Keep Me Posted Salutes Four of Top 20 U.S. Financial Institutions for Following its Best Practices Principles

CHICAGO, July 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Banking/financial services is the first commercial sector analyzed by Keep Me Posted North America (KMP) as part of its ongoing mission to ensure customers are given a clear choice in how they receive information – on paper or digital – and that they are not charged extra for paper statements. 

Keep Me Posted reviewed the billing practices of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies in this sector (by revenue) to see how they align with KMP's Best Practices for essential communications:

• No charges or other penalties for choosing paper bills
• Prior consumer consent required before ceasing to send paper documents
• No change in paper bill frequency without prior agreement
• No difficulty to revert back to paper correspondence
• Continued access to online options

Only four of America's top 20 banks and other financial institutions put their customers' preferences first, do so without fees and make their practices easily accessible. The rest of the companies chose to limit options, restrict consumer control, put financial penalties on paper choice or make it difficult to impossible to know what their practices are prior to opening an account with them.

For their approach to consumer choice, KMP awards these companies with its Best Practices mark:

• Bank of America
• Capital One
• JP Morgan/Chase
• Wells Fargo

In treating bills and statements as a usual and expected part of doing business, these companies transparently provide a range of paper and digital options, honor preferences, seek consent for changes and pose no barriers for customers who wish to switch between digital and paper notices. And most importantly, they charge no additional fees for either form of delivery. 

KMP also recognizes Citibank/Citigroup with its Good Practices mark for not charging penalties or fees for paper bills and statements, and for not making it unduly burdensome for customers to revert to paper correspondence.

Customers should have free access to the account information they need in paper or electronic form, according to their own choice.  KMP urges the rest of America's top banks and financial institutions to adopt the KMP Best Practices for essential communications.  They include Ally Financial, American Express, Ameriprise Financial, BB&T Corp., Discover Financial, Fidelity Bank, Morgan Stanley, Northwestern Mutual, PNC Bank/PNC Financial Services, SunLife Financial, SunTrust Bank, Synchrony Bank, TD Bank North America and U.S. Bank.

About Keep Me Posted North America

Keep Me Posted is a coalition of consumer groups, charities and businesses that advocates for the right of every consumer in North America to choose, free of charge, how they receive important information – on paper or electronically – from their service providers. Keep Me Posted is part of Two Sides North America.

For more information on how to support KMP or to become a member, visit keepmepostedna.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.

For more information, please contact:
E:  [email protected]  
P:  855-896-7433

SOURCE Keep Me Posted North America