Citizens Financial offers green accounts
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- October
- 14
Banks run up large expenses for postage and paper when they mail monthly account statements to customers and process thousands of paper checks.
One bank in the region has adopted an unusual strategy to try and slow the paper flow: Give customers a financial incentive to bank electronically.
Citizens Financial Group said that it will pay customers a dime for each electronic payment they make, up to $10 per month and $120 per year. This program called, Green$ense, deposits cash directly into a customer’s checking account on a monthly basis. The Providence, R.I.-based bank said that the program’s benefits include greater savings for customers and environmental protection from cutting paper use.
“With Green$ense, we pay customers for changing their habits in a manner that not only makes banking more convenient and their lives more manageable, but also is beneficial for the environment,†said Theresa McLaughlin, group executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Citizens Financial.
With $161 billion in assets, Citizens Financial operates more than 1,600 branches and 3,500 automated teller machines in the Northeast and Midwest. In the Lower Hudson Valley, Citizens has two branches in White Plains, two in Yonkers and a single location in Spring Valley.
The average U.S. family receives approximately 19 bills and statements and makes seven payments in paper per month, according to the U.S. Postal Service. By eliminating these paper statements and processing these transactions electronically, the average family can save about seven pounds of paper, 63 gallons of water and 24 square feet of forest a year, according to Cooler Inc., a non-pofit group that looks at the impact of global warming.Customers who enroll in Green$ense will automatically receive their banking statements electronically. Citizens Financial said that the program could save 700,000 pounds of paper and nearly seven million gallons of water in its first year.
Customers enrolled in Green$ense will also receive an e-mail from Citizens offering tips for a greener lifestyle. They are also eligible for a MasterCard debit card made from recycled plastic.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pm by Jay Loomis.
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