How do I get the most bank statements updated?

Every month, your bank prepares a document for you showing all of of your transactions for the past month. This is called a bank statement. It’s important to review your bank statement regularly – in part to ensure there aren’t any transactions you don’t recognize, which could mean fraud. Let’s break down how to get your bank statements, either online or through the mail.

Table of Contents Show

How to Get a Bank Statement Online
How to Get a Bank Statement by Mail
How Long Do Banks Retain Statements?
Bottom Line
What is a bank statement?
What is a transaction history?
Why do you need to provide both?
What do you need?
CBA documents
ANZ documents
St George documents
Westpac documents
NAB documents
Do you need help?
How do I get the most up to date bank statements?
How often do bank statements update?
How do I get my bank statements from the last 30 days?

Your bank account is only one part of your finance. Consider working with a financial advisor to put together a financial plan for other financial needs and goals.

How to Get a Bank Statement Online

Most banks today offer online banking for both deposit and credit card accounts. This makes it easy to check your account to see the status and transactions, transfer money, and conduct other banking business. One of the things you can do in your online banking account is get your bank statement.

For recent months, your statements should be readily available to download as a PDF, free of charge. Banks vary on how to receive your statement, but typically there will be a link at the top for “Statements,” possibly under “Account” or “Account Services.” Once you find this page, you will have access to downloadable, PDF versions of your bank statements. You can choose the time frame and what account you want to view. Most banks have your statements instantly available, though it’s possible you’ll need to request to have the PDF emailed to you.

In addition to downloadable PDF statements, the main page of your account should also list out your recent transactions in an account summary. The transactions may be broken out by statement cycle or all together. While this is not technically your statement, and may include some pending charges, this is an easy way to review recent credits and debits from your account.

Most banks offer the option to “go paperless” and only receive and review your statements online. If you’ve gone paperless, this is the way to see your statements. You should also regularly download and file your statements on your computer in case you need easy access to them in the future.

How to Get a Bank Statement by Mail

Typically, when you sign up for a bank account, you will automatically receive your monthly bank statements by mail. They are mailed out monthly based on when you opened your account, so they won’t necessarily align with the beginning or end of the calendar month. These will look identical to the downloadable PDFs from the website.

What happens if you can’t find your paper statement? These could happen for a number of reasons. Perhaps you misplaced it, perhaps it got lost in the mail, or perhaps you chose to only receive online statements. Regardless, most banks offer the option on their online banking portal to request a paper statement to be mailed to you. This request is likely in the same place as your digital statements. It may be a different option under the same “Statement” heading, or there may be a button on the page showing your statements. If you choose to request a printed statement, be careful, as your bank may charge a fee – typically around $6 – for this service.

If you do not have access to online banking, you can call your bank’s customer service line. They can help you receive a paper copy of your statement. You can find the number for customer service on the back of your debit card or in the contact section of the bank’s website.

If your bank doesn’t have an option to request a paper statement, you can print out a downloaded PDF for a physical copy of your statement. This printed version will look exactly like the mailed version of your statement and is considered an official document.

How Long Do Banks Retain Statements?

Most banks have a limit to how long they retain copies of your statement. This is usually seven years. It is important to keep copies of your statements filed either physically or digitally, just in case you need them and your bank no longer retains the statements. This is especially true for any year-end statements you receive before tax time, as these tend to recap your interest and other taxable earnings for the year. You may be audited by the IRS and need to prove how much you earned.

When you no longer need your bank statement, it’s advisable to shred them, as you would any document containing private financial information.

Bottom Line

Getting a copy of your bank statement is easy. Your online banking page will list out all of your statements. From there, you can download a PDF or order a paper version by mail. You can also call your bank’s customer service line for help. And if you’d like to receive a paper statement every month, most banks will do so by default unless you specifically choose to “go paperless” and receive only online statements.

The ones that tend to cause the most trouble for your application are transaction histories and statements.

Read on to make sure your financial evidence is acceptable to the bank when applying.

What is a bank statement?

A statement is either a statement you have received in the mail or an online statement. It must contain:

The bank logo,
Your full name,
Address,
Account number,
Opening balance,
Closing balance and
All transactions during the statement period.

Here is an example statement.

Be careful! If the statement does not include your address & name then it is actually a transaction history.

What is a transaction history?

This is a record of all transactions in a given period and is available through internet banking.

It contains:

The bank logo,
The account number,
A list of all transactions in the given period and
A running balance.
Note that CSV files / exported data are not accepted. Please print out a full transaction history.

Here is an example transaction history.

Why do you need to provide both?

We normally need both because a transaction history does not show your full details so the banks will not accept it on its own. A statement on the other hand has your full details, however only gives the account history for one month and may not show recent transactions.

By providing both your lender can verify that you own the account and can view the transactions for an extended period of time.

What do you need?

Please refer to the email from your mortgage broker with the specific list of documents required for your situation.

In most cases, you will to provide the following:

For home loans: One recent statement AND a transaction history for the last six months.
For cheque or savings accounts: One recent statement AND a transaction history for the last three months.
For credit cards: One recent statement.
For personal loans: One recent statement.
For car loans: You may need to call the provider to obtain a statement as statements are not always issued. They can usually fax this directly to you.

Please try to send these to us all in one go, in the correct order and with no pages missing. Banks need to see every page! This will enable us to submit your loan application as quickly as possible.

CBA documents

If your accounts are with CBA you can get all of the required documents from NetBank:

Statements:

Login to NetBank.
In the top menu, click View accounts, then Statements.
Select the account you would like a statement for, select the option for the most recent statement and then click Next.
Click Not This Time if the bank asks you if you would like to stop receiving paper statements.
The statement should download as a PDF. You can then email this to your mortgage broker.

Transaction summary:

Login to NetBank.
In the top menu, click on Statements.
Select the account you would like a transaction history for and then click on Create Summary.
Enter in the date range you would like to view.
Click on Download your Summary.

ANZ documents

Statements:

After logging in to ANZ Internet Banking, select View Statements from the bottom of the homepage.
If not already selected, select your account from the Account dropdown.
Your statements will be listed in the “Statement issue date” section of the page.
View a statement by selecting the date or the download icon. Your statement will be displayed in a new window or tab.
Save the relevant statements as PDF to your computer or print.

If your Online Statements do not cover the last 90 days of transactions, you may need to Order a replacement
statement. To do that, you can:

Select the View Statements link from the home page.
Select your account by selecting the account name.
Select the Order a replacement statement link.
Select your account from the Select account drop down.
Enter the date ranges for which you would like to receive replacement statements.
Select your delivery option as email and enter your email address.
Enter your contact details.
Submit your request. Allow 2 business days to receive your statement.

Transaction histories:

Login to Internet Banking.
Select the account you would like a transaction history for.
Click Search Transactions.
Make sure the correct account is selected, select the date range, then All Transactions and then click on Search.
Do not export the transactions! Banks do not accept exported transaction histories.
At the top right hand side of the screen click Print Copy OR if you are IT savvy then convert the page into a PDF which you can then email to your mortgage broker.
If your transaction history is long, then you may need to scroll to the bottom of the page, click next, print the next page and repeat until the entire history has been printed.

St George documents

Statements:

Login to Internet Banking.
In the left hand side menu, click eStatements.
Select the account you would like a statement for, select View Recent eStatement.
The statement should download as a PDF. You can then email this to your mortgage broker.

Transaction histories:

Login to Internet Banking.
Select the account you would like a transaction history for.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and use the Refine Your Transaction History Search box to select the date range you require.
Do not export the transactions! Banks do not accept exported transaction histories.
You can then print the page OR if you are IT savvy then convert the page into a PDF which you can then email to your mortgage broker.
If your transaction history is long, then you may need to scroll to the bottom of the page, click next, print the next page and repeat until the entire history has been printed.

Westpac documents

Statements:

Sign in to Westpac Online Banking.
Click on the account you would like a statement for.
In the top menu, click eStatement.
Click View, save or print a high quality version of this statement (PDF).
The statement should download as a PDF. You can then email this to your mortgage broker.

Transaction histories:

Sign in to Westpac Online Banking.
Click on the account you would like a Statement for.
In the ‘Overview’ tab on the menu bar, select ‘Proof of balance and transactions’ from the drop-down list.
Under ‘Recent transactions’ select which account you want to generate the report from.
Select the transaction period. You can choose from the last 30, 90 or 120 days.
Select ‘Create report’.
Your report will download automatically and appear at the bottom of your browser. Click on it to view, save and/or print.

NAB documents

Statements:

Transaction histories:

Sign in to NAB Online Banking.
Click on the account you would like a transaction history for.
On the top right hand side click on Show Filter.
Select and search for the required date range then click Display.
Do not export the transactions! Banks do not accept exported transaction histories.
You can then print the page by clicking Print on the top menu bar OR if you are IT savvy then convert the page into a PDF which you can then email to your mortgage broker.
If your transaction history is long, then you may need to scroll to the bottom of the page, click next, print the next page and repeat until the entire history has been printed.

Do you need help?

Please call our office on 1300 889 743 or enquire online and your mortgage broker can walk you through the process of downloading the required documents from internet banking.

How do I get the most up to date bank statements?

How often do bank statements update?

Most banks or credit unions will send a statement every month. However, banks and credit unions only have to send a monthly statement if you made at least one electronic fund transfer that month.