that is not going to happen.
Now, you can usually remove yourself from a joint account without permission from the other party, but that's only if the account is in credit, so that's not going to work here. Which makes me think probably the strongest thing that she has to do at this point, and you're not going to like this, and I find it uncomfortable that I haven't got a better solution, is that she could ask for the account to be frozen. Now that wouldn't deal with the existing debt, but it should stop more transactions. I think what she should do is she should call the bank again, tell them that she's feeling vulnerable in this situation because she's disempowered from her finances and doesn't know what to do, and would like to know if they have someone she can talk to about her options to try and extricate herself from this situation, which is not a good one and what her rights are. If she feels she isn't being dealt with adequately, and she's notified the bank, and then I do it as a formal complaint, I don't like what I'm saying. I just need to be honest. I don't like that I'm having to come up with this type of solution because it's not a solution. She needs to make a formal complaint and then take them to the ombudsman that they have not followed the consumer duty, that debt is being run up in her name, that she's asked them not to allow it to be run up, and it's continued to be run up after she has notified them. And I would put it as a consumer duty.