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Everyday Banking · session 4 of 6 · 30 min
Reading a Statement Line by Line
- Match statement lines against your own record of the month.
- Spot a charge you did not make within the window for disputing it.
A statement is the bank's list of what happened in your account. Reading it line by line answers one question: does their list match what you actually did? Banks are careful, but they process millions of lines — and thieves count on nobody reading theirs.
| Date | Description | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 3 | Grocery Mart | Ⓛ64.12 |
| Mar 5 | Transit card reload | Ⓛ25.00 |
| Mar 6 | StreamPlus monthly | Ⓛ12.99 |
| Mar 8 | GameGem Store | Ⓛ49.99 |
| Mar 9 | Phone bill autopay | Ⓛ55.00 |
You do not game. Nobody in your house games. That Ⓛ49.99 line is the one you call about — and you only found it by looking.
Setting the stranger aside, what did the four real charges total?
Work it out, then check
Ⓛ64.12 plus Ⓛ25.00 plus Ⓛ12.99 plus Ⓛ55.00 is Ⓛ157.11. Ten minutes of reading told you what the month really cost — and caught Ⓛ49.99 leaving without permission.
This week
Read your latest statement line by line once this month. Mark every line you cannot explain, however small — small strangers are how big ones test the door.
Next in Everyday Banking: Moving Money on Purpose →