slo’s WEDNESDAY 1/3 poll - Billing Statements 📄

[soccerdad72]

We get a few paper statements, but mostly, it's e-mail statements. We don't generally keep the paper statements - I normally take them to work to shred them.

E-mail statements are most likely still in e-mail. I tend to not delete that many e-mails.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Just curious, have you EVER needed them?


Personally, I keep all my medical statements until they are paid in full. anything pertaining to our taxes ( should be starting any day/week now) and that's it! My husband teases that only I could wear out another shred machine!

In the last however many years, I've had maybe one or two instances where I went back to look at a transaction as I thought my card number was compromised, but that was really it, so I guess, no, I don't need them.

While I have the utmost respect for everyone's choices, I really don't understand the need for paper anymore, unless someone has a deep fear of doing transactions online. That much clutter to monitor would be a pain. We used to have a shredder until we got the wood stove and now it's all kindling.

 

[soccerdad72]

While I have the utmost respect for everyone's choices, I really don't understand the need for paper anymore, unless someone has a deep fear of doing transactions online. That much clutter to monitor would be a pain. We used to have a shredder until we got the wood stove and now it's all kindling.

Not every statement I receive has gone paperless yet. When they become available, I choose to opt in.

 

[hertamaniac]

Interesting as I just purged my filing cabinet of old statements, etc. Yes, a large majority of them were in excess of 10 years. Now I'm tasked on how to dispose of them securely. There are some shredding services in my area, but are they trustworthy? Can I request to see them physically shred 2-3 large trash bags of docs? I'm not sure what I'm going to do as purchasing a heavy-duty shredder will take weeks/months of my time.

 

[disneychrista]

I do not keep statements. Most of my bills are autopay. I get an email that a statement is ready, I review and delete.

What is the reasoning for keeping statements?

 

[Minnesota!]

99% of my stuff is electronic. I get paper statements of my car loan (even though I asked for it to be electronic?), and our power bill for our cabin. I toss the car loan one immediately and save the power bill one for the next month - there have been some discrepancies so I like to compare month to month. And, if I get a paper statement of anything else (medical, usually), I only keep the last one, where I paid it off.

 

[_19disnA]

Most of the monthly bills for things like utilities have a paperless option or all of it is viewable online. Even in the past once I paid the bill, the rest of the paperwork went in the trash. I pay by check so I can always view my old bank statements online but have never had a reason to need to do that. Why would you need to know how much your utility bill was 3 yrs ago in April? Saving old bills seems like a waste of time and storage space.

Not sure how something like a utility bill would have anything to do with being audited. Things relating to a non-business audit would be for income (wages, investment income, etc.) and taxable expenses, but utility bills are never itemized on your tax returns.

 

[CynBeth]

We mostly get paper bills and I keep them plus receipts for 7+ years.

 

[tvguy]

Just curious, have you EVER needed them?


Personally, I keep all my medical statements until they are paid in full. anything pertaining to our taxes ( should be starting any day/week now) and that's it! My husband teases that only I could wear out another shred machine!

Only instance where I needed old documents has been since my wife and I retired. That would be the records of our 401k contributions and balances. Those were only available through our employers HR portal, and since we are no longer employees, we no longer have access to those portals.
And rolling our 401k's was interesting. Hard to believe in 2021 we were not able to have 401k's digitally transferred to our IRAs.........they mailed us checks.

 

[princesscinderella]

I keep all of our business papers, and I prefer to get paper statements, for 7 years. I rotate out the old 7 year box and shred each year fill it with the prior year from my filing cabinet so if we ever are audited I have each year in its own box and nicely organized. Personal statements I have a lot of it on e-bill where if I ever needed it I could access it online and use quicken so all income and expenses are also documented in there.

 

[NYCgrrl]

so if we ever are audited I have each year in its own box and nicely organized. Personal statements I have a lot

Yes!!! Makes life easier for you to explain and the auditor to digest the info. I’ve been told that auditors are calmer when presented with nicely organized docs.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Hard to believe in 2021 we were not able to have 401k's digitally transferred to our IRAs.........they mailed us checks.

Fidelity? If so, that's been their policy for years. They did however, have my 2024 RMD number on New Year's day, January 1st.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I get paper on some, emailed notices on others. Depending on which ones, I keep the paper ones for a few months to 7 years.

 

[tvguy]

Fidelity? If so, that's been their policy for years. They did however, have my 2024 RMD number on New Year's day, January 1st.

Fidelity was mine, Voya held my wife's 401k account and they had the same policy.

 

[newski_mom]

I have most things mailed to the house. I mainly do it so DH would have a clue what gets paid if I were to die. I scan in our gas/electric bill, but most others just get shredded. I mainly scan it because I like to look back sometimes to see why our bill has gone up - more power used, or just a higher price for the power.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I keep the statements I get for a year, and then I shred them (we have a shredder.) Now that I'm thinking about it, the only paper statements I get are from the life insurance policy. Everyone else has gone online-I used to print these and keep them but now I never do.

 

[leebee]

I get hard-copy for all the bills; I need that visual reminder. All bills come in and go in the "bill envelope." We get paid on the last day of the month, and I sit down and schedule online payments for everything. Seems weird, that I get physical bills but pay them online, but I ALWAYS forget to pay something if it's just an electronic billing.

 

[1420Elexismc]

I glance at them to make sure nothing seems off when they are emailed to me...then I promptly remove them from memory lol

The only time I keep them is if they are pertaining to any kind of lawsuit or anything and that has only happened once or twice in my lifetime

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

I get paper statements of most of our bills. I prefer paper statements because I get so many emails that I would be afraid something would not get paid. I also know that if something happens to me that my husband, who doesn’t use a computer, wouldn’t have a clue how to pay the bills unless a statement came in the mail and he could write and mail a check. I keep everything for 1 year, unless it’s related to our taxes.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I don't keep them, I rarely even open them. I pay everything online.