Swimming in Paper

[Matterhorn Fan]

Yeah....Maybe next he'll tell us how long to keep bank statements? How about utility bills from old addresses?

The shredding has begun.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Matterhorn Fan

Yeah....Maybe next he'll tell us how long to keep bank statements? How about utility bills from old addresses?

The shredding has begun.

I tend to keep my bank statement for a tax year - really the only reason you need them is to verify that your bank is correctly debiting and crediting your account, so you could probably be safe with a shorter time frame if you are dilligent about balancing your check book.

On the other hand, sometime you will need them to demonstrate your income and cash flow - such as when purchasing property, usually 3 months history is sufficient, but if you have a more irregular pay cycle - i.e. you own your own business, then you will probably need to keep them much longer (three to six years would be the max).

Utility Bills again are only needed to verify payments recieved and charges acrued - if everything is fine, you don't need them. The utilities themselves are only required to keep the stubs 6 months. Depending on your State, there is a statute of limititations of 2 to 3 years to recover costs from erroneous billing, so that would be the maximum you'd need them. I keep mine for 3 months.

Cheers,

€, CRM