This includes your last three months of payslips, your most recent P60 and six months of bank statements. Both paper and electronic documents need to be kept safe, from loss, damage and theft. Financial documents can be highly valuable to criminals looking to commit identity theft, in particular bank statements and utility bills, which can be used as proof of identity or address.
Lost or destroyed statements can also be a pain if you need to prove your income or resolve a dispute regarding a financial product.
Paper documents that you wish to keep should be stored somewhere secure, like a locked filing cabinet or even in a safe if you have one. Older documents, that you have decided not to keep, should be shredded before being thrown in the recycling or rubbish bin. Ripping a letter up is not always enough, as it can be pieced back together to reveal key information. Electronic documents should also be locked away using secured passwords and encryption.
If you store bank statements or bills in your email or on a cloud server , make sure to use a strong, random password for the account, and enable two-step verification where possible. If you store documents on a hard drive, make sure it is in a password-protected folder on a secure computer.
If you get rid of a computer or hard drive, make sure to transfer the files to somewhere secure and then wipe the drive to clear all the files. Just deleting the files is not always enough, as they can be retrieved with the right software. Knowledge Centre Money Management Looking after your financial documents There are many different types of financial documents that you will accumulate through your life, and as you get older and take out more financial products, the number is likely to grow and diversify.
Specifically, they want to know how much you earn, as this indicates not only your eligibility for a loan, but also your ability to make repayments each month. Consequently, failing to file them safely will make it much harder to provide your loan supplier with accurate financial information which could, ultimately, result in your application being denied.
If you receive your payslips via email — which is becoming an increasingly popular practice — the same rules apply; these should be filed and saved electronically. However, sometimes overpayments slip through the net and you may have to take the initiative to recover your money.
Keeping your payslips safe will make checking for, and claiming back overpaid tax, so much easier. Firstly, your payslips always state your tax code and how much has been deducted. Secondly, your payslip contains important information which you must submit to claim back overpaid tax, such as your gross earnings and the amount of tax taken from you so far.
Whilst there is some debate about how much criminals can do with your payslips alone, there is no doubt that, combined with other sensitive information such as your address and date of birth, it could be the nail in the coffin if they fall into the wrong hands. It may seem trivial, but, in a world where more and more people can easily access information about you, keeping your payslips safe is one of the small steps you can take to limit the chance of your personal information being compromised.
T he content of this blog is for information only and must not be considered as financial advice. We always recommend that you seek independent financial advice before making any financial decisions. Call your adviser at Active Financial Planners today on or visit the website.
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