Closed Accounts Paperwork

Emily_Joy

I wonder for how long one is supposed to keep paperwork after the account has been closed, by switching or otherwise? Is there any difference in terms of papers between current/saving/ISA/credit card accounts?

Zanderman

Emily_Joy wrote: »

I wonder for how long one is supposed to keep paperwork after the account has been closed, by switching or otherwise? Is there any difference in terms of papers between current/saving/ISA/credit card accounts?

It depends on what you think you might need. If you want to keep a convenient record and no longer have online access then X-years worth of paperwork might be worth keeping, for a while. What X is and what a while is is up to you.

If you might need formal records for tax returns then keep several years worth for that. Again if you no longer have online access these will be the only records you have to show HMRC if they ask for proof of something. Unlikely, but possible. I think HMRC suggest 5 years worth of records should be kept.

And there's always the unknown - the next PPI etc - for which records, if kept, would have hastened process. But there may never be another PPI type claiming event.

lindylootoo

Deadfile all your papers and keep for six years. Statute of limitation.......just in case of disputed tax returns; accounts etc etc.
Burn/shred the 7th year,

dcs34

Even after the 5/6/7 years, probably worth keeping at least one bit of paper for each account - perhaps the opening confirmation - with proof of account ID, customer number, etc. as this would make it easier for banks to find your details in the future.

Emily_Joy

In this case it makes sense to feed everything into the scanner, save it on a separate drive which doesn't leave the house and put the papers through the shredder. This would make everything much easier to find.

MovingForwards

Emily_Joy wrote: »

In this case it makes sense to feed everything into the scanner, save it on a separate drive which doesn't leave the house and put the papers through the shredder. This would make everything much easier to find.

Which is fine, unless the drive packs up or gets corrupted, as happened to my brother.

18cc

that's always annoying but rarely a problem you just buy a new drive and restore from your backup.

Emily_Joy

MovingForwards wrote: »

Which is fine, unless the drive packs up or gets corrupted, as happened to my brother.

Perhaps this is a question of lifestyle/habits. To me the probability something gets lost/thrown away among thousands of papers I have is definitely higher then the disk being corrupted. In addition, jpg (image) files are the easiest to recover in case something happens accidentally. Furthermore, I am thinking about having a separate HDD for the documents only...

londoninvestor

Emily_Joy wrote: »

Perhaps this is a question of lifestyle/habits. To me the probability something gets lost/thrown away among thousands of papers I have is definitely higher then the disk being corrupted. In addition, jpg (image) files are the easiest to recover in case something happens accidentally. Furthermore, I am thinking about having a separate HDD for the documents only...

And digital data is easier to back up offsite, through one of various cloud providers.

Unless you photocopy all your paper docs and put a copy in a safe deposit box or similar, it's properly backed-up digital records that safeguard you better against a house fire or burglary.

Sea_Shell

Just wait until the ream of paper from Tesco lands on your doorsteps once those accounts are closed!!! It was a copy of each monthly statement for the whole time the account was open x 2!!! (plus another 2 in DH's name)

Personally i'm going to wait for HMRC to be notified of the interest for those years and, if it matches my records, then shread the lot.

Quite impressed that the interest reported for 2017/18 across all my accounts matches my records almost to the penny!!

agrinnall

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Quite impressed that the interest reported for 2017/18 across all my accounts matches my records almost to the penny!!

Why "almost" rather than exactly? Which was wrong, their reporting or your record keeping, and what was the reason for the discrepancy?