A Secret Bank Account

What will my husband say? No, it's not an affair, or a guilty past. This woman has a secret bank account

 

A new survey reveals one in six people has a secret bank account, hidden from their partner. The majority have at least £2,000 stashed away, while one in 20 has more than £10,000.

Francesca De Franco, 31, lives in Streatham, South London, with husband Matt, 33, and 21-month-old daughter, Sophia. And Francesca has a secret account that her husband knows nothing about...

Saving for a rainy day: Francesca De Franco has been stashing money into a secret account for six years

Every month, a white envelope pops through the letter-box at our ­family home and I race to the door to pick it up.
When Matt is not around, I rip it open, smile as I read the ­contents and then file it away in a box of ­personal papers that I keep in our ­shed. It feels naughty, but gives me a buzz.
Such behaviour in a woman, who has been married for three years, might spark a degree of suspicion from ­onlookers — but I’m not ­having an affair. I love my husband and we’re very happy together.
But what he doesn’t realise is that I’ve got a secret bank account.
Every month for the past six years, I’ve put a portion of my salary into the account and have left it there. Nobody but me and the bank manager will ever know how much money I really have.
Some people might find this behaviour duplicitous.
Lots of couples share their finances, others have joint accounts for bills, but keep their own account for their own purchases and have few financial secrets. But I couldn’t bear that.
Having a secret bank account is my way of having independence. It’s by no means an escape fund, I love being ­married to Matt, but it represents a level of security that means if something did go wrong, I know I’d be OK.

I’m sure my need for financial security comes from my childhood. My father, who is Italian, was careful with money. He worked for a fine wine and food importing business and had many investments.
My mother was a housewife while my brother and I were growing up, and stayed at home looking after us for 16 years before training to become a nursery nurse.
She never knew how much money she had in her purse and it used to drive my father mad. She was financially ­dependent on him and, although it never caused friction, I was aware that she didn’t have her own money.

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She would have to ask him for cash to go to the supermarket or pay the bills and I remember thinking, even then, I don’t want to have to ask s­omeone else for money.
As a girl, I received £2 pocket money — two crisp green notes, which I loved. My mother opened a ­savings account for me when I was four and I used to make my ­grandparents roar with laughter by carefully depositing my pocket money every week, as I loved to see the ­balance grow.
So, I grew up regarding money as a form of security.
We never lived on the breadline, but I recall seeing my father poring over his bank accounts. He used to say to me: ‘Spend when you can, save when you have to save.’
As a result, I’ve never been a spendthrift.
I’m not into shopping or spending money on what I think are needless things. But Matt loves to spend and is extremely generous.
He often buys me surprises. Recently, he bought me a beautiful ­gingham Karen Millen dress and a teal-coloured belted woollen cardigan. We met through work and have been together for five years. Even when we were dating, I had a secret account from him.
When we bought our two-bedroom house four years ago, in Streatham, I amazed him by producing £20,000 that he didn’t even know I had.
I’d been saving in the account for years and this money meant that we could put down a good deposit.

Financial affair: Is your partner squirelling away money for a rainy day? A new survey reveals that one in six have a secret bank account

We bought it before the crash and, even though mortgage companies were willing to lend us a 100 per cent mortgage, that made me feel insecure.
I’ve never had a financial ­crisis because I am so ­careful with money and always know how much is in my five accounts. I bank online and ­constantly keep tabs on my money, moving it around according to­interest rates.
I don’t do this with my ­current account, but with ­savings and ISAs I always look out for the best deals.
Even as a student I was ­careful. I took a humanities degree at Nottingham Trent ­University and emerged with a low student debt — £3,000, which I paid off quickly. I started work straight away, ­earning about £15,000 a year, which was a good ­salary for a new graduate.
Our attitude to money is a big difference between Matt and I — and it has caused friction. I can’t bear wasting money. I always pay off my credit card bill in full, but Matt doesn’t, even though he could afford it.
Recently, I noticed he was ­paying only the minimum amount on a credit card. The balance was about £500, not a ­fortune, but he was paying the minimum of £17 and the interest alone was £8. I told him to pay it off immediately.
My biggest financial nightmare is buying our next house, over-­stretching ourselves and interest rates soaring. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if that happened.

Would he be angry to know that I am ­squirreling money away in a separate account? I hope not.
I have several thousand hidden away and it’s growing all the time. The highest it has been is £25,000 and I transferred that into an ISA so I couldn’t touch it for a year.
I regard my secret stash as ‘me’ money — it is primarily so I can save a deposit for our next home, as well as for luxuries, such as massages and lovely presents.
I like to know that if something ­unexpected comes up, I can cope.

From Dailymail.co.uk Posted by Mags