Pros of going paperless
Ease of access
As long as you can get online, you have access to your statement. You can look it up whether you’re thousands of miles away from the filing cabinet where you keep your financial records, or just in a different room and don’t feel like getting up. Most issuers make statements accessible directly through their mobile apps.
E-statements can also be easier to search when you’re trying to find a particular transaction. Say it’s tax time, and Uncle Sam needs to know how much you spent on child care last year. You can probably review e-statements faster than paging through paper documents.
Of course, if the issuer’s website or app is down for maintenance when you need to check a statement, access suddenly isn’t so easy. And there are other access issues to consider, discussed below.
Saving money
Some financial services providers charge a fee to send paper statements in the mail.
Saving space
A statement for just one billing cycle can be several pages long. Storing reams of paper in a filing cabinet requires way more space than parking e-statements on a hard drive or in the cloud.
Saving paper
Even if you don’t plan to save your paper statements, they still have to be printed and mailed, then either tossed or recycled. If you’re conservation-minded, going paperless is a way to make a little bit of a difference.
Rewards
Some financial institutions incentivize customers to opt in to paperless statements by offering things like cash bonuses, rewards points or an opportunity to win a prize.
Cons of going paperless
Lack of permanence
Credit card issuers archive older statements, but they generally don’t keep them forever. Chase, for example, holds onto statements for seven years. Wells Fargo says credit card statements are available going back only two years. At Navy Federal Credit Union, it’s three years. For someone who owns a business, for example, that time may be insufficient. If your circumstances require comprehensive financial records, paperless may not be the right option.
Closing an account may also limit your access to old statements. You’d have to print any documents or save them as PDF files before the account closes.
Access issues for some
Some people just work better with paper. Digital natives won’t blink an eye when prompted to set up and retrieve e-statements. For someone less familiar or comfortable working online, the lack of paper statements could result in missed payments, late fees and lower credit scores.
Internet access is also far from equal. Internet speeds and reliability vary by geography and socioeconomic status. Some people simply can’t afford it. Sometimes, paper statements aren’t just the better option; they’re the only option.
Relying exclusively on electronic records can also complicate the task of caring for relatives and navigating end-of-life decisions. People have enough trouble remembering their own logins and passwords. Imagine having to manage or wrap up the finances of an incapacitated or recently deceased family member whose statements are accessible only via computer, and you have no login information.
Analysis
This article dives into why someone should or shouldn’t go paperless with their credit card statements. Personally, I am fully paperless. I see the bill on my phone and pay it as soon as I see it – nice and simple! People like my parents, however, prefer a physical copy. They’ve been victims of identity theft before, so my dad takes every statement and makes sure that every purchase made was ours, taking a highlighter to anything suspicious. Going paperless is good for the environment by saving both paper and space, but its lack of physicality might make it hard to track after several years, and older generations aren’t too keen on looking at everything through a screen. The option to go paperless ensures accessibility, a topic I have to keep reminding myself to consider as I continue my research. Those who are able to stay digital can, and those who aren’t as tech-minded, or even those who don’t even have internet access, can still receive their physical statement. As mentioned in the initial meeting with Huntington. We must proactively design for accessibility, because doing it retroactively is far from ideal.
Source
Bratton, J., & Cannon, E. (2023, August 18). Going paperless with credit card statements: Pros, cons and tips. NerdWallet. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/tips-for-managing-credit-card-e-statements
