Among millennials aged 18-25, only 6 percent get their credit card statements by mail. The rest opt for paperless statements as a more convenient way to monitor transactions and stay informed about monthly expenses. Given that digitalization gathers pace, other age groups are also becoming more likely to refuse print communications, including paper statements.
This increases the volume of digital documents a modern business needs to generate. A company dealing with paperless statements will have to continuously convert HTML to PDF files and deliver them through multiple channels.
To optimize this process, we recommend using services that automatically convert HTML to PDF. You can choose the most basic rendering engines or subscribe to more advanced solutions that — apart from creating paperless statements online — can also deliver them to the necessary recipients and have other add-ons.
Read on to learn more about what PDF rendering is, why you need paperless statements, and how to generate them efficiently.
- What are paperless statements, and who needs them?
- What is PDF rendering?
- How to convert HTML to PDF: manual and automated approaches
- Inkit’s rendering functionality for paperless statements and other communications
What Are Paperless Statements and Who Needs Them?
Paperless statements are rendered images used to substitute paper credit card statements. A credit card issuer sends them every month to inform customers how they used their credit cards during a billing period. This gives cardholders better control over their expenses and allows them to check financial documents online rather than store printed copies.
Paperless statements provide valuable details about the customer’s credit card account, including:
- Detailed lists of payments, purchases, transfers, credits, fees, and other transactions with a summary
- Types of balances for the account with the interest rate and charges
- Balance from the previous billing cycle
- Due payment
- Payment due date
- Possible late fees
- Credit card limit and current credit
- Contact information of the credit card issuer
Thus, if you generate paperless statements, make sure the selected template includes these fields. After that, you can convert HTML to PDF and start delivering communications to respective customers.
Who Uses Paperless Statements and Why?
Paperless statements are mostly the responsibility of credit card issuers who are legally obliged to send them at least 21 days before the due date. Some credit card issuers provide paperless statements even if the checking account or credit card owner hasn’t switched to online reports.
Apart from some law-related reasons to go paperless, online statements also enable financial institutions to cut operational expenses. They make it easier to generate documents, distribute them, and store all the previous communications. Besides, since customers have 24/7 access to paperless statements, they are more likely to pay bills on time.
Find out more about what is PDF rendering and how to convert HTML into a PDF file below.
What Is PDF Rendering?
PDF rendering is a process during which an HTML file (hypertext markup language file) is translated into a PDF (portable document format). HTML files are usually web-based pages that, after the rendering is completed, preserve the same fields but become easier to download and print.
Even though PDF rendering is widely used to generate financial documents, you can convert HTML to PDF anytime you need to capture a web page’s content.
How to Convert HTML to PDF: Manual and Automated Approaches
Convert HTML to PDF manually
If you need to convert several HTML paperless statements to PDFs, a simple online converter should be enough. Use HTML2PDF.com, PDFcrowd.com, Document.Online-Converter, or any other web services you like. You just need to google “convert HTML to PDF”, select a rendering engine, and upload an HTML to get a PDF file at the output.
There is also an option to convert HTML to PDF using the native Adobe Acrobat service. Depending on how often you plan to use it, you may start a free trial or subscribe to a paid plan that allows you to create, edit, and sign PDFs directly from your web browser. You will also be able to convert files into other popular image formats within a single tool.
Once you configure Adobe Acrobat, the corresponding toolbar will be added to your browser. It will enable you to instantly convert HTML to PDF without the need to waste time on manual downloads. Overall, you can generate a PDF file in 3 simple steps:
- Open the necessary HTML page in Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Firefox on a Windows computer. For Mac computers, use the Firefox web browser.
- Click “Convert to PDF” in the Adobe PDF toolbar to convert HTML to PDF document.
- Name and save the generated file.
Adobe Acrobat PDF tooling also provides valuable editing options to combine multiple pages in one PDF, convert a part of web pages, convert a linked page to a PDF, and more. If you need more detailed guidelines, visit this page for step-by-step instructions.
Convert HTML to PDF automatically
If you handle hundreds of documents, manual conversion tools won’t cover your needs. You will spend too much time processing each HTML. That’s why we recommend choosing a service with a higher level of automation.
Automated PDF renderings are the only option suitable for paperless statements delivered by credit card issuers. Financial organizations need solutions that work independently and connect to their databases to generate, convert, and deliver documents. This ensures data security and minimizes routine actions needed for PDF rendering.
Thus, to automatically convert HTML to PDF, find a separate web service with automated PDF rendering capabilities. After you integrate it with your systems, the tool will instantly generate PDFs when triggered. In case you also want to automatically deliver the created paperless statements to specific customers, you should use Inkit. It’s a Reach Enablement Platform that supports PDF rendering and connects multiple communication channels to send high-quality paper and paperless documents.
Alternatively, you can add rendering capabilities to your existing software through an HTML to PDF conversion API. Although this requires some tech expertise, you will be able to build a custom rendering tool tailored to your needs.
Inkit’s Rendering Functionality for Paperless Statements and Other Communications
Document rendering is one of the core features supported by Inkit’s Reach Enablement Platform. It automatically generates personalized documents in PDF or other formats to store them for record-keeping and deliver to customers. You can use this tool to share paperless statements, bills, adverse action notices, and other customer interactions.
Unlike standard PDF rendering tools, Inkit doesn’t only generate documents but also provides you with an opportunity to send them and track the delivery automatically. You can integrate it with third-party vendors to make paperless statements accessible through any channel. Thanks to advanced automation, the system manages customer interactions without your help and always generates documents on time, which is life-critical when dealing with financial communications. Customers will be better informed about their balance and due payments, while you will stay regulatory compliant meeting the deadlines.
Would you like to try Inkit for your project? Contact our team to get the demo.
