Separation and Divorce

This page contains information about how separating from your partner can affect your banking arrangements, and what to consider when separating your finances.

Please note that we can only give general information here. Please contact us if you need more detail about any financial arrangements you have with Al Rayan Bank.

Understand your finances

Separation can have a significant impact on your personal finances. It is a good idea to review your finances to confirm what you pay for individually and what is been paid for from joint accounts. You will need to agree with your former partner on how any bills which were previously shared will be paid going forward. If changes to Direct Debits or standing orders are needed, then this should be done as soon as possible.

Review your Home Purchase Plan

You should contact us as soon as possible to discuss your Home Purchase Plan and options for going forward. You and your former partner will need to review your options and decide if one of you will stay in the property. Whatever you choose to do, this is a decision best discussed as soon as possible.

You will need to keep up monthly payments while you decide how to go forward, and let us know immediately if you think you will have difficulty making payments.

Separating joint current accounts

If you have a joint current account, it is important that you let us know you have separated. Even if you choose to continue sharing a joint account, you will need to let us know about any name or address changes.

If you want to separate your finances, your options for moving forward from your joint account may include:

• Removing one name from the joint account
• Closing the account
• Closing the account and re-opening separate sole accounts

Please contact us to discuss separating your Al Rayan Bank accounts.

Freezing joint accounts

If you have concerns regarding access to or use of a joint account, please contact us to discuss options available to you.

In some circumstances the Bank may be able to freeze the account while you agree financial arrangements with your former partner.

Freezing an account should be given careful consideration. It can protect your money while you agree how to go forward, but it can also affect important regular payments which come from the account.

If an account is frozen, both parties will need to agree to any further payments, withdrawals or transfers from the account.

Savings

If you can reach an amicable agreement with your former partner regarding any joint savings you have, and we can confirm this with you both, you can transfer money from instant access or notice savings into your/their sole account.

If you have a joint Fixed Term Deposit, you will need to wait for your account to mature before money can be withdrawn. We will write to you in advance of the maturity of your account balance to confirm what you would like us to do on maturity. This letter will be sent to the address we have on file for the account, so please contact us to update your address if this changes.