# Bank Statements by Email: Free Delivery and Its Risks

- Author: CheapBankConvert (https://cheapbankconvert.com)
- Published: 2026-10-17
- Category: Getting your statements
- Canonical: https://cheapbankconvert.com/blog/bank-statements-by-email

> Can you get bank statements by email? What banks send, why most send a link instead, and the phishing risk of statement emails.
You can usually get bank statements by email in the sense that the bank emails you when a new statement is ready, for free. The message rarely holds the statement itself; you sign in to online banking to open the PDF. That design protects your account details, and it also makes fake statement emails a common phishing trick.

## Can you get bank statements by email?

Yes, in most cases: choosing email or paperless delivery means your bank emails you each cycle, at no charge. What lands in your inbox is usually a notice that the statement is ready, with the statement itself waiting in online banking. A few banks describe the statement as sent by email, so read your own bank's wording.

Banks phrase this differently. Citi's [paperless card statements page](https://www.citi.com/us/cards/svc/cbna/content/jump-page/paperless1/citstatmntext.htm) says you will receive an email notification when your statement is ready to be viewed online, which is the notice model. Ally's [account information help page](https://www.ally.com/help/bank/account-information/) says it sends one statement monthly, by mail or email, for all of your accounts.

Either way, the switch is a delivery setting in online banking or the app, usually under statements, documents or paperless. Once it is set, paper may take a cycle or so to stop, and the email becomes your monthly reminder to go and get the file.

## Why statement emails carry a notice instead of the PDF

A statement email carries a notice rather than the PDF because email is a weak place to keep account details. A statement shows your name, address, account number, balance and every transaction. A notice holds none of that, so a misdirected or intercepted message reveals little, and the full statement stays behind the bank's sign-in.

There are practical reasons as well:

- **Email addresses go stale.** People change jobs and lose old inboxes. A notice sent to a dead address exposes nothing.
- **Inboxes get shared or hacked.** A family computer or a breached email account would otherwise hold years of statements.
- **Sign-in adds a check.** Online banking can ask for a code or a fingerprint before showing the PDF. Email cannot.

The cost of this design is one extra step for you each month. If signing in from a phone is awkward, download the month's PDF on a computer instead. The guide to [downloading TD Bank statements online and in the app](/blog/download-td-bank-statements) shows what that step looks like at one bank.

## How do fake bank statement emails look?

Fake bank statement emails copy the look of a real notice but push you to act through the message: click a link to "view your statement", open an attachment, or confirm details.

The Federal Trade Commission's guide to [recognizing and avoiding phishing scams](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams) says scammers pose as banks and use email to get personal and financial information.

The FTC's advice is to contact the company using a phone number or website you know is real, not the details in the email. For statement notices, that means one rule: never sign in through the link. Open your bank's app, or type the bank's address yourself, and look for the statement there. If it is real, it will be waiting.

The table shows the difference in practice. The examples are typical patterns, not quotes from any particular bank.

| Sign | Genuine statement notice | Phishing statement email |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Greeting | Often your name | Often "Dear customer" or none |
| What it asks | Sign in when convenient | Click now, or the account will be limited |
| Attachment | Usually none | Often a file named like a statement |
| Problem claimed | None | A billing issue, a hold, unusual activity |
| What happens if you ignore it | Nothing; the statement stays online | The threatened deadline passes and nothing changes |

## Forwarding a bank statement by email to someone else

Forwarding a bank statement by email is common when a landlord, accountant or lender asks for one, and it is reasonable with care. The PDF will sit in at least two inboxes, so send only what is asked for, to an address you have confirmed, and cover any numbers the reader does not need.

A short checklist before you hit send:

1. Confirm the recipient's address by phone or from a document you already trust, not from a reply to an unexpected email.
2. Send only the months requested.
3. Cover what they do not need, such as most digits of the account number, if they allow it.
4. Use the recipient's secure upload portal if they offer one, instead of plain email.
5. Delete the sent copy from your outbox if you do not need it.

Some requesters will not accept an emailed PDF and want a copy straight from the bank. In that case the post on how to [get a bank statement at a branch, same day](/blog/get-bank-statement-at-a-branch) explains what to bring and what it may cost.

## Statement email edge case: a bank that attaches the PDF

If your bank sends the statement itself as an email attachment, treat the inbox as your statement archive and protect it. Turn on two-step sign-in for the email account, move each PDF into a saved folder, and still confirm unexpected attachments by signing in at the bank before opening them.

Two habits keep this arrangement safe:

- **Check the sender against an earlier genuine message.** If the address, name or format changes, sign in at the bank to see whether a statement was really issued.
- **Save the PDF outside email.** Inboxes get cleaned, migrated or locked. A folder of named statement files lasts longer.

Once the PDFs are saved, you may want their rows in a spreadsheet. Whether to buy desktop software for that or pay per file is weighed in [PDF to CSV converter software: license or pay per file](/blog/pdf-to-csv-converter-software). CheapBankConvert takes the pay-per-file route with no subscription, and its opening is announced at [the get started page](/get-started).