Reading a statement line by line

A statement is a list of everything that happened to your account. Read properly, it takes five minutes and tells you more than any app summary. This lesson walks through one line by line.

The columns

Date: when the payment was processed, which can be a day or two after you made it. Description: the merchant name as the payment system records it, which is often not the name you know. Amount: with a sign or in a separate column for in and out. Balance: what was left after that line.

Print one month or open it on a large screen. Reading on a phone is where lines get skipped.

Three passes

First pass: tick every line you recognise immediately. Second pass: for each unticked line, look at the date and amount and think about where you were that day; most unfamiliar names turn out to be a shop's parent company or a payment processor. Third pass: anything still unticked gets written on a separate list with the date and amount.

That third list is usually short, often empty. If it is not empty, lesson 2 shows how to trace a payment, and the course on staying safe online covers what to do if it is not yours.

What to look for

Payments that repeat on the same date each month; they go on the register in lesson 2. Two payments to the same place close together; sometimes a duplicate, sometimes a deposit and a balance. Small amounts you do not recognise; test charges and trial periods that became subscriptions start this way.