Fiserv, Inc., a provider of information technology services to the financial industry, and PSCU Financial Services, the credit union service organization (CUSO), will co-sponsor an e-mail marketing campaign targeting consumers of financial institutions served by PSCU Financial Services to become a part of their Go Paperless, Go Green Campaign.
The two companies will sponsor the planting of one tree for every bill paid online by a new bill-pay subscriber at the financial institution’s website from 19 January through 28 February 2009. This year, the two companies have set a goal of planting at least 7,000 trees in the John M. Bethea State Forest in Glen St. Mary, Fla.
PSCU Financial Services’ PayLynx online bill payment platform is powered by Fiserv’s CheckFree Web RXPSM electronic billing and payment service. The platform allows credit union members to easily control payment dates, receive email reminders and manage all payments from a central webpage, along with reducing their paper footprint. Credit union members can register for PayLynx on their financial institution’s website.
Turning off paper bills may seem like a small change, but it can have a big collective impact on preserving the world around us. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, if every U.S. household switched to e-bills, online statements and payments, we could save 16.5 million trees, reduce solid waste by 1.6 billion pounds, and reduce toxic air pollutants by 3.9 billion pounds, the equivalent of having 355,015 fewer cars on the road.
“When we established our Go Paperless, Go Green Campaign in 2007, we wanted to help American consumers understand the positive impact they could have on the environment simply by adopting eco-friendly habits like receiving and paying bills online,” says Todd Lesher, division president, Fiserv Electronic Banking Services.
“In these challenging economic times, it’s also important to highlight that paying bills online can also help consumers cut the cost and time-consuming chore of writing and mailing checks. The fact that consumer adoption of online bill pay and e-bills has significantly increased over the past two years shows that consumers are recognizing the convenience, organizational, environmental and money-saving benefits of using these online banking services.”
“Our campaign taps into the growing influence of environmental concerns on American consumer behavior,” says Leslie Reistrup, director of eServices, PSCU Financial Services. “Our objective is to educate members of participating financial institutions about how they can make a difference by taking positive steps like signing up for e-bills and paying bills online.”
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