Green Accounts - A Warning!

Lemongrass

Hello fellow money savers :-)

I want to warn you all about switching to a green account, following my experience with HSBC.

I switched to a green account in November, which means my paper statements were stopped... great I thought, I'm using less paper. But when I tried to get a statement sent out so that I could apply for a credit card with another bank, I ran in to problems. They are extremely reluctant to send out even a one-off statement. When I asked how I was meant to apply for a credit card if they refused to send me one, I was told that I wasn't meant to apply for a credit card - I was meant to take one out with them!

Well, the more I think about this, the more outraged I am... and I'm realising that the green account is another way to create a barrier for those trying to apply for accounts elsewhere.

I have cancelled my green account now (phew!) and will stick to quarterly statements.

Best wishes, Lemongrass.

live-life-debt-free

Thats interesting because I had something simular...need to watch out for these.

Blue_Fairy_3

They also stop your chequebook if you sign up for this account. I signed up for it a few months ago (they were giving £5 to everyone who switched to the green account), but only because I had opened a new account with A&L, and hardly use the HSBC one anymore. I think the whole thing is a con anyway, it just seems to be a way for banks to save money by not sending you statements. They're always trying to encourage customers to use online banking for similar reasons - you do your banking and manage your account yourself, so saves them time and money!

Ben84

I think it's important to have paper records of bills and payments. They can be very useful, so I'm not planning to sign up for any paper-free services.

thescouselander

Why not just print out the statement from your internet banking account?

Blue_Fairy_3

If you need to prove your income with bank statements, eg. when applying for a credit card, mortgage or making a benefits claim, a printout of your online statement won't be accepted. Potentially you could print it in such a way as to miss off any undesirable transactions, eg. bank charges. Also it doesn't have your name and address on like proper statements.

Basically I think there's more potential for fraud with printed out statements, you could easily make a fake one if you were so inclined! Anyway I think thats why other companies generally won't accept them.

I continue to recieve paper statements for the account my salary goes into and wouldn't consider stopping them, as I will need them when I apply for a new mortgage and things like that. Often you need to provide 3-6 months worth of bank statements to prove your income, so something to bear in mind if you're thinking of cancelling them.

I think there are a lot better ways to help the environment than cancelling your bank statements. I'm pretty green but I think these sort of campaigns are a case of high street companies 'greenwashing'. You could argue that the energy used, and carbon footprint created by using a computer to do online banking is worse for the environment!

buxtonrabbitgreen

HSBC offered me that too. And although I do my banking online, my thought was, that what if the computer packs up? I won't know what is going on.

thescouselander

Blue_Fairy wrote: »

If you need to prove your income with bank statements, eg. when applying for a credit card, mortgage or making a benefits claim, a printout of your online statement won't be accepted. Potentially you could print it in such a way as to miss off any undesirable transactions, eg. bank charges. Also it doesn't have your name and address on like proper statements.

Basically I think there's more potential for fraud with printed out statements, you could easily make a fake one if you were so inclined! Anyway I think thats why other companies generally won't accept them.

I continue to recieve paper statements for the account my salary goes into and wouldn't consider stopping them, as I will need them when I apply for a new mortgage and things like that. Often you need to provide 3-6 months worth of bank statements to prove your income, so something to bear in mind if you're thinking of cancelling them.

I think there are a lot better ways to help the environment than cancelling your bank statements. I'm pretty green but I think these sort of campaigns are a case of high street companies 'greenwashing'. You could argue that the energy used, and carbon footprint created by using a computer to do online banking is worse for the environment!

I've been paperless on most of my accounts for years now and never had a problem. I've applied for 2 Mortgages and credit cards using the printed statements and had no problems. If the company you're are applying to has any concerns thay can always phone your bank and verify the printouts you gave them are correct.

vatic

I've also been paperless for at least 5 years now and haven't had any issues opening up current and savings accounts with printed statements both from banks and from utilities. Give it a go! It's great to not have all of that paper laying around collecting dust.

A_fiend_for_life

Lemongrass wrote: »

Hello fellow money savers :-)

I want to warn you all about switching to a green account, following my experience with HSBC.

I switched to a green account in November, which means my paper statements were stopped... great I thought, I'm using less paper. But when I tried to get a statement sent out so that I could apply for a credit card with another bank, I ran in to problems. They are extremely reluctant to send out even a one-off statement. When I asked how I was meant to apply for a credit card if they refused to send me one, I was told that I wasn't meant to apply for a credit card - I was meant to take one out with them!

Well, the more I think about this, the more outraged I am... and I'm realising that the green account is another way to create a barrier for those trying to apply for accounts elsewhere.

I have cancelled my green account now (phew!) and will stick to quarterly statements.

Best wishes, Lemongrass.

Bit of a generalization to tar all 'green' accounts with the same brush is it not?

moonrakerz

A paperless bank account ? as likely as a paperless toilet !