What it is
“Green Sense” is a new initiative Citizens Bank is taking to encourage its clients to reduce paper waste. If you sign up for Green Sense, Citizens Bank will give you 10 cents every time you pay by using your debit card and entering your pin, every time you pay your bills online, and every time you have an automatic payment withdrawn from your account. The idea behind Green Sense is that each person can contribute to helping the environment even by taking very small steps.
Each month, Green Sense will deposit the money you earned into your checking account and it will also send you an e-mail tracking your earnings, the impact Green Sense has made on the environment along with tips on how to live green.
According to the Citizens Bank website, for every dollar you earn after just one year, you will have saved emissions equal to more than 87 miles of driving, prevented 3.5 gallons of wastewater and 4 gallons of gasoline that would have been consumed by delivering your paper statement. Additionally, each of the dollars you earn would save more than 7 feet of forest and have the same impact as turning your refrigerator off for a week.
Benefits of signing up for Green Sense
1. It’s quick and easy to enroll any checking account
2. You can earn up to $120 a year – all you need to do is use your debit card or online bill-pay 10 times a month.
3. You get a Green Sense debit card with an elegant green design – the new card will come in the mail within a few days after you enroll.
4. You reduce your paper waste thereby helping the environment – you will no longer receive paper statements and you will hopefully switch to online bill payment
5. You save time by paying your bills online and setting up automatic payments
6. You learn to keep better track of your finances by always using your debit card – you’ll find it hard to spend what you don’t have.
How to sign up
As a first step, go to www.citizensbankonline.com. If you do not have an online account, register for free on the website. It’s easy and it offers you many banking options with 24-hour access. If you are registered, when you log in, you will see the “Green Sense” box at the bottom left of your screen. You can also go directly to this website to learn more about the program and to enroll:
http://www.citizensbank.com/promotions/deposits/greensense/button/general.aspx
My experience
I first heard about Green Sense through a co-worker who is already using Green Sense as a way to reduce her environmental impact. I already had an account online with Citizens Bank but I only use it to check my statement. Once I learned about Green Sense, I wanted to see if there was a catch to it. It turns out there’s no catch. Surely, paperless statements and debit card use benefit the bank by saving it money in production and transportation costs; however, this can still be beneficial to each customer as well as to the environment.
It took me just a couple of minutes to enroll my account for Green Sense – once you are logged in, you do not need any additional information to enroll. You need to commit to paperless statements so this will be a problem if you like to file and keep track of your paper statements. Your online account shows you all your monthly statements in chronological order so you can always print these if needed or go to the bank to request them. You can also switch back to paper statements whenever.
I found the Green Sense portion of the Citizens Bank website very user-friendly and easy to understands. They have a Frequently Asked Questions section that describes in detail the environmental benefits of Green Sense and how these benefits have been measured and figured out. The website also has a section on tips and articles for a “green” lifestyle.
I now try to use my debit card whenever I can – it only counts if you use it at a location where you need to enter your pin. It helps me keep better track of my expenses and I love it’s new look. The card has a white field with a green tree framing the left side; everyone has commented on its elegant appearance. In a year I will have earned $120 and will feel a lot better about my contribution to the environment. The biggest lesson from Green Sense is that even very small things, when done repeatedly, can contribute in large amounts to preserving our environment.
Sources: www.citizensbank.com/greensense
