How to get a bank statement, at your bank, in a few clicks.
Sign in to your bank’s website on a computer, open Statements (often called Statements & Documents), choose the account and month, and download the PDF. Most large U.S. and Canadian banks keep up to 7 years online. For older months, request copies from the bank. To turn the PDF into a spreadsheet, use the ZeraBooks bank statement converter.
Each path and time limit below is from the bank’s own help page, checked October 2026. Menus can differ slightly for business accounts.
Bank
Where to click after signing in
How far back online
Chase
Main Menu at the upper left, then Statements & documents; pick the year and account, then the open or save icon
Up to 7 years, depending on the account
Bank of America
Statements & Documents under the Accounts tab
18 months to view and download; Request statements for copies up to 7 years back
Wells Fargo
Statements & Documents
7 years for deposit accounts, 2 years for credit cards
Capital One
Select the account, then View statements (paperless enrollment required)
Up to 7 years for active accounts
U.S. Bank
Accounts in the top menu, then the document type, the account and the year
Up to 7 years of e-statements
PNC
Accounts, the account, Account Quick View, Statements and Documents, then View PDF
7 years checking and savings, 4 years credit cards
Bank of America says requested copies usually arrive electronically within 24 to 36 hours, free, and stay available for 7 days, so save them as soon as the email arrives. Step-by-step Help Center articles for these banks and more, including business-only banks, are in download your bank statements.
We set you up and catch up your past months for free. Then ZeraBooks keeps your books done.
Here is a real run in ZeraBooks Convert. The statement belongs to Lakeshore Physio Clinic, a fictional clinic: its September TD Every Day Business Plan chequing statement with 12 transactions, file TD_Business_Chequing_3307_Sep2026.pdf. Convert read every line and proved $22,840.15 − $2,620.77 = $20,219.38, the closing balance printed on the statement, before offering the download.
A real run: TD_Business_Chequing_3307_Sep2026.pdf read and proven in ZeraBooks Convert. Sample statement with fictional figures.
The PDF as uploaded
The same statement in ZeraBooks
Pick a format and download CSV or Excel.
CANADIAN BANKS
Where do Canadian banks put statement downloads?
Canadian banks call them eStatements. Same check: each row is from the bank’s own page, October 2026.
Bank
Where to click after signing in
How far back online
TD Canada Trust (EasyWeb)
Click the account name, then Statements and Documents; choose the account and use Filter by year
Up to 7 years
RBC Royal Bank
Accounts Summary, then Statements/Documents at the top right, then Account Documents
Up to 7 years of archived eStatements
Scotiabank
Open the account from your Accounts page, then Documents
Up to 7 years
CIBC
My Documents on the home page, then Account statements, the account and the statement date
Up to 7 years
At several Canadian banks the archive starts when you switch to eStatements, so months from your paper days may not be online at all. TD’s page says to install a PDF viewer first, because statements open as PDFs.
A FULL YEAR
How many statements do you need for a year of books?
Dovetail Cabinetry is a fictional cabinet shop with checking at one bank and a business card at another. Its accountant asked for all of 2026:
Account
Statements
Why
Business checking
12
One per calendar month, January to December
Business credit card
13
The cycle closes mid-month, so the statement closing in January 2027 holds late-December charges
Total PDFs
25
12 + 13 = 25. Card cycles that cross December 31 are the statement people most often forget. To check a set for missing months before you send it, see year-end bank statement organization.
OLDER OR CLOSED
How do you get old bank statements or ones from a closed account?
Older than the online window
Ask the bank for copies. Some banks have a request option online, like Bank of America’s Request statements; at others you call or visit a branch. Ask whether there is a fee before you order a long run of months.
A closed account
Download everything before you close it. Wells Fargo, for example, says online statements may stay available for about 90 days after closure, and PNC says history may not be available for closed accounts. After that it is a request to customer service.
A bank that merged or was bought
The bank that took over the accounts holds the old records. Start with its customer service and give the old account number.
Credit cards
Card issuers often keep fewer years online than bank accounts do: Wells Fargo lists 2 years for cards against 7 for deposit accounts. Download card statements every month or two rather than once a year.
STATEMENT OR EXPORT
Is a transaction download the same as a bank statement?
No. The statement is the PDF the bank issues for a set period. It shows the opening balance, every transaction and the closing balance, and it is what an accountant, lender or tax authority means by a bank statement. The activity download, usually a CSV, is a list of transactions over dates you pick. It usually has no opening or closing balance, so nobody can prove from it that no transaction is missing.
Get the PDF even when you also want a spreadsheet. A converted PDF keeps both: the rows you can sort and filter, and the printed balances that prove they are complete.
NEXT STEP
What to do with the PDF once you have it.
A stack of PDFs is hard to work with. ZeraBooks turns them into data you can use and proves the data matches the bank.
CONVERTER
Excel or CSV, checked against the printed balances.
Upload the PDFs from any bank above to ZeraBooks Convert. It splits each statement by account and cardholder and checks the transactions add up from the printed opening balance to the closing balance, to the cent. One that doesn’t tie is flagged for review instead of handed over quietly. Downloads come as Excel or CSV in Standard, Money in and out, QuickBooks-ready, Xero-ready, Sage-ready or All details layouts. Bank-specific guides: Chase statements to Excel, Bank of America statements to Excel.
ZeraBooks has no bank feed and never asks for your bank sign-in. In the ZeraBooks general ledger you upload the same monthly PDFs and each month is reconciled against the statement’s own balances. A missing month shows up on the timeline instead of surfacing at tax time.
It depends on the bank: up to 7 years at most big U.S. banks, 2 to 3 years at some. See our bank statement retention study.
Can I get a bank statement from the mobile app?+
Usually yes, but the menus differ from the website. CIBC and RBC, for example, document their app paths. A computer is easier when you need many months, and some downloads are only offered on the website.
How long does it take to get an old bank statement?+
Online statements download instantly. Requested copies take longer: Bank of America quotes 24 to 36 hours for electronic copies up to 7 years back. Paper copies by mail take longer still.
Can someone else get my bank statement for me?+
Not without access you grant. Give your bookkeeper or accountant the PDFs, or set up any delegate access your bank offers. Don’t share your banking password; ZeraBooks never asks for it.
What is the difference between a bank statement and a bank letter?+
A statement lists every transaction for a period with opening and closing balances. A bank letter or balance confirmation states a balance on a date, usually on request, for things like a lease or a visa application. See bank statement examples for common statement layouts.
Why does my statement start later than my account?+
Online archives cover a fixed window, often up to 7 years, and at some banks only from when you switched to eStatements. Months before that need a request to the bank. Navy Federal, for example, keeps 36 months online.
Can I convert my bank statement to Excel?+
Yes. ZeraBooks Convert reads PDF statements from any bank, checks them against the printed balances, and downloads Excel or CSV. Plans start at 1,000 pages a month for $79 a month billed annually, with a 7-day trial.
Damin founded ZeraBooks in 2025 and still talks to the bookkeepers, firms and owners who use it every week. He writes about what he sees in their statements and ledgers, and every page here is checked against the live product before it goes up.
Got the PDF? Get the spreadsheet. Checked to the cent.
Upload any bank’s statement to ZeraBooks Convert and download Excel or CSV that ties to the printed balances. Try it for 7 days, then $79 a month billed annually. Once you have the PDFs, ZeraBooks AI bookkeeping can build your books from them.
