93 Million Credit Card Holders Are Still Receiving Financial Statements Via Mail
93 million credit card owners are still receiving paper statements through the mail, according to a new CreditCards.com report.
This report includes 43 million who prefer to only receive and review their monthly statements physically on paper.
50% of those who are, for some reason, still receiving monthly financial statements in the mail say they wouldn’t mind paying for the paper statements if need be.
This statistic is actually ridiculously high when you consider how painfully easy it is to simply check your statements online using a computer or smartphone. Online statement reviewing is actually so efficient that it is possible to pay your credit card bill as each charge appears on your account.
“It’s surprising that in this digital day and age, many people are still receiving financial statements in the mail—I guess old habits die hard,” said Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst. “The most popular reason to receive financial statements in the mail is for record keeping, and it serves as a reminder that their bill has to be paid as well.”
Schultz, to absolutely no one’s surprise, actually recommends switching to online statements for any and all credit cards and bank accounts since it is a much more efficient way to track your spending.
“With fraud and ID theft rampant around the country, if you’re only checking your credit card and bank statements once a month, you’re not being diligent enough,” Schulz said. “It’s a good idea to check those accounts online at least once a week.”
Some of the other findings from the report include:
-People like to receive monthly financial statements in the mail because they’re use to it or they prefer to pay their bills by check, and paper statements provide the envelope and bill.
-69% of millennials said they’d stop receiving monthly financial statements in the mail if their account was credited $50, compared to 52% of all Americans.
-Credit card holders in the Midwest strongly prefer to only receive monthly financial statements in the mail, more than any other region.