Clark Howard: How electronic bank statements can leave you vulnerable to fraud

Electronic bank statements can be convenient, but they can also make it easier to miss those fraudulent transactions. And Channel and consumer advisor Clark Hour took a look at how much time you have to dispute one of those transactions. I’ve heard two alarming stories from people who’ve contacted me recently that there were fraudulent charges on their bank account and they didn’t notice in time and they ended up losing the money. Let me tell you how this plays. You know, now the banks don’t want to send us paper statements. It’s all in the e-mail. You got to go online and you got to look. Make sure you do that every month because you sit on your rights, you lose them. If somebody is swiping money out of your bank account with an improper debit or any other way, they’re getting in and taking your money. After 60 days you lose your rights to dispute. And the longer you let it go on, the harder it is. Even within 60 days to get your bank to restore your funds, you sit on your rights with your account. You lose them. And this isn’t just for bank accounts. Credit cards. Same thing. 60 days. You don’t notice fraudulent charges, you’re stuck with them. I’m Clark Howard.