Online Banking Argument: Paper Statement or E-Statement?

Making a case for the better mode of financial communication

We live in an electronic world. Nowadays, credit card companies and financial institutions are increasingly giving consumers the option to stop having paper statements mailed to them and begin having their regular statements available online, with notification via email (in the form of e-statements). Are there any advantages of one over the other? How about any glaring disadvantages for either? Read on for more details.

E-statements
The beauty of the Internet, and with that, e-statements, is ease of use. You can view an e-statement from any computer or Internet-capable device in the world. Quickness and ease are the reasons we use credit cards to begin with, notes Credit.com’s Jason Steele.

“The entire premise of a credit card is that it allows us to complete transactions without exchanging paper currency or checks,” Steele says on Yahoo! Finance.

Moreover, e-statements save on postage and paper, saving businesses money and saving the environment at the same time. Finally, online statements usually put many additional tools at your disposal to track finances, such as tracking spending in certain categories or graphing spending habits over a period of time.

Paper statements
With a credit card or banking statement that you can physically pull out of your mailbox, you have in your hand a tangible financial record. You also have on hand a concrete reminder of a bill that needs paid, should that be the instance.

You are also more likely to actually read the paper statement, which could help you uncover potential fraudulent charges, for example. Furthermore, an advantage for business people is that you can more easily circle or otherwise annotate various charges that need to be claimed as expenses through work.

Also keep in mind that most companies and financial institutions allow you to view your statement online regardless of whether a paper statement is mailed to you.

That said, you can take advantage of many of the perks of both e-statements and paper ones by opting in to both. Consider the above points and decide for yourself which method better suits your needs.