NEW YORK » Having your bills mailed to you month after month is bad for the environment. But many of us can’t break the practice because paper statements are key to our financial housekeeping.

The benefits of going paperless are obvious: It’s environmental, cuts down on clutter and lets you access bills wherever you have an Internet connection.

Before making the leap, however, it’s a good idea to understand the potential pitfalls and whether you’ll need to adjust your financial habits.

Unlike paper statements, which can be neatly collected and filed away, going paperless on multiple accounts will mean having that information scattered under different user names and passwords. You might also be surprised to learn you have to pay for copies of some older statements.

If you’re thinking of going paperless, here are three tips to consider:

Don’t Go on Autopilot

When considering a switch to e-statements, the primary concern is how it will affect your vigilance about paying and reviewing bills.

One reason for the slackened oversight is that routine notifications that a statement is ready can be easy to ignore, particularly if you get a high volume of emails. So before agreeing to go paperless, consider the account in question and what type of action it requires from you.

For example, there likely won’t be any repercussions if you fail to check an online statement for a savings account. With important bills such as mortgages, on the other hand, there are steep late fees for missed payments.

So if you feel that a paper statement on the kitchen counter helps you remember to pay a bill, consider sticking with the strategy for those accounts until you’re more comfortable managing finances online.

Know How to Get Older Statements

If you keep detailed financial rec­ords, one concern with going paperless is how long electronic statements will be accessible online. The answer varies depending on the company. Banks even have different policies depending on the type of account in question.

At Citibank, for example, customers have access to three months of statements for checking accounts and 12 months of statements for credit cards. Other banks let customers search much farther back; Chase and Wells Fargo, for example, keep checking account statements readily available for up to seven years.

Most banks also give customers the option to request older statements that are no longer online. But how far back the bank can go varies. And if you want a printed copy, there’s likely going to be a fee.

Ultimately, online archives are likely to be at least as extensive as the paper rec­ords you keep at home. But it’s still a good idea to know exactly what you’re signing up for.

Claim Rewards for Switching

Companies save big when customers go paperless. Not only do they save on postage and mailing costs, but they also increase the odds that customers pay bills on time and lower marketing expenses.

So before you agree to go paperless, see whether there are any financial incentives for doing so. Companies of all types, including banks, utilities and investment managers, offer perks and prizes to encourage customers to switch.

For example, at Vanguard, clients with fund accounts who opt to go paperless get a $20 annual service fee waived. The fee is only charged on accounts with a balance of less than $10,000. The investment manager also notes that the millions of dollars it saves in mailing costs are passed on to clients.

———

Candice Choi is a personal finance writer with The Associated Press. .