I have a bank that didn’t get my last change of address notification. When the mail was returned to them, they found my address and sent it to me along with a note telling me to change my address with them.
The odd thing was along with my statement were 5 other statements from people I don’t know. I called them and confirmed the address change and mentioned the other statements. They said they would take care of it.
The other day I got my next statement--and the statements from 5 different people I’ve never heard of. I don’t mind getting other people’s statements. However, I’m very concerned that some of my statements may be sent to total strangers.
This is one advantage of online statements. They are less likely to get put in the wrong envelope. Of course there is the risk that they will do something wrong and everyone’s information will be exposed, but that is a risk either way.
If you are concerned about identity theft, you might consider moving away from paper statements as much as possible in order to decrease the amount of data about you that is running back and forth in the mail.
Have any readers had experiences like this with their bank?
Good management of your finances can have one of the biggest impacts on your productivity because it determines how efficient you convert your time into money into the things you need. On Wednesdays we are discussing the financial aspect of productivity. Watch for more Wednesday financial posts in the future.
YES! Lately we have been all kinds of mail that is addressed to other people. It used to be mixups with people only on our street. Now, every week we get several pieces of mail from even out our our county!
p.s. I got my 27 inch monitor….it’s HUGE and awesome. I can read everything SO easily now!
p.p.s I made the switch to google apps this weekend. What a change. I lost soemthings I was used to with Outlook but I gained so many powerful features that I think it’s going to pay off.
One thing though, my contacts and calendar won’t import. CSV will only take 3 months. Gmail only accepts iCal and CSV. Outlook does not export iCal.
Do you know of any service I can import my .pst files into and them export them as iCal?
Thanks!
My husband works in a bank and I asked him about this. He said the statements are folded by machine but stuffed by hand, so obviously someone grabbed too many papers. He said it has happened once at his bank and that person got fired, as they take that thing very seriously.
Reharding online statements, he said they are just rolling out as the Federal Regulations have required that you be mailed a statement, whether you want one or not. He said that some banks have met all Fed regulations and can do online only statements, but not all of them have. It will take time for some of the smaller banks to implement this.
Credit card companies fall under different regulations so that can do online only statements easily.
Charlene
@Charlene – Well at my bank it didn’t seem like they thought it was any big deal. I asked if any of my statements were mailed to other people. They weren’t sure. :)
@Ariane – I’m glad you like Google Apps. I have heard of software that will sync Outlook’s calendar with Google’s calendar. I haven’t ever used it but look into: http://www.topdrawerdownloads.com/download/105031 There may be some other ways as well.
@Charlene – wow, your husband is right, but I thought they would have changed in the past 20 years.
Back when I was in college I would make extra money stuffing phone bills into envelops or boxes (yes, boxes – think of a business that makes 1000’s of calls – I would box up 500-1000 pages for a phone bill to be sent). Is it any wonder most banks and credit card companies are pushing everyone to do their bills electronically?
@Eric – Part of the problem is that there isn’t really any good push technology for billing other than sending it through email. Most banks and other companies want you to log into their website in order to get your bill. This is fine, but when you are dealing with 25 companies it is just too time consuming. Sprint seems to get this. They will just email you a PDF of your bill instead of making you login to read it.
This is scandalous! Do you have the name of the bank? You should contact the people whos statements you received. This is vital information and if it fell into the wrong hand could be used to take out any number of fraudulent credit agreements.
It was a local bank in rural Kansas.