Do You Really Need To Keep Your Old Bank Statements?
The question of whether to keep your bank statements or not cause a lot of confusion. There are some people out there that say you don’t need to bother, especially as you can access them online, while others say that you should keep everything you get and never dispose of it. Some people land in the middle and say that you should keep things for a certain amount of time before getting rid of them.
The truth is, you don’t necessarily need to keep everything and if you only get digital statements, you don’t need to worry because everything is stored for you. However, you should be looking at your statements regularly and if you still get paper copies, it’s good practice to keep them for a certain amount of time. This quick guide will tell you everything you need to know about dealing with your personal bank statements.
Why Should You Check Statements?
A lot of people don’t see why you would bother looking at bank statements in the first place because you can easily see how much is in your accounts by using online banking. But it’s worth delving deeper and looking at the specific transactions because there might be mistakes you have missed. You could have been charged twice for something or be paying late fees on a credit card when you shouldn’t be. Checking your statements regularly helps you maintain control and avoid any problems.
The other reason that it’s good to check your statements is that it gives you an insight into your spending habits and helps you cut your everyday costs. You might not realize just how much you spend on small expenses that add up over the month. When you see it all laid out in front of you, you’ll be more likely to cut out those bad habits, which means you’ll have more money in the long term.
Should You Keep Old Statements And How Long For?
Keeping statements is useful for a number of reasons. You may need them to file your taxes and it’s a lot easier if you have them all there and you don’t need to request copies from the bank. It’s also worth keeping statements for big purchases as proof of purchase. These will come in handy if you need to make an insurance claim later on, for example.
In general, you should keep the paper copies for a year or so before destroying them. The only exception to this is anything that shows a tax deduction of any kind. If you get audited, it’s useful to have these documents. When you do come to destroy them, use a paper shredding service to make sure that they are disposed of safely and you don’t open yourself up to fraud. Criminals only need a few details to assume your identity and a bank statement is a goldmine for them.
Whenever you have statements in the house, keep them in a safe or a locked drawer in case you get burgled. If you have digital copies stored on your computer, always keep them in a password protected folder.
Hopefully, this has cleared up any questions that you have about bank statements and what to do with them.