 TITLE: How Long Should You Keep Bank Statements? CONTENT: Is It Necessary to Keep Your Financial Statements?\n--------------------------------------------------\nIt's possible to access past statements without keeping copies yourself, but you may choose to keep your own statements on file anyway. Your financial institution stores information in their system for multiple years, and may be able to provide you with copies of older statements on request. You can also request past copies of the statements you normally receive by mail, sometimes for a fee, by contacting your bank or card company.\nThe length of time your financial institution will store these records—and make them available to you—varies, so it's a good idea to do a little research on your bank's policy. Some card companies only provide online statements for the previous 12 months, for example; you may have to do extra legwork or pay for missing statements and wait a few days or weeks to get anything beyond that.\nSome banks, including Wells Fargo, retain account statements for up to seven years on checking, deposit, home mortgage, trust and managed investment accounts. At other financial institutions, five years is the norm.\nIf you've used your financial statements to back up information on your tax returns, you may want to keep your own paper or digital copies, rather than relying on the bank to do it. That way, you can ensure that you have these documents on hand for a full seven years. And at any time, you'll be able to access and refer to this information without having to track it down online.\nWhen you no longer need your documents, be sure to shred the paper files and completely delete the electronic copies (including any backups). Free software for Windows and Mac computers can help make sure these files can't later be recovered by someone up to no good. END