Paper statement explained

This is a statement that includes charges, refunds and interest you have paid or received in the year. This is issued every 12 months on the anniversary of your account opening.

When you buy something in a shop using your debit card, your 'balance' won’t change and you won’t be able to see the transaction on your statement until the retailer claims the funds.

Retailers can take up to 4 days to claim the funds from your account. That is when your balance is reduced and it will be reflected on your paper statement.

This type of transaction will show on your statement with the last four digits of your card number, the date of the transaction and the name of the retailer.

When a standing order or Direct Debit is claimed from your account, your balance and available funds will be reduced by the amount of the claim.

For example, if your regular payment is due to be paid on a Monday, your balance and available funds are usually reduced by the amount of the transaction on the previous Saturday morning.

On your statement, only the retailers name is shown for a Direct Debit, while more information is shown for a standing order.

You can view up to 7 years of statements for current accounts, package accounts, saving accounts and credit cards via our online and mobile banking services.

Online payments will usually appear on your statement as 'CALL REF.NO.XXXX' where XXXX is a unique number that identifies your online banking session. A full description will usually also be displayed on your statement as well as the original call reference number.

If you pay in cash, it is immediately reflected in your balance and available funds. This will appear as a 'Teller transaction' on your mini-statement. The sort code of the branch you used will also be displayed in full on your statement.

If you pay in a cheque, it will appear in your balance on the following day but your available funds are not increased until the cheque is cleared. This usually takes 3 days.

Cheques can be returned unpaid, so you should allow at least four full working days before you use money from a cheque you've paid in. In some cases, because cheques may still come back unpaid after this time, it may take up to five working days for a cheque to clear and postal delays can extend this period further.