For several years, banks have been pushing their customers to abandon paper and receive their documents digitally.
Could this be the end of the paper account statement? The digital transformation of the financial sector has accelerated in recent years and banks are pushing, or even requiring, their customers to switch to digital statements. This is particularly the case in the United States: Citi bank has chosen to issue an ultimatum: its customers who hold a credit card and who will refuse 100% digital to continue receiving their paper account statement by mail will no longer have access to their online accountindicate The echoestaking information from Wall Street Journal.
Millions of seniors do little online banking, but use paper for many reasons, including preparing their tax returns. This will lead to a lot of stress and incomplete tax returns, underlines an Internet user on LinkedIn, cited by The echoes.
Customers pushed to go completely digital
In France, sending paper statements remains free in most banking establishments. However, some banks preferred automatically switch to e-reading (the digital statement) unless otherwise advised by the customer. A letter informed them of this, but these procedures were generally carried out during periods that were not conducive to attention, such as during the summer. So the letters often went unnoticed, explained to the Echoes Aurlien Soustre, banking sector executive and representative of CGT-banks and insurance on the Financial Sector Advisory Committee.
Why your bank account statements are incomprehensible
If the ecological argument is often put forward, it is not easy to establish what is the most virtuous between everything digital and 100% paper. According to a CNRS study published in 2013, the environmental gain varies greatly depending on the nature of the content or the method of storage. For example, for an invoice, it is more ecological to opt for digitization, provided that the customer does not print it and spends less than 30 minutes viewing it on their screen, specify The echoes.
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