C’mon, be honest – do you check your bank statements? If the answer is ‘no’, you’re in good company. Almost half of us don’t bother to go through our bank statements or credit card bills regularly, according to a recent survey.

But despite these findings from comparison website GoCompare. com, one in five said they’d had money taken from their bank account when it shouldn’t have been.

Apparently, when it comes to paying by cash we see things very differently because three-quarters of us check our change when handing over cash at a till.

And more than half of us ask for a proper receipt, when we buy something.

Matt Sanders, Gocompare.com’s credit card expert, says: “It’s surprising that people take more interest in whether they’ve been short-changed when paying cash, than take the time to check that their bank or credit card statements are correct.”

The British Bankers’ Association, which is the trade body representing all the main banks, suggests we should all regularly check our statements.

It recommends ticking off all the cheques from your cheque book which show up on the statement, then doing the same for any credits paid in and debit card items.

Next, check that all your regular standing orders and direct debits are correctly itemised on the statement and that the running total on the latest statement agrees with the balance on the previous statement.

If you bank online, everything instantly becomes much easier.

As Barclays points out, it takes just minutes to sign up for online access and it’s usually up and running within five working days.

And most banks, for example NatWest, allow you to see and search through up to seven years’ worth of statements online.

Being able to tap into your account, check balances, transfer money between accounts and make payments from a laptop or mobile phone is an ideal way to keep track of your money.

And by doing that, it’s easier to keep in credit and not end up paying unauthorised overdraft fees, which can quickly mount up. More importantly, it’s another way of protecting yourself.

Every day a staggering 2,500 customers are victims of bank and credit card fraud, so if you’re keeping a close eye on your bank account, it’s much harder for crooks to get away with anything, or mistakes to go unnoticed.

And if anything does go wrong, at least you can alert your bank or credit card company swiftly.

But there’s a word of warning for online banking – most banks recommend you keep your security software programmes up to date and change password regularly.

Don’t pick something blindingly obvious, such as your date of birth or children’s names, as these are things most of us post on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, which makes them extremely easy for fraudsters to work out.

And whatever you do, don’t access your account from an unsecured wireless network, as that’s the equivalent of leaving your front door open when burglars are around.