Account Statement

What is an Account Statement?

An account statement is a timely account activity’s summary with a beginning and end date. The standard statements are the account statements that are offered monthly and brokerage account statements that may be provided either monthly or quarterly.

Account statements could be an official account’s summary, irrespective of where the account is held. For instance, if you have insurance, you will get a statement that would describe the paid-in cash values.

Knowing Account Statement

Basically, a statement can be generated for any account that has an active, ongoing transaction of funds. This includes online payment accounts like credit card accounts, PayPal, savings accounts, salary accounts, and more.

Apart from that, even utility companies like subscriptions, telephones, electricity and more generate account statements to provide details of usage and overages during the cycle of payment. Typically, such statement enlists debits paid; credits received, incoming funds, and fees for maintaining the account.

Importance of Statement of Account

One must evaluate and scrutinize an account statement for accuracy and budgeting. For example, a loan or credit account statement might show outstanding balance along with the interest rate and any additional fee charged during the payment cycle.

This also includes late charges, bounce charges, overdraft fees, and more. This way, an account statement represents your finances and helps you have a glimpse of your monthly expenditure. The statement may also comprise financial information related to the account holder like Credit Score, the time period to clear the debt, and more.

Furthermore, notices and alerts to the account holder might also get printed on these statements, asking for the attention to issues with the account that should be addressed right away.

Understanding the Red Flags

If there is an anomalous item on the account statement, it signifies that the account is compromised, possibly through identity thieves or stolen cards. For instance, the account holder or the financial institution may spot a charge for an unusual item.

With the statement in hand, the account holder would be able to charge a claim against the purchase that came out of the blue. Thus, reviewing account statements the moment they are issued is a good financial habit that can help to catch red flags before they turn into financial disasters.