Just cancelled a store card: Can I shred the statements?

testpie

I have just cancelled a store card I haven't used in nearly a year, and on which the balance is zero, and just wanted some advice on whether or not I can shred all my statements and documents relating to it once the cancellation letter arrives?

If it came to it, and the company suddenly decided my latest statement (dated a year ago) was incorrect, and that I owed them money, would a cancellation letter alone stand up in court?

lisyloo

What if you have a problem with an item, want to prove purchase and have lost the receipt?

The strict answer would be to keep them for 6 years as that's the legal limit.

Personally I tend to keep my receipts and statements for about a year unless it's an expensive item in which case I keep it as long as necessary.

It's unrelated to card cancellation but you may wish to prove purchase if there is a defect in an item or your are burgled and you want proof for your insurance.

Clearly your statutory rights for defects are different for a pair of socks than for an expensive watch so you have to use your judgement on when to discard.
I don't keep receipts for clothing for very long, but TVs, watches, jewelry get kept a long time. You can of course also use the individual receipts, so if you have those for everthing then are confident nothing will be disputed then throw them away.

methusala_2

If your computer literate then scan the receipts in and save em to CD. They wont eat anything or cost anything to sit in the CD rack but they'll be there forever. All you need when making a claim is reasonable proof you bought the article at that shop and a photocopy of the shop receipt is good enough.:)

hollydays

you should keep these things for 6 years.