News & Views from the best way to bank.
Congratulations to our June e-statement iPod Nano contest winner, Rocky from Jackson.
Rocky signed up for e-statements the first day of June, as soon as he heard about the iPod drawing. He says he’s a music fan, so he’ll put it to good use.
Now our e-statements are easier than ever to sign up for, and easier to use – plus you get free copies of cleared checks with e-statements. Sign up today!
E-statements really are the way to go.
An electronic statement, or e-statement, is a copy of your American 1 statement that’s created electronically instead of printed on paper. It’s stored as a PDF, a type of universal file type, that can be viewed using Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, a free download.
When you sign up for e-statements, you no longer receive a mailed copy. Instead, when you want to view your statement, you log on to our home banking system to view it. The benefit is you can view your statement wherever you have an Internet connection.
First, to get started, you need to sign up for A1@home. You can do that by stopping in to any branch, or by sending in your signature over fax or by mail (call for details). After that, signing up for e-statements is easy.
After logging in to the A1@home system, click on the History tab (above), and then click on “eStatements.”
Next, enter your e-mail address into the box and click “Enroll me now!” Make sure you read the text on this screen before entering your e-mail address.
At the bottom of the screen, you can see the buttons leading you to Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader. If you don’t have a version of Acrobat on your computer, make sure you download it so you can view your e-statements.
On the next screen, click the “I Accept!” button.
The above screen is your confirmation that you have signed up with your current e-mail address. That’s all there is to it!
From now on, when you want to view your statements, log in to A1@home, click the History tab, and choose “eStatements.” You’ll see the above screen. Simply click “Get my e-statement” to see your e-statements.
Just remember that you will no longer receive your mailed paper statement, but you can print out your e-statement anytime you want. Even better? You can view and print out check copies for free.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get a hold of us!
American 1 is introducing a new statement format with this month’s statement mailing.
You can view a handy guide to the new mailed statement on our What’s New page. For those members with mailed statements, you’ll see the new format in the mail in the next few days.
For e-statement members, there’s a new login procedure:
You still sign in to A1@home as usual, then head to the “History” tab and select “eStatements.” From there, you’ll see the screen above. It will give you a few options, but to see you e-statement you simply select the “Get my E-Statement” link above.
In the old e-statement system, you had to sign in using your account number and passcode. Now, when you click on the “Get my E-Statement” link, you’re automatically sent to the page above. There’s no seperate sign-in step.
The page above presents the last eight months of e-statements, tax forms, and notices. When you’re done, make sure you click the “Log Out” link at the top-right.
We think the new statement format is easier to read. Let us know what you think in the comments!
While it’s true you can use American 1’s free online banking system, A1@home, on your iPhone or other mobile device, here’s a better tip:
That link will send you straight to our home banking login page.
We had a member who had trouble clicking on the “Login” button on our homepage. This method will make it easier to sign in using your username and passcode.
Just be sure to bookmark the “hb.american1″ link on your mobile device, and you should be all set to go.
Missing your Visa statement? Don’t forget that, when you sign up for e-statements, all of your account statements will be available electronically. So you’ll get your share/loan e-statement and a seperate Visa e-statement.
To access all your e-statements, simply follow our online instructions. Your Visa account statements will be listed below your regular monthly or quarterly statements.
One good clue you’re signed up for e-statements is if you don’t receive any mail from us all month. If neither your regular statement of Visa statement arrive at your home, you’re probably signed up for e-statements. If you have any questions, simply call any branch and they can let you know.
You probably know that when you sign up for American 1’s e-statement service, you can take advantage of our online Bill Pay services for no charge.
Some members, however, have noticed that they still get charged for using Bill Pay after signing up for e-statements.
Here’s the fix: after you sign up for e-statements, log on to our A1@home home banking system, and then head to the Bill Pay area. Bill Pay recognizes that you are enrolled in the system and stops the monthly fee.
The issue seems to be with members who rarely use Bill Pay. Regular Bill Pay users never recieve a charge; it’s only members who haven’t used the system that seem to get charged.
So remember: after signing up for e-statements, immediately head to the Bill Pay site, and everything should be automatic. Check out our Bill Pay page for instructions on how to get set up.
Just a quick heads-up: our Bill Pay services will be down Sunday, November 2, from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. local, Eastern time.
Bill Pay will be unavailable during those hours, so all your super-early-morning bill payers will have to hold out for just a bit. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Have a great Halloween weekend everyone.
Pssst…you should head over to our E-statement page and see what you could win if you sign up for e-statements this week.
Oh, wait. The headline probably gives it away, doesn’t it? Oh well.
But really, if you’re not already signed up for American 1’s free e-statement service, you should be. You get your statement faster, you can view it anywhere you go, and if you don’t open your statement every single month anyway, e-statements make sense for everyone involved.
Sometime on Sunday, after we installed an update to our account management system, we crashed.
Members first noticed it on Sunday when they tried logging in to A1@home and Bill Pay; they got a message saying “try again later.” Later came and went, and by Monday our system was still down. It wasn’t until Tuesday that we got everything up and running again.
What a hassle. Members were limited to $100 withdrawals, we couldn’t check balances, and home banking was inoperable. It only happens once in a while (the last system crash was almost two years ago), but when it does happen it’s a pain.
We want to keep you informed of events like this. It may not help you see how much money is in your checking account, but it can help keep you informed of updates and news – like when the system comes back online.
To do this, we created a graphic to post on the A1@home login screen. It’s simple, but at least it lessens the surprise when home banking tells you “try again later.”
Also, we’re going to use this blog as an information tool. When the system goes down, we’ll post a graphic (right) on our homepage that leads you to a status blog post that we can update everytime something changes.
As always, you can call our Home Office to get system status updates, but sometimes our phone line gets clogged. With our online tools, you can find out for yourself.
We hate system crashes as much as you do. Sometimes, when we update the system, it doesn’t play nice, and Sunday’s crash won’t be the only time this happens. But to keep things sane, and to keep you informed, we hope to put in place a few tools to help communicate what’s going on.
Sorry for the hassle earlier this week.
The results of our “do you open your mailed statement each month” poll are in. In all, 30 people voted, and almost half of you – 47% – opt for e-statements instead of paper statements.
Another third of you told us you don’t open your mailed statements or only “sometimes” open them. For you, e-statements are perfect: they save paper, reduce waste, and are easily ignored. Below are the full results:
Twenty-three percent of you said you do open your mailed statements each month, which is a good idea. Reading through your statement can help prevent fraud and identity theft. See something fishy? Let us know.
The poll is closed, but feel free to offer your comments below. Do you use e-statements? Are you a fan? Or do you prefer to stick with the snail-mail method?
