# Not receiving bank statements



## debodun

I suddenly realized that I haven't received a monthly bank statement since October. This alarmed me because when it happened to my uncle, someone had hacked his account and cleaned him out. His statements were being mailed to another address. 

I went to the bank today and had them check what address they had for me and it checked out - nothing had changed. The clerk also printed out the missing statements. Everything checked out there, also. Nothing withdrawn that wasn't normal.

I asked him why I am not receiving the statements and he replied that there is no reason I shouldn't be getting them. Any theories?


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## Butterfly

Could somebody be getting into your mailbox?  I had that problem once and only discovered it when one of my credit card companies called and said there were very odd charges on my card suddenly.  Turns out someone had gotten the card from my mailbox and was using it.  I didn't have to pay for the fraudulent purchases, of course, but the situation was very unsettling, to say the least.

I now get all my bank statements, etc, electronically.  My bank has pretty much gone to electronic statements now and you have to opt out to get hard copies mailed to you.


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## debodun

I get mail at the post office, so unlikely anyone but a certified postal employee would have access to my mail.


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## Capt Lightning

I get all my statements on-line - no paper.  I also make extensive use of on-line banking so I can check my accounts as often as I like.


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## debodun

I don't trust doing banking Online. If I have a virus or spyware, my account can get hacked.


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## Aunt Bea

Was the account dormant?  If it was the bank may still generate a statement but not send it to print or mail it to cut down on costs.  That would explain why the clerk at the bank could provide you with copies but none reach your mailbox.  I would definitely keep looking for an answer on this one.


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## dpwspringer

debodun said:


> I don't trust doing banking Online. If I have a virus or spyware, my account can get hacked.


Something happened... maybe your bank quit sending it by mail and didn't realize it or didn't own up that they did it without your authorization. More and more things are converting to electronic transfer only and since you missed several statements in a row, I would be highly suspicious that happened.


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## debodun

Aunt Bea said:


> Was the account dormant?



No, quite the opposite.



dpwspringer said:


> More and more things are converting to  electronic transfer only and since you missed several statements in a  row, I would be highly suspicious that happened.



I asked the bank clerk if they had gone to paperless statements and he said they hadn't. See end of original post.


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## Gemma

debodun said:


> I get mail at the post office, so unlikely anyone but a certified postal employee would have access to my mail.



Perhaps that is where you should start, by going to the post office and asking the postmaster about it so he/she can check into this matter for you.


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## Lon

I am paperless on everything and receive all statements online which I can then download and print.


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## RadishRose

Paperless. Electronic banking is safer than paper with all those checks and statements floating around, going to wrong addresses, being lost or stolen from mailboxes or if not shredded, stolen from the garbage. I don't know why people think paper is so safe.

Many banks are now charging fees even for those accounts at or over the amount normally "free" for paper statements. 

Why even bother printing them? Your computer is your desk.


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## SeaBreeze

Deb, I still get all my monthly bank statements by regular mail with no problems.  It sounds like they just might have messed up, at least they gave you the copies of the statements.  I'm like you, I have the option of doing everything paperless via computer, but I choose not to, unless I'm forced to some day.


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## dpwspringer

Sounds like you pretty much have your mind made up, but of what I do not know. The only things you know for certain is you quit receiving statements back in October, nobody has messed with your account, and your mail is very secure. I don't care what they told you at the bank, the most likely answer is the bank quit sending them. Probably an honest mistake/hitch by them, especially considering the norm is now paperless transactions.


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## Ken N Tx

Capt Lightning said:


> I get all my statements on-line - no paper.  I also make extensive use of on-line banking so I can check my accounts as often as I like.





Lon said:


> I am paperless on everything and receive all statements online which I can then download and print.





RadishRose said:


> Paperless. Electronic banking is safer than paper with all those checks and statements floating around, going to wrong addresses, being lost or stolen from mailboxes or if not shredded, stolen from the garbage. I don't know why people think paper is so safe.
> 
> Many banks are now charging fees even for those accounts at or over the amount normally "free" for paper statements.
> 
> Why even bother printing them? Your computer is your desk.



..to all of the above..

I don't do much online banking, but do check activity on three accounts..

I believe online is safer that my mailbox!!


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## Butterfly

RadishRose said:


> Paperless. Electronic banking is safer than paper with all those checks and statements floating around, going to wrong addresses, being lost or stolen from mailboxes or if not shredded, stolen from the garbage. I don't know why people think paper is so safe.
> 
> Many banks are now charging fees even for those accounts at or over the amount normally "free" for paper statements.
> 
> Why even bother printing them? Your computer is your desk.



I agree that online banking is safer than having all that paper floating around.  Banking sites are very well encrypted.


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## Butterfly

dpwspringer said:


> Sounds like you pretty much have your mind made up, but of what I do not know. The only things you know for certain is you quit receiving statements back in October, nobody has messed with your account, and your mail is very secure. I don't care what they told you at the bank, the most likely answer is the bank quit sending them. Probably an honest mistake/hitch by them, especially considering the norm is now paperless transactions.



I agree -- that's the most likely.


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## debodun

I phoned the bank's main office and told them what happened. They only re-iterated what the branch manager told me - that I should be receiving mailed statements - nothing was changed on my account. 

If I start to back track at the post office, they likely can't give me a reason either - after all, they probably sort thousands of pieces of mail every day. From time to time I get other people's mail in my box, but this is a rare event. I just shove it back in the mail slot in the lobby. 

It is also mystifying why suddenly it was 2 months in a row - I could see it for one month if my mail was accidentally misdirected at the PO. Also, it started after October. Usually if there's a change in bank policy, it starts in a new year and customers would be notified of any changes.


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## Butterfly

Well, if there's been no fishy activity, and if your address is correct on their mailing labels, I'd quit worrying about it.  Stuff does go astray in the mail all the time.  You'll probably never find the explanation.  Somebody at the bank probably made some sort of mistake or else the post office did, but the chances of finding out who or how are slim and none at this point.  Probably some silly clerical thing.


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## OneEyedDiva

Truthfully, I no longer trust the post office. Once I got a check (I could tell by what showed through the window envelope) for a man who lived in a completely different town and our street names weren't even vaguely similar. Another time, my neighbor brought over my pension envelope. I had gotten direct deposit by that time and it's not like I think he would have tried to cash it if it was a check anyway. I often get my neighbor's mail in my box. It took me a "minute" but I started doing and viewing all my financial transactions online. This gives me the power to check my statements every day if I wish. Plus I can set alerts to be texted or emailed to me if any suspicious activity takes place. I know people who are leery about banking online because they are afraid of being hacked. These days, it's just as likely that someone will steal your mail or your mail will get lost. Hacking is part of our lives now so just because people don't bank online personally, doesn't mean their accounts won't get hacked. I know that it's very disconcerting to feel someone has their hands on your information, I've mailed a couple of checks, which contain my address,. One was never delivered, the other was misplaced then found months later. Now might be the time to consider receiving paperless statements. It helps the environment anyway.


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## Ken N Tx

OneEyedDiva said:


> Truthfully, *I no longer trust the post office.* Once I got a check (I could tell by what showed through the window envelope) for a man who lived in a completely different town and our street names weren't even vaguely similar. Another time, my neighbor brought over my pension envelope. I had gotten direct deposit by that time and it's not like I think he would have tried to cash it if it was a check anyway. I often get my neighbor's mail in my box. It took me a "minute" but I started doing and viewing all my financial transactions online. This gives me the power to check my statements every day if I wish. Plus I can set alerts to be texted or emailed to me if any suspicious activity takes place. I know people who are leery about banking online because they are afraid of being hacked. These days, it's just as likely that someone will steal your mail or your mail will get lost. Hacking is part of our lives now so just because people don't bank online personally, doesn't mean their accounts won't get hacked. I know that it's very disconcerting to feel someone has their hands on your information, I've mailed a couple of checks, which contain my address,. One was never delivered, the other was misplaced then found months later. Now might be the time to consider receiving paperless statements. It helps the environment anyway.



...I don't like my neighbors getting my info!!!! Not saying they would open it.


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## Butterfly

I get wrong mail, too, and we used to get wrong mail in our office post office box all the time.  Trouble is, if somebody gets wrong mail and just pitches it, then your personal info can be all over the landscape and/or fished out of the trash.  The wrong mail thing is one of the reasons I went to online banking.  It really IS safer, and a lot less trouble.  My bank, whom I've been with for years and years, strongly encourages it for safety reasons.


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## steelcitiesgray

Butterfly said:


> I get wrong mail, too, and we used to get wrong mail in our office post office box all the time.  Trouble is, if somebody gets wrong mail and just pitches it, then your personal info can be all over the landscape and/or fished out of the trash.  The wrong mail thing is one of the reasons I went to online banking.  It really IS safer, and a lot less trouble.  My bank, whom I've been with for years and years, strongly encourages it for safety reasons.



We live in a small town and another small town near us has the same street address. They receive a lot of our mail and deliveries. Fortunately, the people are very nice and either send our mail back to the post office or call us to let us know there is a delivery. We try to do as much online banking as possible but there's still so much information that comes via mail.


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## OneEyedDiva

Butterfly said:


> I get wrong mail, too, and we used to get wrong mail in our office post office box all the time.  Trouble is, if somebody gets wrong mail and just pitches it, then your personal info can be all over the landscape and/or fished out of the trash.  The wrong mail thing is one of the reasons I went to online banking.  It really IS safer, and a lot less trouble.  My bank, whom I've been with for years and years, strongly encourages it for safety reasons.


Exactly Butterfly! Plus it saves the banks...they use less paper, less in postage fees and probably less time per customer. There was a line in a Prince song: Did he put your million dollar check in somebody else's box? I'm glad we have the option now of direct deposit for our pensions, SS & fund distributions as well as electronic fund transfers to wherever we wish to deposit money. The thought of my personal information, especially financial, just floating around out there due to a postal error would make me so uneasy.


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## Bob328

RadishRose said:


> Paperless. Electronic banking is safer than paper with all those checks and statements floating around, going to wrong addresses, being lost or stolen from mailboxes or if not shredded, stolen from the garbage. I don't know why people think paper is so safe.
> 
> Many banks are now charging fees even for those accounts at or over the amount normally "free" for paper statements.
> 
> Why even bother printing them? Your computer is your desk.


No.... electronic is not safer than paper. I do not like to expose my financial information online where hackers can have a hay day. People think nothing of putting their credit card numbers out there online.  So many people are hacked because of this.

And I would never use the Cloud.  I also use a separate remote hard drive when updating my finances that I disconnect when I go online because everything on your computer is exposed to hackers.   Mailboxes are safer today.  Why would hackers want to drive to mailboxes when it is much easier to get what they want online.  

Your computer is your desk??? Oh come on.....what if your computer crashes?  Paper is a good backup.  I have both.....I save everything on flash drives and I print paper also as a backup.  I do not have to pay for paper statements.  

Some day when everything goes electronic, everyone will pay for this service.  It is coming and we are letting these companies take us over.  Yes, checks and statements can get lost or stolen but it is worse online.  Every piece of personal information you place online goes through many servers before reaching destination and there are  hackers just waiting for you to enter the info so they can grab it.  

This was demonstrated online by a professional who was warning people about this.  I do use direct deposits to cut down on risk of checks being lost or delivered to wrong house.  I do not receive any checks in the mail.  But I do mail checks and I check my checking account on the phone, not online, to confirm my balances.  I have no problem doing this.  

Furthermore, why would anyone want to save the banks money?  They are making money off of us and paying next to nothing in interest in savings accounts. And they make a lot of money in fees, if you get careless with your transactions.


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## OneEyedDiva

Bob328 said:


> No.... electronic is not safer than paper. I do not like to expose my financial information online where hackers can have a hay day. People think nothing of putting their credit card numbers out there online.  So many people are hacked because of this.
> 
> And I would never use the Cloud.  I also use a separate remote hard drive when updating my finances that I disconnect when I go online because everything on your computer is exposed to hackers.   Mailboxes are safer today.  Why would hackers want to drive to mailboxes when it is much easier to get what they want online.
> 
> Your computer is your desk??? Oh come on.....what if your computer crashes?  Paper is a good backup.  I have both.....I save everything on flash drives and I print paper also as a backup.  I do not have to pay for paper statements.
> 
> Some day when everything goes electronic, everyone will pay for this service.  It is coming and we are letting these companies take us over.  Yes, checks and statements can get lost or stolen but it is worse online.  Every piece of personal information you place online goes through many servers before reaching destination and there are  hackers just waiting for you to enter the info so they can grab it.
> 
> This was demonstrated online by a professional who was warning people about this.  I do use direct deposits to cut down on risk of checks being lost or delivered to wrong house.  I do not receive any checks in the mail.  But I do mail checks and I check my checking account on the phone, not online, to confirm my balances.  I have no problem doing this.
> 
> Furthermore, why would anyone want to save the banks money?  They are making money off of us and paying next to nothing in interest in savings accounts. And they make a lot of money in fees, if you get careless with your transactions.


As the song title goes "Ain't Necessarily So". Paper is not necessarily safer. There are many instances of people not only stealing from people's mail boxes but some folks think nothing of just throwing away papers instead of shredding them or burning them. Thieves know this and use those things as opportunities for fraudulent activity. Cross cut shredders were created for a reason. A couple of decades ago, I got a check belonging to a man who lived in another town. Back then, you could tell a check because part of it showed through the envelope window. What if I was a dishonest person? I took it straight to the P.O. delivery supervisor.

I mentioned before that I have a good friend who *hates *online stuff.  She *never* banks online, yet her information was compromised. And she is one who does shred her papers.  Also consider that hacking doesn't have to take place on your end so your info could still be compromised.  Here's an article stating 3 reasons online banking is better (you may have to use the zoom in feature). A biggie is not knowing your account has been compromised until you get your statement. That could up to a month later. Nevertheless when it's all said and done, everyone must do what they feel comfortable with when it comes to their finances.
https://www.tricerion.com/3-reasons-online-banking-is-safer-than-paper/


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## sch404

I do EVERYTHING on-line and have for many many years. Its safer, faster and vastly more reliable than paper sent through the mail. Besides that, it saves trees. With TLS (https://) protocol which all banks, all financial institutions and the entire civilized world currently uses for secure communication via the Internet, 'hacking' is literally impossible. TLS encryption and its predescessor, SSL encryption has never been cracked. Ever. Its like an impenetrable armored steel pipe encloses everything sent between your web browser and your bank or financial institution's web server. Even if someone can somehow get inside the pipe, they can't decrypt the information. Moreover, all the data in my Windows 10 and Windows 11 machines is full disk encrypted with Bitlocker. Even if somebody steals my computers or I forget and leave one of them at Starbucks, they can't access any of my data. As long as I power them down before I leave home.


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## Murrmurr

debodun said:


> I phoned the bank's main office and told them what happened. They only re-iterated what the branch manager told me - that I should be receiving mailed statements - nothing was changed on my account.
> 
> If I start to back track at the post office, they likely can't give me a reason either - after all, they probably sort thousands of pieces of mail every day. From time to time I get other people's mail in my box, but this is a rare event. I just shove it back in the mail slot in the lobby.
> 
> It is also mystifying why suddenly it was 2 months in a row - I could see it for one month if my mail was accidentally misdirected at the PO. Also, it started after October. Usually if there's a change in bank policy, it starts in a new year and customers would be notified of any changes.


Are you sure it's 2 months? You haven't received one since Oct. Did you get one in Oct? If you did, then maybe the one for December wasn't sent out yet and only the Nov one is missing.

In which case, I think you lost it....maybe dropped it on your way out of the P.O., or in the parking lot, or your car. Did you look around in your car really good?


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## Judycat

Find out if the bank changed the envelope size of their statement mailer. My bank suddenly did that and customers thought it was just another insurance request. They were throwing them out. Yes it happened to me too.


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## Pepper

Murrmurr said:


> Are you sure it's 2 months? You haven't received one since Oct. Did you get one in Oct? If you did, then maybe the one for December wasn't sent out yet and only the Nov one is missing.
> 
> In which case, I think you lost it....maybe dropped it on your way out of the P.O., or in the parking lot, or your car. Did you look around in your car really good?


If there's no activity on an account there is no statement.  Coming into this conversation late...


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## Nathan

debodun said:


> I don't trust doing banking Online. If I have a virus or spyware, my account can get hacked.


Some basic security practices can prevent that. Stop by the Computer section of the forum for some good information.


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## C50

I realize you don't want online banking but you should consider putting the mobile banking app on your phone, or home computer. 

Online access is a great way to be able to monitor your account, even if you never use it for transactions.  Your current situation is a perfect example,  two months without a paper statement for you to check is two months someone could have been draining your account.  

The instant you didn't get your monthly statement you should have been checking your accounts, and doing that online is a great tool to have.  Now that you have a concern because of no statements you should check your accounts daily for fraudulent activity, for your own peace of mind.  Doing that online sure beats calling or driving to the bank everyday.


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## Pepper

There must be a phone number to call for daily balance.


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## Gary O'

Murrmurr said:


> Are you sure it's 2 months? You haven't received one since Oct. Did you get one in Oct? If you did, then maybe the one for December wasn't sent out yet and only the Nov one is missing.


Doubt @debodun would recall what happened...... five years ago.....


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## Pepper

Gary O' said:


> Doubt @debodun would recall what happened five years ago.....


Hmmm.  Five years ago was 2017.  Nope.  I don't remember a thing.


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## fancicoffee13

debodun said:


> I suddenly realized that I haven't received a monthly bank statement since October. This alarmed me because when it happened to my uncle, someone had hacked his account and cleaned him out. His statements were being mailed to another address.
> 
> I went to the bank today and had them check what address they had for me and it checked out - nothing had changed. The clerk also printed out the missing statements. Everything checked out there, also. Nothing withdrawn that wasn't normal.
> 
> I asked him why I am not receiving the statements and he replied that there is no reason I shouldn't be getting them. Any theories?


Tell them to make sure they are mailing them every, yes every month.  However, really glad no one had hacked his account.


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## debodun

FYO - I am caught up on my bank statements.


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## Pepper

debodun said:


> FYO - I am caught up on my bank statements.


Yay


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## feywon

debodun said:


> I don't trust doing banking Online. If I have a virus or spyware, my account can get hacked.


i have been doing it some 15 yrs with no problem, even get my statements online.  i have several autopay things set up.  I reconcile my account a couple of times a week because i can see all activity online.  Daughter and i have same bank and she does same--never had a problem. 

If you have a good software protection plan (we use TrendScan it even alerts to to clickbait ads designed to look like 'news' on browser feeds) you are more at risk from an institution (Bank, Credit Card Co, place you frequently shop online) being hacked than personally, especially if you follow simple safety protocols when checking emails---just because an email purports to be from an company you do business with does not mean it. Usually a close look at "To/From/CC " lines can reveal it's fake and i don't even open it. And if it's claiming some problem with account, i go to account thru my usual bookmarks not a link in the email. Every time it has turned out to be nothing wrong with my account just someone trying to get my info by having me go to the cloned site.  

1 time someone used my Debit Card #but they didn't get it online. Bank noticed with one of the charges i caught the other. Money was replaced and new card issued.


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## Murrmurr

Pepper said:


> If there's no activity on an account there is no statement.  Coming into this conversation late...


Really? There's activity on mine every month, so I wouldn't know, but now that I think about it, my mom's bank stopped sending statements after she died...she didn't have anything on auto-pay or auto-transfer but she did have money in the account.


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## perplexed

I would talk to my mail carrier if I were you. Do you have the same one most of time? Maybe he or she can track it down or be on lookout for it when it is supposed to come.


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## debodun

Everything seems to have worked out now.


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