Bank charges for paper statements

[David1961]

I've been dealing with a bank for years and have been able to access my account via the web and also have received paper statements. Recently, when I log on to my web account, I need to agree to their new terms that seem to say that I can either use web banking OR receive paper statements. If I want both, I have to pay a fee. I guess it's no big deal if I don't receive paper statements, but was wondering if this is something banks are doing now. Have others experienced this?

 

[REWahoo]

Sounds like your financial institution is a bit behind the times. Many banks and credit unions started charging for paper statements a few years ago.

 

[Mulligan]

I imagine so. My bank initiated charges about 3 years ago for mailed statements, so I switched to paperless.


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[David1961]

Thanks for the quick responses. Guess I'm behind the times. However, bank fees are one of my biggest pet peeves!

 

[Meadbh]

In Ye Olde Days, occasionally a paper statement would get lost in the mail. Then I would have to request a copy prior to tax time. I always wondered where my lost statement ended up!

Nowadays I just download the electronic statements as PDFs for my tax accountant. Not all banks keep a full year's worth of statements online, so it's a good idea to download a couple of time a year.

 

[Jackanory]

My credit union's power checking account gives 2% on the first 25K, but only if you sign up for paperless statements, make 15 transactions per month and use direct deposit. They were kind enough to waive the direct deposit requirement when I retired earlier this year!

 

[calmloki]

A high security member of this household likes to save paper records (lord protect the ceiling rafters from box upon stacked banker box of paper files going back decades..). Some institutions won't allow some records like 1099s to be forwarded by the PO, so since we are in California during the tax season we arranged to have the statements mailed to us there. Cali tax genies picked up on that and sent me a nice note insisting that I pay Cali taxes, which was fun to contest, as we are Oregon taxpaying residents. Now most everything is delivered online and we work out the home printer making paper copies.

 

[braumeister]

I remember paper, but don't see much of it anymore.

OTOH, I have a LOT of pdf files on my drive.

One of the best investments I ever made was my ScanSnap. I have the older S1500M model, but the newer version is here:

Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Scanner

 

[LOL!]

We have experienced this about 10 years ago. I am glad that we no longer get paper statements for anything. It reduces the amount of mail we shred every week.

 

[mickeyd]

I still receive all of my financial statements (including VG) via us mail. I'm holding out until they force me or reward me for going paperless. If they give me an option or force me to go paperless, I can live with it.

 

[timo2]

I remember paper, but don't see much of it anymore.

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/scansnap/scansnap-iX500.html

I just recently saw some multi-part carbon paper. a blast from the past!!!

 

[John Galt III]

David1961, My credit union went over to the dark side last year and now charges $2 for each monthly paper statement. They gave me an option to go "paperless" and avoid the fee, but I chose to take the $24 hit per year, and keep the paper.

 

[RetireAge50]

No paper and rarely open the PDF statement either. All transactions reviewed by other means as they happen.

 

[timo2]

No paper and rarely open the PDF statement either. All transactions reviewed by other means as they happen.

+1 we just check the bank web site where the transactions are listed.

 

[jebmke]

No paper and rarely open the PDF statement either. All transactions reviewed by other means as they happen.

Same here. I keep the PDFs because they have copies of the canceled checks including the bill-pay checks. These come in handy when the IRS audits you.

 

[scrabbler1]

I still receive all of my financial statements (including VG) via us mail. I'm holding out until they force me or reward me for going paperless. If they give me an option or force me to go paperless, I can live with it.

Same here. My bank (BofA) stopped including at no charge images of canceled checks a few years ago, now charging a fee. I had just started online banking at the time so I print them off instead. I get my brokerage statements on paper every month from Fido but every quarter from another institution which is fine. They are available in pdf so I could print them off that way if I needed to.

 

[bUU]

Occasionally we get some paper that we need to scan to PDF before discarding (typically a doctor's bill - not the insurance statement, but rather a bill from the doctor's office), but generally we've set aside any service providers who have refused to go all-electronic. It has made our lives so much easier.

 

[Midpack]

We've actively dropped paper statements and all snail mail for years, retrieving and archiving PDF statements is a lot easier. Folks who still insist on paper statements should pay a small fee, paper obviously costs more, not sure why others should subsidize that cost. YMMV

 

[Bram]

Speaking of bank fees, I was very surprised to learn that the bank charges my quilt guild a fee for depositing cash. I am the Treasurer & we have a "small business" account. We just had our biennial quilt show which of course took in a large amount of cash. They charged 12 cents per $100, for any cash over $5000 in a month. Thus we incurred a fee of $4.20 last month. Irritated, I considered changing banks, but they all probably have their version of "hidden" fees, & then we'd also have to pay for new checks & deposit slips.

 

[Chuckanut]

Personally, I don't need paper for every transaction or monthly statement. But, I do like a quarterly or yearly paper record.

 

[kcowan]

All my banks have been paperless for five years. Now I have a workload downloading and managing PDFs. And creating backups. I am rapidly approaching the time when I start purging the older ones.

 

[youbet]

Have others experienced this?

Yes. Our bank recently started charging $2 to mail a paper statement. I stopped that and now print a statement for DW to use off their site. It's really not easier. I had to set up a reminder to myself to go do it monthly. Then signing on to the bank site, clicking around and printing the statement takes a few minutes. Having DW get the envelope via snailmail left me completely out of the picture.........

 

[Cobra9777]

No paper and rarely open the PDF statement either. All transactions reviewed by other means as they happen.

Same. I don't really have any need for "statements" at all, paper or otherwise. I monitor all transactions and balances online, on a more-or-less daily basis, using a couple different account aggregation tools. Fidelity archives pdf statements online for 10 years, which is more than adequate for any tax or other "official" needs, but I tend to use the account aggregation software for those purposes as well. I haven't paid a bank fee of any kind (including ATM fees) for at least a decade.

 

[Rustward]

I don't understand printing electronic statements just to have a printed copy.

If you save the PDF (or whatever other form), you always have the option to print it -- oh well, I did assume that one has a PC backup plan that is at least as good as the backup plan for those paper documents.

 

[timo2]

I don't understand printing electronic statements just to have a printed copy.

If you save the PDF (or whatever other form), you always have the option to print it -- oh well, I did assume that one has a PC backup plan that is at least as good as the backup plan for those paper documents.

That is where these cloud storage spaces like google drive or one drive can be useful. Save the documents there and it doesn't matter if your computer crashes.