How Long Should I Keep My Credit Card Statements?
5 Min Read | Published: June 24, 2026
This article contains general information and is not intended to provide information that is specific to American Express products and services. Similar products and services offered by different companies will have different features and you should always read about product details before acquiring any financial product.
Learn how long to keep credit card statements, when it’s safe to discard them, and tips for securely managing your financial records.
At-A-Glance
- Keeping credit card statements for the right amount of time can help you stay organized, resolve disputes, and prepare for taxes.
- Most statements can be discarded after 1–3 years, but some may need to be kept longer for tax or legal purposes.
- Digital storage can be a safe and efficient way to manage your financial records.
Do you have a file cabinet full of financial records? Or an overloaded email folder dedicated to messages from your bank? Maybe even a kitchen drawer full of miscellaneous documents that you hold onto just in case they come in handy one day? However you receive your credit card statements, the inclination to hold onto them is a good one, but it can be difficult to know when it’s time to dispose of them.
While some of your credit card statements can be tossed after a few months, you may want to hold onto others for much longer. Let’s walk through how you can determine which statements to keep and for how long, when you can discard them earlier, and how to store them correctly.
How Long Should You Keep Your Credit Card Statements
How long you decide to keep your credit card statements may depend on how you intend to use them in the future, such as verifying their accuracy, budgeting, or taking tax deductions.
Short-Term Retention (1–3 Months)
You want to keep credit card statements for at least a month or two so you can confirm that the information is accurate and that payments are processed correctly.1 If you decide to dispute a credit card charge on your statement, it can take around 30–90 days before it’s resolved, so you may want to hold onto your documents for at least that long.2
Medium-Term Retention (1–3 Years)
There are certain instances where you may want to hang onto your credit card statement for over a year. For example, if your credit card provides warranties for eligible purchases, you may want to keep your statement for as long as the warranty lasts.3 Or, if you’re in the process of studying your spending habits to make a budget, you might use last year’s statements to make a detailed financial plan for the following year. Plus, some travel rewards credit cards offer statement credits for certain purchases, so it may make sense to keep your statement as proof of purchase until you receive the statement credit.4
Long-Term Retention (7+ Years)
If you use your credit card for business expenses or donations that you intend to make tax-deductible, then you may want to hold onto your statements for at least 7 years. The IRS can audit your financial history for up to 6 years, and it’s important to have all your documents in order if they come knocking on your door.5 If you’re unsure of which credit card statements to keep in case of an audit, you may want to ask a tax professional.
When Is It Safe to Discard Old Credit Card Statements?
Before you dispose of your statements, you’ll want to take some extra steps to make sure you don’t need them anymore. Then, you should properly destroy them to prevent fraudsters from taking advantage of your personal information.
Verify and Reconcile First
Check that your statement is accurate and decide whether to dispute any transactions. Then, make sure that you’re not going to claim any purchases as tax deductions or use your card’s purchase protection. If you think enough time has elapsed for you to dispose of the statements, then you can proceed with properly discarding them.
Shred Physical Copies
If you receive your credit card statements by mail, you’ll want to finely shred old ones to erase their sensitive information. Carefully erasing the information on your statements can help protect against identity theft and fraud.
Delete Digital Copies Securely
If you’ve opted into paperless messaging from your bank, you may want to delete statements that you’ve received digitally by moving them into your computer’s trash and then emptying your trash files. You could also take the extra step to delete the emails that contained your credit card statements.
Is Digital Storage Acceptable for Credit Card Statements?
These days, many credit card users opt to receive credit card statements digitally to avoid paper waste and for easy access. Some of the reasons why you may choose digital statements include:
- Convenience
Rather than looking through a file cabinet, storing your files on a hard drive can make it easier to search for your statements when you need them. - Security
If your files are stored on your computer, you can typically encrypt them or lock them with a secure password to keep them safe. - Eco-Friendliness
By keeping statements digital, you can reduce your waste and environmental impact.
How Organized Records Protect Against Fraud
Retaining credit card statements for as long as you need them can help keep your identity safe and ensure that only authorized users continue to use your card. If you have a system for organizing your statements and keeping them safe, you help yourself:
- Monitor for Fraud
By reviewing your statements as they’re sent to you and labeling them so you can find them later, you can make sure that all transactions have been properly authorized and vetted. If you see anything suspicious, you should report it as credit card fraud as soon as possible. - Resolve Disputes
If you do have any billing mistakes, you can easily refer to your organized records to dispute a charge. - Prevent Identity Theft
It’s helpful to have a go-to, secure method to shred or destroy your statements so that they don’t fall into the wrong hands.
Tips for Managing Credit Card Statements
By staying on top of your credit card statements, you can more easily dispute claims, take advantage of warranties, stay safe from fraud, and prepare for potential IRS audits. But it can be challenging to know how to do it in a way that works for you. Here are some tips for monitoring your card activity to help you stay organized:
- Go Paperless
For some credit card users, opting for online communication with their card provider can help them reduce clutter and more effectively track their financial records. - Set Up Alerts
You may be able to opt into credit card account alerts via email, text, or in-app messages, helping you stay aware of your spending and ensure charges are authorized in real time. - Use Credit Monitoring Tools
You can take advantage of helpful online tools that help you monitor your credit report for unauthorized activity and stay on top of your credit score, making your financial organization easier.
Frequently Asked Questions
You may want to hold onto credit card statements to verify their accuracy, as proof of purchase for extended warranties, or for tax auditing purposes under certain circumstances. Once you’re sure you don’t need the statements anymore, you should dispose of them securely, either by shredding paper copies or deleting them permanently on your computer.
If you used your card for business expenses, donations, or any other transaction that you plan to deduct on your taxes, you may want to keep your credit card statement for at least 7 years, since the IRS can audit your finances going back as far as 6 years. If you dispose of them beforehand, you may risk having more trouble accurately reporting your expenses.
The Takeaway
Now that you know how long you should keep your credit card statements, you can make a system to keep them secure and organized. By keeping them in order, you can protect yourself against fraud and prepare for filing taxes and potentially audits down the road. With online credit monitoring tools, you can efficiently track your credit activity, maintain a healthy credit score, and ensure your accounts are protected.
1,2, 3, 4 “How Long Should I Keep My Credit Card Statements?,” Forbes
5 “IRS audits,” Internal Revenue Service
Scott Drueding Hanson is a content writer and copywriter based in Brooklyn. His work focuses primarily on personal finance.
All Credit Intel content is written by freelance authors and commissioned and paid for by American Express.
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