Opting-in vs. Opting-out: The Risk of eStatement Sign-up Procedures

Credit unions succeed by attracting, serving, and retaining their members. To level the banking playing field and offer competitive services, credit unions spend millions of dollars each year implementing the latest financial technology solutions to better serve their members and attract new members for continued growth. The need to accomplish these goals opens new doors for technology vendors to offer their innovative services to credit unions seeking an edge over the competition. This edge, however, is where credit unions can sometimes venture down a risky road with vendors looking to make a sale.

Let’s take eStatements, for example. A recent trend rising within the industry shows credit unions automatically “opting-in” all their online banking members to eStatements instead of the traditional “members opting-in” method. Some eStatement providers openly promote this auto opt-in process because it can immediately save their credit union clients thousands of dollars eliminating hard copy statement processing and postage costs. Albeit true, it’s a risky road to travel.