You can save trees by viewing and paying bills online

— -- Some environmentally friendly lifestyle changes, such as recycling empty bottles and cans or turning your air conditioner up a couple of degrees, are relatively painless. Others, such as bicycling to work, require more sacrifice and sweat. Especially when you have to share the road with drivers who don't appreciate your efforts to reduce your carbon footprint.

Reducing the amount of mail you receive from your bank, brokerage firm and other financial institutions should fall into the painless category, particularly if you already do your banking online. Receiving your bills and account statements electronically reduces fuel consumption and saves trees, and it usually doesn't cost you anything.

Yet while more than half of U.S. households bank online, most people still receive their bills and account statements in the mail, according to a new report by Javelin Strategy and Research, a consulting firm. Only 15% of households surveyed said they received their bank or credit union checking account statement "only online," and only 11% said they had eliminated paper delivery of their primary credit card bill.

If all U.S. households viewed and paid their bills online, Javelin says, the reduction in paper would save 16.5 million trees a year.

Mutual fund giant Vanguard Group waives its $20 annual account fee for customers who receive their statements, reports and fund prospectuses electronically. And a growing number of "virtual " banks — online banks that don't have bricks-and-mortar branches — are paying interest rates of 5% or more on savings accounts, compared with less than 1% for most traditional passbook savings accounts.

A few banks have promised to make donations to environmental groups if customers go paperless. But most financial institutions haven't promoted the idea that "turning off the paper" is a green thing to do, says James Van Dyke, president of Javelin.

There are several reasons people who use online banking continue to receive paper statements:

•Reminders. Many people who use online bill-paying services rely on paper statements to remind them when their bills are due, says Mary Monahan, analyst at Javelin.

However, most online banking services offer e-mail alerts you can use to keep track of due dates, Monahan says. "You can set up many different types of billing alerts that will give you more control than one paper statement will," she says.

If you set up electronic reminders, make sure your e-mail alerts are going to the right address, and that they don't get lost in your spam filter. Otherwise, you could miss the deadline for paying your bills and face painful late fees.

•Record keeping. Many consumers with online accounts still want paper copies for their records. That's a reasonable concern: You may need some of those records for tax purposes or to dispute a problem with your account.

Increasingly, though, banks and financial institutions archive statements and other records online, enabling customers to get them when they need them, Monahan says.

If you're considering eliminating paper, ask your financial institution how long it archives your records online, and whether it charges a fee to get them.

Paperless and safe

Some folks are reluctant to manage their financial affairs online because they're worried about identity theft. But according to a Javelin survey of identity theft victims, most criminals still use old-school methods to get personal information. In cases in which victims knew how their information was obtained, nearly 40% cited lost or stolen wallets, checkbooks or credit cards. Nine percent said the perpetrators used stolen mail, and 15% said the information was stolen by someone they knew.

But what about those hackers, phishers and hoodlums who lurk in cyberspace? They're definitely out there: 16% of victims said their information was obtained online. How to safeguard your online accounts:

•Make sure you're on the right website. Identity thieves have created websites with names similar to those of financial institutions to trick consumers into providing personal information.

•Don't transmit personal financial information, such as your Social Security number and account numbers, unless you know the transmission is encrypted. Don't use ordinary e-mail to send sensitive information to your financial institution, and don't respond to e-mails asking for information.

•Protect your password. Don't use your dog's name. Choose a mix of letters and numbers and change your password frequently.

•Keep virus-protection software up to date, and exit the banking site as soon as you're finished.

Sandra Block covers personal finance for USA TODAY. Her Your Money column appears Tuesdays. Click here for an index of Your Money columns. E-mail her at: sblock@usatoday.com.