Bank statements can often be disregarded without reading or read quickly then thrown away. It is important to retain and carefully read bank statements.

There is a big difference between credit cards and debit cards, and that is that whereas a credit card has its own separate account, a debit card is connected to a bank account.  This has some advantages, particularly the fact that it is harder to build up a high interest credit balance.

There are however disadvantages; one of the most prominent of these disadvantages is that it is harder to differentiate debit card transactions from other bank transactions.  A credit card statement is relatively easy to read as it essentially has an opening statement, a list of the transactions on the card and the amount owed.  A bank statement follows the same format but it has a lot of transactions that are not on the card including direct debit payments, interest and fees.

This does not mean that the bank statement should not be checked.  Although it is true that debit card transactions are harder to differentiate they should still be looked for in the statement. Debit card transactions are very convenient, but this means that they are a target for fraudsters and thieves for as well as being convenient to use they are also convenient to misuse.

Debit card providers often offer zero liability guarantees.  These mean that will be no liability to arise from an unauthorised transaction including theft and fraud.  There are conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to activate this guarantee, particularly the idea that the card holder does not contribute to this transaction for example by giving away the card or letting people know the pin number.

Another condition is that the unauthorised transaction is reported in a timely manner.  This means that the bank statement should be read regularly to check for the debit card transactions as otherwise they may well be noticed too late to activate the guarantee and the card holder will find themselves liable for at least some of the fraudulent transaction.

When a credit card statement has been read and there is no further need to keep it, the statement will need to be disposed safely.  Bank statements are prized by identity thieves due to the large amount of personal information on the statements.  A bank statement should not be simply thrown away, but it should be shredded first.  If the bank statement is on a computer then the computer should be cleaned before it is given away or disposed.