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Paper for plastic

Card users prefer mailed statements, poll finds

July 5 at 11 a.m.

More than half of consumers continue to have paper financial statements delivered by mail, new research shows.

Paper statements remain popular with credit card users, including many who say they are willing to pay extra to receive mailed statements each month.

The research comes from a new poll by CreditCards.com, a consumer news and information service.

The survey found 54 percent of credit card users still receive paper statements each month, despite efforts by the financial industry to push consumers to switch to digital versions.

Almost half of card users — 46 percent — say they wouldn’t switch to e-statements, even if they were charged extra for a monthly mailing.

Fifty percent of cardholders prefer monthly mailings because they still pay their bills by check and like receiving an envelope with their statement.

Respondents also said hard-copy statements serve as a reminder that the bill has to be paid, and paper makes recordkeeping easier.

“Electronic statements might seem cool and environmentally friendly, and paper statements may seem old-fashioned, but paper is just easier to review,” Chi Chi Wu, a lawyer with the National Consumer Law Center, told CreditCards.com.

A study earlier this year by the law center found paper statements benefit older consumers and allow families of incapacitated consumers to better manage financial records.