Joint Banking options

Hi,

Myself and my girlfriend are looking to clear some debt and really get a handle on our finances in 2013. Overspenders, I'm afraid.

My situation:
Bank with AIB:
Overdraft - €1,000
Loan balance - €3,500
CC Balance - €1,500
Total Debt - €6,000

Girlfriend's situation:
Banks with Ulster Bank
CC Debt - €2,000
Total Debt - €2,000

So we have around €8K in debt between us. In an ideal world, we'd like to move all that debt to one bank and consolidate it into one loan. I'd like to get rid of all credit cards and work with just Visa Debit going forward.

Our combined take-home pay is €4K per month
Our bills (Rent, light/heat, phone, tv, internet) come to €1K.
We have no car and travel to/from work is by taxsaver so already paid for.

We should have plenty of money, but for some reason do not. I'm pretty sure this is down to a "have it so i'll spend it attitude." Therefore my thinking is as follows:

1) Open a joint account with either UB or AIB and pay both our salaries in there. €4K in
2) Pay all bills from this joint account. €1K out
3) Of the €3,000 disposable income we have left - €1,000 can go towards debt servicing and €1,000 can be transferred into each of our current accounts for living expenses.

The questions are:
- Which bank to open joint account with?
- Whether it will be possible to consolidate our debts and leave one or other bank completely, or would it be necessary to plug away at existing debts until they are gone.

Thanks in advance

While opening a joint account for bills seems eminently sensible, why do you want to consolidate your debt together? Would it not be cleaner to each work towards clearing your own debt?

Myself and the girlfriend are both with Ulsterbank. I joined when there were no fees but we have a work around to avoid them now (we move money between our accounts until we hit the minimum).

We keep our own current accounts seperate and are paid into this. We each put €120 a week into joint account. Rent (€750 a month) and bills come from the joint account.

I just think it's a lot simpler to get paid into your own account and set up a standing order to pay into the joint account.

I know in our situation we don't have any debt but we have built up a surplus of €4k in 2 years. If you have debt you want cleared, you could put more than €120 and I'm sure you could clear it down quick enough.