Has anyone gone paperless with their bills/statements?

[TheTony]

What's with all these email references? Are there really companies out there that email account statements? Sounds like a security disaster waiting to happen. At the very least, if a company insists on emailing a bill (whether inline or as an attachment), there should be some kind of end-to-end encryption in place.

In my opinion, any company worth doing business with that offers electronic statements should be, at most, sending email ONLY to notify the account holder of the availability of their new statement, and force them to log into the website to review/retrieve it. Again, in my opinion, those taking advantage of this method should take it upon themselves to do the archiving as opposed to relying on the company to archive statements.

As someone else already stated, most companies do the latter, so I'm not quite understanding the attacks on the validity of email documents. What exactly is being emailed?

As far as the validity of electronic bills, as an invoice, they carry the same legal weight as a paper document, despite assertions to the contrary. Additionally, I think most service providers would think twice about disputing the validity of their own document delivery system. It's in their interest to openly support it, not undermine it.

 

[shopbruin]

i'm 50/50. some bills i can't get paperless, and some i haven't switched over yet. i really need to switch over my bank statements though, because they don't even send the canceled checks anymore!

i am slowly scanning old bills and statements for archiving and shredding as i go. it took nearly forever for just MY credit card statements going back 5 years. i wish i had a document feeder.

 

[HannibalX]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: spidey07
Agree on the fine print - most people toss changes to T&C or scan over it on paper where it's official and can be held up in court. Much less comprehension/attention when they read it electronically as they are bombarded with E-mail as it is.

I will never go paperless because a document in my hand is worth much more than an electronic copy for any disputes. "well, we can't retrieve that sir or it appears to be missing" - BAM! Paper with company letterhead on it, an official document.

Just like you keep your own copy of paper keep your own digital copy.

Go to web site, print to PDF, save on your HD or backup to CD.

All the websites I use have the exact same statement as the one I get in the mail and when I print it from my home printer is mirrors the statement I get in the mail. Most places do this now.

And in a court of law one could prove that your document is not legit. Why do you think lawyers won't accept E-mailed documents and only faxes as final?

I've been through electronic disputes before, it's a nightmare. Give me the printed document by the sender delivered to my home address. It's on their letterhead, their paper and can be traced to them. I can understand if you've never had to go though a mishap, but when you do you'll see that the document in hand is worth more than anything electronic.

What the hell are you talking about email?

All my statements come from a web site and are downloaded. You have to login to the web site.

The statements are identical when printed to a statement I get in the mail. Same letterhead, same logo, same data.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Pale Rider

Originally posted by: spidey07
Agree on the fine print - most people toss changes to T&C or scan over it on paper where it's official and can be held up in court. Much less comprehension/attention when they read it electronically as they are bombarded with E-mail as it is.

I will never go paperless because a document in my hand is worth much more than an electronic copy for any disputes. "well, we can't retrieve that sir or it appears to be missing" - BAM! Paper with company letterhead on it, an official document.

Just like you keep your own copy of paper keep your own digital copy.

Go to web site, print to PDF, save on your HD or backup to CD.

All the websites I use have the exact same statement as the one I get in the mail and when I print it from my home printer is mirrors the statement I get in the mail. Most places do this now.

And in a court of law one could prove that your document is not legit. Why do you think lawyers won't accept E-mailed documents and only faxes as final?

I've been through electronic disputes before, it's a nightmare. Give me the printed document by the sender delivered to my home address. It's on their letterhead, their paper and can be traced to them. I can understand if you've never had to go though a mishap, but when you do you'll see that the document in hand is worth more than anything electronic.

What the hell are you talking about email?

All my statements come from a web site and are downloaded. You have to login to the web site.

The statements are identical when printed to a statement I get in the mail. Same letterhead, same logo, same data.

I can do the same thing without going paperless.
What is the benefit of going paperless besides saving some trees in the rain forest?

 

[zardthebuilder]

i'm thinking about switching to paperless statements. any new advice?

 

[KeithTalent]

I'm about 50/50 right now.

KT

~4 years later and I am closer to 90/10 now.

KT

 

[amdhunter]

i'm thinking about switching to paperless statements. any new advice?

Do like I do and pay off the bills and get no statement at all.

 

[Leros]

Yup. I only go to the mailbox twice a month to gather the junk mail and throw it away.

 

[busydude]

I am all paperless.

 

[zardthebuilder]

i changed one brokerage account and one credit card account to paperless. if things go well, i'll convert my other accounts. i also downloaded the prior two years worth of statements. logic says that i should shred up those old paper statements, but somehow, i just can't bring myself to do it.

 

[Train]

Everything except the water bill, which only comes quarterly so it's not a big deal.

Rumor has it the local township is going to start using an epay service to save on processing all the postal mail. Once that happens me and the wifey are 100% paperless.

 

[alkemyst]

The only problem with paperless is as soon as your relationship ends with the company, you lose all access.

If you are printing each bill out at home anyway, it doesn't make much sense to go paperless at all as their economies of scale are much better.

 

[Zeze]

The only problem with paperless is as soon as your relationship ends with the company, you lose all access.

If you are printing each bill out at home anyway, it doesn't make much sense to go paperless at all as their economies of scale are much better.

Most (if not all) ebill companies offer their bill for downloading.. actually I don't know anyone who doesn't do this, even my obscure bank does it.

 

[Aharami]

been paperless for a while now. I hate clutter

 

[crownjules]

I'm paperless.

If only I could now get the CC companies to go paperless with their endless offers. That's all the mail I get these days and it's fucking annoying.

 

[zardthebuilder]

I'm paperless.

If only I could now get the CC companies to go paperless with their endless offers. That's all the mail I get these days and it's fucking annoying.

did you call the opt-out number: 1-888-5-OPT-OUT (1-888-567-8688)

http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/protect.shtm

http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/personal-finance-credit/opt-out-credit-cards/nFb5/

 

[JimKiler]

working for a F&I, we want you to go paperless statements!

do you know how much it costs to mail your paper statements to millions of people instead of hosting them on servers for you to read anytime you want?

hosting costs a LOT less...

now imagine getting that same thing on your cell phone...now we're talking!

how many people own phones vs. computers? 10 times more....

now we're talking even less paper we need to mail, it's a win/win situation for everyone.

And in a court of law one could prove that your document is not legit. Why do you think lawyers won't accept E-mailed documents and only faxes as final?

I've been through electronic disputes before, it's a nightmare. Give me the printed document by the sender delivered to my home address. It's on their letterhead, their paper and can be traced to them. I can understand if you've never had to go though a mishap, but when you do you'll see that the document in hand is worth more than anything electronic.

Except you can use electronic signatures on digital agreements. My company does that with a well known software company in the state of Washington. Docusign now allows anyone to use Ink and sign documents with a digital signature for free.

For the OP, go paperless and use something like Quicken with the reminder function so you know exactly where you stand and what bills are outstanding. I did that and would not go back. It took a while for my wife to warm up to the idea but once she started using quicken she quickly became a fan.

 

[JimKiler]

Same here, trying to prove something with a print of an E-mail doesn't carry the same weight as the document itself.

I don't believe that, since more companies prefer email over phone calls for customer service. In fact most companies save and can retrieve the emails quicker than listening to a previous phone call. Yes emails could be faked or a company could make you go through hoops but that could happen over the phone as well. The time saved with paperless is worth any extra hoops you have to potentially jump through every blue moon.

 

[Vic Vega]

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