Bank Statement

What is a Bank Statement?

Definition

A bank statement, also known as account statement, is a financial term used to refer to a confidential document that is sent from a bank to its account holders every month. Contained in the bank statement is the summary of all account transactions—deposits, withdrawals, payments, etc.—carried out by the account holder within a month. It carries information such as account name, account number, deposits, withdrawals, charges, opening and closing balance per month.

Understanding a Bank Statement

By the end of each month, bank statements are issued to account holders as a detailed record of all activity done in the account within the past one month or a set period of time. It is part of the bank’s duty to automatically send a bank statement to all its account holders whether or not the account was inactive use all through the month. It also helps account holders keep a track of their spending and account in general, especially checking for fraudulent withdrawals in the case of Debit or Credit card theft or extra charges.

Bank statements can be issued via physical copy or electronic copy. For clients who prefer an already printed copy, the bank mails it to them. While customers who prefer an e-copy get it e-mailed to them; though, they still have the option of printing it out from their emails. Customers can also request for their bank statements via ATMs which comes as a summary of the main bank statement, this is called transaction history.