E-statements, Yay or Nay? (edited on 22/04/2012)

I did not know what happened to my previous post. I logged in to blogger.com while playing with Ali's iPad and the post went blank suddenly. Hence I have to retype this entry.

What are e-statements? e-Statements is a free service that displays your bank account/credit cards statements within online banking. You can, at your convenience, easily view, print and download your statement. I signed up when I submitted my application for one of the credit cards to citi-that-never-sleeps.

I liked the initiative. Many banks are promoting the use of such service. It is environmentally friendly, and easy to use. One just has to log in to the banks' internet banking and the banking transactions are available at a glance. Besides, it is a great way to lower exposure to identity theft, reduce clutter and get organized. However, I started having doubts when I made a mess out of my bills.


I do not use internet banking often (unless you are referring to work but that would be another story).As such, whenever the bank uploads the bills online, I often miss the payment due date and incur the interests and late charges.

I have to garner my courage to call up the banks to request for waivers. Consumers usually try to avoid calling the hotlines as they would not want to be put on hold for too long, especially when you are not a priority banking customer. After pressing the numerous options on the automated system, you have to wait for a while until the greetings from a sweet and friendly customer service officer startled you from your sleepy mode.
It was a difficult experience for me. The requests to waive off the charges are different from other requests like annual fee and banking services. My first attempt was rather easy though. I informed the customer service officer that it was really unintentional and I convinced him with my next course of action to prevent such incident from happening again. It was the second time that I felt a little embarrassed because I was not able to deliver what I promised. And I could not say that it was not on purpose again as I should have learned my lesson.

There are many ways to conserve the environment, such as the other Rs like recycle and reuse. I will continue to give my support in other means but at this moment, I would still love to receive mails sealed in white envelopes that stamped private and confidential. I would prefer my credit records to be clean and tidy. :)

p.s I received a letter from my employer few days ago whom informed me that they decided to automatically enroll all my eligible accounts and cards onto e-statements platform. I logged in to the internet banking and cancelled the services. Sorry boss, next time perhaps.

Credits:

http://www.first-online.com/eStatements.aspx