Is a joint bank account actually joint?

 

I ask this because when we moved to South Africa I informed Lloyds TSB by calling into the branch of a change of correspondence address. I was informed to complete a form online which I did and sent off to the appropriate address. A while later my husband received a letter from them informing him that I had done this and did he give his permission (or words to that affect) he was then required to complete a form online also.

The reason I’m thinking about this now is that for 2 years we’ve been trying to change the correspondence address for joint HSBC account also.

The offshore banking part is still sent to the old address. Bank statements are online and a policy in my name only is sent to the new address, but on a recent trip to the UK we both visited HSBC to sort this out once and for all. The Premier Manager changed the correspondence address for my investment account, she also tried to update the joint account details and said she would need to manually enter the details, but when she went into hubbies investment account it automatically changed all the joint account details we have with them to the new correspondence address.

We queried why this had happened with hubbies details and not with mine and were informed he was first named on the accounts therefore it only altered when they amended his details.

It has left me wondering is this purely an alphabetical thing as his name begins with P and mine with S? or is it plain and simple he’s the man, it’s in his name and even in the 21^st Century that I as a woman still need his permission?

In South Africa this is definitely the case I had to have his permission to open an account with Nedbank as joint account aren’t available and he has to sign for all utility bills, insurances, rental agreements etc.