Keeping bank statements etc.

[headinclouds101]

Not sure if this is the right place to post - but here goes.

I am forever trying to reduce the paper mountain in our house and allways get confused about the right amount of time to hold on to bank/credit card statemnets, household bills, financial papers in general.

Tbh I used to destroy statements as soon as I had checked them. Then someone informed me that this is foolish and they must be retained for 6-10 years. Many books/websites seem to back this up - but the ones I have looked at are American based. I think in the USA everyone has to do a tax return? I am in the UK on PAYE with no income other than earnings so unsure what purpose they might be required for.

Aim to go paper free on all bills and statements in future - but in the meantime trying to get to grips with the papers that have already invaded my space.

What do you wise people do?

"Then someone informed me that this is foolish and they must be retained for 6-10 years."

That's total bollocks. It might be true for the US. It isn't true in the UK.

You don't have to keep anything but the bank do. I think its 7 years for legal documents.

Bank statements, a year at most I would say (unless you are fabulously rich and proof may be needed after your death that you have not made cash gifts to avoid inheritance tax, in which case 7 years would be about right!). I check and shred as I go because I am not fabulously rich and am not planning on taking a new mortgage within the next year. I usually make sure I have one copy just in case I need identification for something.

Bill's and stuff I check and bin or keep the last copy.

Legal stuff like deed poll and marriage/divorce paper work I would keep indefinitely.

I don't keep at lot or else I can't find the important stuff when I need it.

It is advisable to keep bank statements for six years in the UK

Lucinda

That seems to fit in with some of the advice I have been given in the past. I worded my original post wrongly- I think I was told that it was advisable to keep them for that period of time - not that you have
to.

But still confused as to why this is advisable - can see why if self employed or getting taxable perks at work - unsure otherwise? Please enlighten.

The HMRC can investigate your financial afairs and ask you to prove your earnings and expenditure going back many years under certain circumstances.

We have about 15 years of personal financial records (eg bank statements, payslips, contracts, etc and have used them for all sorts of offiicial purposes over the years.

I would say retain 7 years at least although there is no legal obligation to.

I think it is something to do with "Statute of Limitations" If someone forgets to send you a bill for something, they cannot go back further than six years.

" If someone forgets to send you a bill for something, they cannot go back further than six years."

It's not at all clear why a bank statement would help. It's the Limitation Act, 1980 and the issue is whether they have contacted you within the past six years, not the age of the debt itself. See here.

We keep 2-3 years of bank statements, the last years water/gas/electric, everything to do with mortgage, the last years insurance docs unless there was a claim, in which case we hang on to the stuff for a year or 2 more. We have kept every single wageslip, I think they are the one thing you're not supposed to dispose of at all?

Even if you only have PAYE earnings you can be subjected to an Inland Revenue investigation (they may think you have not disclosed all your sources of income say) and they can go back 6 years, so is advisable to keep financial records for this long. You could if you needed to request 6 years of copy statements from your bank, but they will charge an arm and a leg for these. Had a client once who had to get 6 years of copy bank statements, credit card statements etc for a tax investigation and it cost him over £100.

On balance, I find it easier just to keep the paper in a file just in case.