How long to keep statements for?

Lamy_2

How long do you keep physical statements for?
I've read Martin's article which says keep them for more than 6 years but would I be ok if I scanned them all in rather than kept the paper copies?

Neil_Jones

Don't see why not. Bear in mind the banks hold the transaction records for on average about seven years so if the worse comes to the worse you can always get duplicate statements/transaction lists from your bank should you lose all your scans.

TheGardener

scan and shred -, you don't need the paper ones. I've done that for as long as I have had the tech to do it. I do it for all family documents - payslips,P60s,Tax credits claims, bank statements, insurance docs, etc etc...
I have 2 password protected external USB storage thingies everything is backed up on - I keep one at work and one at home and switch them every month so they are never more than a month behind.

agrinnall

I've got all of mine that I get on paper going back much more than 6 years, they don't take up a lot of room. But these days most banks will provide statements in their online banking that can be downloaded as PDFs and saved locally anyway.

dunstonh

I have all mine going back to 1988. All scanned with originals shredded. I dont need them back that far but document storage space is not an issue and they sit nicely in yearly folders.

Terry98

TheGardener wrote: »

scan and shred -, you don't need the paper ones..

I have opted for paperless statements because I do most of my banking online. A few months ago I applied for a mobile contract and they would not accept a paperless statement as proof of identity.

Some banks will not allow you to revert to ordinary statements once you have gone paperless but Nationwide did and I now get paper statements from them just in case!

Lamy_2

I get paper statements for two accounts just in case, for address purposes etc but thanks I will scan and shred the rest.

EachPenny

Just don't rely on electronic copies stored only on the bank's computer systems. There's no certainty you'll have access to them in the future, especially if you close an account.

E.g. Nationwide's tax summary page excludes accounts which have been closed and online statements are not available for closed accounts. Whilst Nationwide are good at sending historical statements (by post) not all banks will be as helpful. You don't want to be a few hours away from tax return deadline and discover you have no idea how much interest was paid on that closed account.

Keeping at least two electronic copies in your own system should be enough. But I would keep any paper copies sent through the post for at least 6 years - the storage space requirement isn't great, and it may save a lot of expensive printer ink if someone asks to see them.