How long to keep bank statements?

alihud

I closed my business in 2009 due to ill health and became bankrupt. That is all sorted now but I've got loads of old bank statements from my business would it be ok to get rid of them now?

agrinnall

Probably, that's 8 years ago and 7 is usually regarded as the time you ought to keep statements. Personally I keep mine a lot longer because they don't take up much room and you just never know when you might need to check something from the dim and distant past. Others prefer to scan and destroy statements, keeping an electronic copy, but I can't be bothered with the faff.

elljay

I closed my business and became bankrupt 3 years ago. I ceremoniously burnt all statements, invoices and other paperwork around 2 months ago. I work on the principle that if the documents are available from somewhere else there's no point in keeping them myself. So if anyone official wants to see my statements they can apply to NatWest - I haven't needed them since discharge. No scanning, no faffing. Moving on.

The OR has seen all she needs to see and my IPA is nearly up. I know there are official recommendations and so on for retention but with tax returns online and so on, I don't see any point in cluttering my house with reminders of when things went wrong - or even when they went right!!!

Robisere

6 Years, although I keep Final Documentation from any closed accounts from longer. Simply the last page(s) which show that the account is closed and finalised.

robatwork

Something to remember is that if you can prove you had PPI 20 years ago, or were missold a packaged bank account 20 years ago, then you can still claim for that now.

The banks conveniently don't (or won't admit it) keep any records beyond 7 years.

Not saying bank records would prove a misselling claim, but there are reasons to keep your own paper records.