Dimes Add Up With A Green$ense Bonus

Checking account customers at Citizens Bank and Charter One Bank can earn a dime every time they make an electronic transaction.

All you have to do is enroll your account in the banks’ Green$ense program and follow a few extra rules.

Basically that means getting all of your statements online and making at least 10 debit card purchases or online bill payments a month.

The marketing spin behind this effort is that using “less paper is good for the environment,” hence the name Green$ense.

All types of personal checking accounts are eligible, but to get one you usually have to live in one of the 12 Northeastern and Midwestern states where Citizens and Charter One have branches. (Both are owned by Citizens Financial Group, based in Providence, R.I.)

Although it’s possible to make as much as $120 a year with Green$ense, you’d have to average a staggering 100 debit card purchases and online bill payments a month to do so.

We suspect the annual bonus will be more like $30 or $40 for most customers.

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Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union is First to Add Free FICO Credit Scores to Online Banking

In what I hope is the beginning of a trend, Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union (PSECU) is offering free FICO credit scores to its online banking customers. The CU says more than 200,000 members are eligible to receive free scores.

Although, Wamu and HSBC (note 1) both offer free scores for their respective credit card customers, PSECU is the first financial institution to offer scores to checking account customers within the online banking area.

There is no charge for the service, but members must enroll to participate. A new score will be posted online each month in the online banking area. Members also have the option to receive alerts when their scores are updated.

The service is powered by Fair Isaac’s MyFICO service. According its press released today, the company is talking with other financial institutions about participating in the Scores on Statements program. Currently, 1.5 million consumers have access to free credit scores through the service.

Bottom line: Without knowing the financial arrangements, it’s impossible to estimate the ROI. But credit scores have real value to consumers and any financial institution providing them for free is likely to improve its standing. It’s also possible that a free credit score service could be a profit center if fee-based credit report monitoring options are marketed to enrollees of the free service (note 2).