Regarding financial information - potential issue

[Kaycee8486 0]

Hey all, this community has saved my butt through my whole journey because I have read all the wisdom from you wonderful people.  Now I'm looking for some advice specific to me.  My husband (the USC) and I have been happily married over 2 years and have blended our lives together quite well.  It's now time for ROC filing and I have run into something I believe may be a potential issue.

 

We have 2 joint bank accounts (checking and saving) and are in regular use for bill payments and other life expenses (entertainment, food etc).  We also have shared credit cards, and our taxes have been filed jointly.  Sounds like no problem, right? 

 

Well, there is a second bank account my husband had before we even knew each other and he's never switched his pay deposit, and because we work different shifts (I work 9-5 and he works 3-11), we haven't found time to put my name on the account.  Our rent comes out of there (from his pay) because our shared account is a no-frills one that doesnt have check ordering available.  I want to include this information in my covering letter because it's not something we're hiding, it's literally just laziness that we haven't added me, and it's not a necessity because we have readily accessible funds through the joint accounts and credit cards, but I also don't want to provide any kind of opening to have them ask deeper questions via rfe because it will delay the process, however if they go through every statement I send them they will notice only one pay deposit and no rent payment withdrawals, so I feel there should be an explanation provided.

 

Additionally, he has poor credit and I have been able to build some on my own (started with a $300 limit capital one card), so our car is only in my name.  I can add his name to the title, but again the DMV hours suck and the lines are long (I've tried 3x to do it on my lunch break).  I'm less concerned about that because everyone can understand that poor credit makes it near impossible to get auto financing (we had his name on the app but it made the interest too high so we did it under my name for a lower rate).

 

I'm really just looking for feedback on the bank account question.  I feel we have sufficient proof of good faith, and we can't be the only couple with a situation like this?  

 

Thank you in advance - I wish you all the very best and hope.for a.speedy and smooth process.

 

[geowrian 22,335]

You get to choose what evidence you want to show. Only show what helps you present a good case.

There's nothing wrong with not disclosing an account.

It would be better - IMO - to have the account shared if you share the funds, but it's not an issue if you don't do things that way either.

Edited November 17, 2018 by geowrian

[agrabs 237]

 I had a similar situation.  My husband and I have a joint account that his pay is deposited in and that we pay a couple of our bills from.  I also have an account from my previous life that only my name is on and  my pay is deposited in.  I pay most of the bills  or transfer money from this account into our joint account.  At roc I only sent bank statements from our joint account.  ( i sent one from each quarter from the time we married until ROC). If both your names are on the lease send a copy of the lease showing that  instead of showing the rent payment.    We had no problems with this, but i made  sure I included everything I could think of that showed how co-mingled we were.  Wills are great evidence and if you don't have one you should.  (we used Legal Zoom and it was easy and reasonably priced)  Also, send evidence showing each other as beneficiary on life insurance, 401k/retirement plan, health insurance, car insurance cards, etc.  

[br9k 23]

Some people prefer to keep finances separate. As a case in point, when my ex-wife was applying for AOS (which has been a few moons ago, but not so long that rules would have changed), we had no joint accounts. We did have a child in common, which might have helped. Still - lack of joint bank accounts is not an obstacle if you have sufficient evidence of bona-fide marriage. (I hope this discussion will not turn into the usual pro and con joint accounts - it's an individual matter, and veracity of one's marriage is not decided based on that)

[Kaycee8486 0]

Thank you all for the feedback.  As usual, I am just being overly paranoid for no reason.  We have more than sufficient proof that our relationship is real.  I very much appreciate your opinions and reassurance.

[Stevephoto 224]

 

18 hours ago, agrabs said:

 I had a similar situation.  My husband and I have a joint account that his pay is deposited in and that we pay a couple of our bills from.  I also have an account from my previous life that only my name is on and  my pay is deposited in.  I pay most of the bills  or transfer money from this account into our joint account.  At roc I only sent bank statements from our joint account.  ( i sent one from each quarter from the time we married until ROC). If both your names are on the lease send a copy of the lease showing that  instead of showing the rent payment.    We had no problems with this, but i made  sure I included everything I could think of that showed how co-mingled we were.  Wills are great evidence and if you don't have one you should.  (we used Legal Zoom and it was easy and reasonably priced)  Also, send evidence showing each other as beneficiary on life insurance, 401k/retirement plan, health insurance, car insurance cards, etc.  

Our situation was very similar: My old business/work account and our new joint account. We had plenty of other supporting documents like agrabs mentioned and had no problem. Good luck.