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How to Read a Bank Statement

If you’re a teenager, you may be able to receive your first debit card soon. When you get it, you’ll want to know some banking basics like how to read a bank statement. So, “What is the purpose of a bank statement?”

It’s a beneficial skill that will help you track your spending habits. It will also help you catch any fraudulent activity or pending transactions on your account. Plus, it only takes a few minutes to review!

In this guide, we’ll walk you through what a bank statement is and how to read one. This way you can start successfully tracking your spending while learning an essential financial literacy skill. Let’s get started!

What is a bank statement?

Essentially, a bank statement is a detailed overview of your checking and savings accounts. You typically receive bank account statements monthly from your bank, credit union, or financial institution. You can either get a paper statement or an electronic statement (e-statement) depending on how you choose to receive it.

If you’re eligible, teenagers can be enrolled in First New York’s e-z access account. This debit card program allows teens to save and spend while receiving their own e-z access account statements.

What do bank statements look like?

Bank or account statements look like long detailed receipts. They show your deposits and withdrawals over some time. An example of a deposit would be birthday money you put into your bank account. An example of a withdrawal would be the money you took out of your account to buy your first car.

Additionally, bank statements include information like your account number, account balances, and interest earned. Here, are some of the definitions of terms that will be used when talking about statements.

Important Definitions to Know:

• Bank statement: This is the official summary of the withdrawals, deposits, moving of money, or transfers to all of your accounts. Financial institutions may call them “account statements,” as well. At First New York Federal Credit Union, we refer to them as account statements because we detail loans and other accounts beyond checking and savings!
  
• Statement period: The period activity on your account occurred. For example, if you receive monthly bank statements that start on the first of the month, your statement period would look like March 1, 2023 – April 1, 2023.
  
• Paper statement: Your bank or account statement on paper. Usually, you receive these kinds of statements through the mail.
  
• E-Statement: Your online banking statement. Typically, you receive e-statements through your financial institution’s online banking platform. They should be in your account. Learn the six e-statement benefits today.
  
• Account number: This number is used to identify and access your account. You should not share this with anyone since they could use it to steal funds.
  
• Account balance: This is the total amount of money within one of your accounts. For example, if you have a checking account with $100 in it and have no interest, then your account balance would be $100.
  
• Interest earned: Depending on your account type, e.g. checking or savings, and how many funds you have in your account, you may be able to earn interest. This means you will earn a percentage of money on the number of funds in your account.
  
  For example, if I have $100 in my checking account and my bank allows me to earn 0.05% interest each month, if I did nothing with my account (no withdrawals or deposits) after one month I’d have $105 in my account. Here’s the math: ($100 x (0.05%) = $5) ($100 + $5) = $105
  

• Savings account: This is an account that allows you to deposit money and possibly earn interest on your savings.
  
• Checking account: This is also known as a transaction account. This account allows you to easily deposit and withdraw funds for everyday purchases. You make these payments directly from your checking account using a debit card or check. You can also use this account to make payments on your credit cards.
  
• Deposit: A deposit is when you put money into your account.
  
• Withdrawal: When you take money out of your account. For example, you can withdraw money from a bank, ATM, ITM, or cooperating branch.
  

How to read an account statement

Remember, bank and account statements are very similar. Because we use account statements at First New York, we’ll break down what you need to look at in your statement.

This example is of an e-statement. It contains everything a mailed statement would include. However, you receive it online in the form of a PDF. We’ve circled some important things you should look for when reading your statement in this printable PDF account statement example.

1. In the upper left-hand box, you’ll find your statement period, account number, and date. For example, your account number will be “XXXXXXXXXX,” your date will be “February 2023,” and your statement period will be the date to the end of your reporting activity “02/28/2023”.
   
2. This will be your name and mailing information. Make sure these are correct and don’t need to be changed.
   
3. This is your account summary. This shows you what accounts you have (in this case Share Savings), the statement period begin and end date, and your account balance (120.87).
   
4. This is a more detailed summary of your Share Savings account. Here, you can see your beginning balance as of 2/1/23 (120.86), your deposits (0.01), YTD dividend earned (0.02), withdrawals (0.00), and your ending balance (120.87).
   
5. Within Share Savings is “Transactions for Share Savings,” here you see the date, description of transaction, debits, credits, and balance. This is where you can see the most details on how money was deposited and withdrawn from your account.
   

Need help? We can assist!

If you have questions about your account statement or need someone to walk you through it, call or text us at (518) 393-1326 to contact us. Our local member service specialists are more than happy to help you. If you’d like more KIDS Banking articles, check out our latest guide on credit scores today!