If your bank(s) offered to SECURELY email you your statements, would you sign up?

elvey · 29 Jan 2009, 10:43 AM

P.S. This is a follow-up to this poll I did 14 months ago.

Should I rerun that poll?

David · 29 Jan 2009, 10:57 AM

I prefer to download statements (or just read them online) and get paper statements as well.

elvey · 29 Jan 2009, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

I prefer to download statements (or just read them online) and get paper statements as well.

I said "Assume the bank is only offering to provide one kind of statement: paper OR emailed OR downloaded (via HTTPS)."!

David · 29 Jan 2009, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elvey

I said "Assume the bank is only offering to provide one kind of statement: paper OR emailed OR downloaded (via HTTPS)."!

My apologies. I did not realize it was an order.

**CyberSmurf** · 29 Jan 2009, 09:31 PM

Where I work, we don't have a choice.
We have to go on-line to see our pay statement.
To get a decent print-out, we have to click on "EMail Printable Advice", and we are sent an e-mail with a PDF attachment.
There is no option to receive the e-mail automatically.

CyberDyne · 29 Jan 2009, 09:43 PM

If you had a fourth option to 'Leave your bank and take your business elsewhere' I'd choose that.

I don't believe any bank has the right to force you into choosing one option or the other. If my bank didn't give me the option of having monthly statements delivered by post AND the option to check my statements on line, as my current bank, do, I'd close my account.

qwertz123456 · 30 Jan 2009, 01:50 AM

Ehm....are there any banks left? Our just government-funded banks

theog · 30 Jan 2009, 08:32 AM

I don't care for paper statements... waste of money...

I get all my statements online....

chrisretusn · 1 Feb 2009, 03:03 PM

This scenario is not exactly a realistic one. That said I voted for and prefer paper. Even if I downloaded my statements I would print them for my files.

hadaso · 1 Feb 2009, 03:08 PM

I don't believe my bank when it comes to any kind of internet technology. I cannot trust them to send me email in standard formats that I will always be able to read. When they say "mail" I cannot believe they mean mail: for years they were offering "statements by mail" and what they meant was some kind of web interface that looks quite like webmail and works in the current version of IE. I also tend not to try to look into too much info in their site in case they don't send me the paper version as a result. AFAIK only the paper version has any legal significance. It might be different in the US or other countries (also in Israel it is slowly changing as the "electronic commerce act" was not yet adopted but the courts are already making the drafts into "common law" by referring to the proposed act).

Anyway, the unique email address I gave to one of my bank's divisions (the Credit card one) ended up with a spammer. Their (junior) representative of course claimed it's impossible: they don't do such things and as a financial institute they are being watched.

They are very good with their core business (keeping my money safe, as far as it is possible nowadays) so I let them do for me what they are competent at and not what they are not competent at.

tsphillips · 2 Feb 2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elvey

Assume they were offering the service for free, and would use PGP/GPG or S/MIME (your choice) to send the statements, and would do so for free, and they'd be signed and encrypted. Assume the bank is only offering to provide one kind of statement: paper OR emailed OR downloaded (via HTTPS).

For 8 years I had an Apple Mac running Mac OS9 at home and I was unable to open or read Microsoft Word files. I am not satisfied that there is any format for documents that I will always be able to read on any computer (let alone other devices).

I am not satisfied that, if I were to sign up for statements by e-mail instead of on paper, my bank would always allow me the option of changing back, free of charge, to receiving paper statements.

My mother has an old PC which she never uses, as she has a newer one, but which she is keeping and will not dispose of because there is some data saved on it, such as passwords for online bank accounts etc, which she does not want to run the risk of being retrieved by would-be thieves, she does not know how to permanently erase the hard disk and she suspects that to get anyone else to make the hard disk safe would incur a fee. I believe I will be able to permanently erase all data from my own computer when it comes to the end of its useful life (provided the relevant CD doesn't go missing) but I am not satisfied that I will always be able to do so with any computer or similar device that I might own in the future.

All my concerns set out above apply not only to receiving statements by e-mail but also to downloading statements.

Also, I do not understand the terms "PGP/GPG" or "S/MIME" so I am not qualified to choose between them. I could try to learn what they mean but receiving paper statements is an easier and less time-consuming option.

I choose paper for my hypothetical bank statements and for my real-life utility bills.

elvey · 27 Feb 2009, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hadaso

I don't believe my bank when it comes to any kind of internet technology. ...

Anyway, the unique email address I gave to one of my bank's divisions (the Credit card one) ended up with a spammer. Their (junior) representative of course claimed it's impossible: they don't do such things and as a financial institute they are being watched.

They are very good with their core business (keeping my money safe, as far as it is possible nowadays) so I let them do for me what they are competent at and not what they are not competent at.

I'd be quite worried the spam was the result of a security lapse, not an ethical lapse (their reps insisted it was neither). I suspected the latter, but found out it was the former

-as detailed on my blog, http://caringaboutsecurity.wordpress.com. (Apologies if this is redundant.) Are class action cases common in Israel?

BTW, I just noticed that "google groups" considers this forum a group and searches it. News? Anyone know how long they've been doing this?

Quote:

I do not understand the terms "PGP/GPG" or "S/MIME"

Google/Wikipedia are your friends.(TM)

Thanks for voting!

Bamb0 · 26 Aug 2019, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberDyne

If you had a fourth option to 'Leave your bank and take your business elsewhere' I'd choose that.

Indeed so.... Bank statements are PRIVATE/PERSONAL info.... That is something I wouldnt want sent online!!!!!! (In any format)

hadaso · 16 May 2020, 07:34 AM

More the 11 years have passed. I still get all my bank statements as paper documents. But nowadays I can send instructions to my bank by email. The mail transfer is encrypted (TLS/SMTP). They don't act upon the instructions in the email before a representative phones me and makes sure what my instructions are.

Bamb0 · 16 May 2020, 11:52 AM

Thats the only way one should get them (Sent thru the mail on paper)

View Poll Results: If your bank(s) offered to SECURELY email you your statements, would you sign up?
Yes, I'd sign up	13	37.14%
No, I prefer to get paper statements.	14	40.00%
No, I prefer to download statements.	8	22.86%
Voters: 35. You may not vote on this poll

29 Jan 2009, 10:43 AM	#1
elvey The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,458	If your bank(s) offered to SECURELY email you your statements, would you sign up? P.S. This is a follow-up to this poll I did 14 months ago. Should I rerun that poll? Last edited by elvey : 23 Sep 2020 at 09:05 AM.

29 Jan 2009, 10:57 AM	#2
David Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Canada. Posts: 10,355	I prefer to download statements (or just read them online) and get paper statements as well.

29 Jan 2009, 09:31 PM	#5
CyberSmurf Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: British Columbia Posts: 4,011	Where I work, we don't have a choice. We have to go on-line to see our pay statement. To get a decent print-out, we have to click on "EMail Printable Advice", and we are sent an e-mail with a PDF attachment. There is no option to receive the e-mail automatically.

29 Jan 2009, 09:43 PM	#6
CyberDyne Master of the @ Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,583	If you had a fourth option to '*Leave your bank and take your business elsewhere*' I'd choose that. I don't believe any bank has the right to force you into choosing one option or the other. If my bank didn't give me the option of having monthly statements delivered by post AND the option to check my statements on line, as my current bank, do, I'd close my account.

30 Jan 2009, 01:50 AM	#7
qwertz123456 Essential Contributor Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 378	Ehm....are there any banks left? Our just government-funded banks

30 Jan 2009, 08:32 AM	#8
theog = Permanently banned = Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: 1 Microsoft Way Posts: 2,119	I don't care for paper statements... waste of money... I get all my statements online....

1 Feb 2009, 03:03 PM	#9
chrisretusn Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Philippines Posts: 846	This scenario is not exactly a realistic one. That said I voted for and prefer paper. Even if I downloaded my statements I would print them for my files.

1 Feb 2009, 03:08 PM	#10
hadaso The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 4,857	I don't believe my bank when it comes to any kind of internet technology. I cannot trust them to send me email in standard formats that I will always be able to read. When they say "mail" I cannot believe they mean mail: for years they were offering "statements by mail" and what they meant was some kind of web interface that looks quite like webmail and works in the current version of IE. I also tend not to try to look into too much info in their site in case they don't send me the paper version as a result. AFAIK only the paper version has any legal significance. It might be different in the US or other countries (also in Israel it is slowly changing as the "electronic commerce act" was not yet adopted but the courts are already making the drafts into "common law" by referring to the proposed act). Anyway, the unique email address I gave to one of my bank's divisions (the Credit card one) ended up with a spammer. Their (junior) representative of course claimed it's impossible: they don't do such things and as a financial institute they are being watched. They are very good with their core business (keeping my money safe, as far as it is possible nowadays) so I let them do for me what they are competent at and not what they are not competent at.

16 May 2020, 07:34 AM	#14
hadaso The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 4,857	More the 11 years have passed. I still get all my bank statements as paper documents. But nowadays I can send instructions to my bank by email. The mail transfer is encrypted (TLS/SMTP). They don't act upon the instructions in the email before a representative phones me and makes sure what my instructions are.

16 May 2020, 11:52 AM	#15
Bamb0 Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: USA Posts: 1,876	Thats the only way one should get them (Sent thru the mail on paper)