How households work

keel is built for households, not individuals. One household covers everyone in it under a single subscription, and all accounts, transactions, budgets and scores are shared between members.

A household member doesn't have to be someone who logs in to keel. If you manage the household finances on your own, you can declare your partner so accounts, transactions and credit reports are honestly attributed to them — without your partner ever needing a keel account.

How it works

Three kinds of member

A household holds up to two members, and a member can be in one of three states:

1. Active — they have a keel account, log in, and see the shared dashboard.
2. Pending invite — you've sent them an invitation they haven't accepted yet. They appear in member lists and pickers straight away.
3. Declared — you added them via "Declare partner" without sending an invite. They appear everywhere a member can, but they'll never log in unless you later send them a real invite.

All three states count toward the two-member cap, and all three show up anywhere keel asks "whose is this?" — the accounts list, the credit-report owner picker, and so on.

Accounts

Accounts belong to the household, not to a person. Each account can optionally be assigned to a specific member — active, declared, or pending — so you can keep track of whose account is whose.

Person attribution

Any transaction can be optionally attributed to a specific household member — it never affects your score or your reports, and couples who pool everything lose nothing by skipping it. See Who spent what — person attribution.

Promoting a declared partner

If you've declared a partner and later want them to log in, tap "Send invite" on their member row. keel reuses their existing record, so every account, credit report and transaction you've already attributed to them is preserved.

Why it works this way

keel is designed around transparency within the household. There are no private transactions and no hidden accounts — everyone in the household sees the same picture. One subscription covers all members, with no per-person pricing.

Declaring a partner exists because real households don't always match who holds a login. A solo user managing everything, a couple where both sign in, and the in-between state where one partner has been invited but hasn't accepted yet are all first-class situations.

Good to know

• Invite accepted with a different email. If you invite your partner at one address and they sign up with another, keel notices. You'll see a notice on your household settings page offering to link them with one tap, and your partner sees an explanation during their setup and is linked to the household automatically. Either path ends in the same place — no support ticket needed.
• Removing a declared partner. Works immediately, since there's no account to contact. Any accounts assigned to them stay in the household; only the ownership label is cleared. Transactions attributed to them stay too — keel just clears the person label, which never affected your reports or score anyway.
• Cancelling a pending invite. Removes the partner from the household and revokes the invitation, freeing their email address so you can re-invite later.
• The same person declared in two households. Two different people can each declare the same email address as their partner. If that person later signs in via a real invitation, they join whichever household actually sent the invite.
• When an invite, declare or remove can't go through. If something stops the action — the email is already in your household, an invitation to that address is still pending, or only the household owner can invite — keel shows a clear message above the form explaining why. It clears as soon as you close or reopen the form, so an old message never sticks around after a later action works.

FAQ

Can I have a personal account my partner can't see? No. All accounts in a household are visible to all members. keel is built on transparency within the household.

Does person attribution affect my score? No, never. It's purely informational.

Can I add my partner without sending them an invite? Yes — use "Declare partner" in your household settings. You can attribute accounts, transactions and credit reports to them straight away.

What if I later want my partner to log in? Tap "Send invite" on their member row. Nothing you've already attributed to them is lost.

Can I be part of two households? Not yet. Each keel account belongs to one household.

My partner accepted the invite using a different email. What do I do? Usually nothing. Both of you will see the mismatch flagged, and your partner is linked to the household using the email they actually signed up with.