The companies will make a five dollar donation to the Arbor Day Foundation for each customer that activates a new e-bill through Bank of the West Online Banking between April 13 and May 20, 2012. In addition, each customer will receive a five dollar credit to their account.

Bank of the West customers will have the opportunity to generate up to $10,000 in donations, which would fund the planting of 10,000 trees. Customers can receive e-bills from more than 400 companies through their online banking account at Bank of the West, including common household bills such as utility, mobile phone and credit card bills. E-bills for Bank of the West products and services are not eligible for the promotion.

"We believe one of the best ways to raise awareness of the green advantages of e-bills and electronic bill payment is through initiatives that can have a direct environmental impact," said Laurie Callagy, Online Banking Product Manager at Bank of the West. "E-bills not only reduce paper waste, they also help eliminate clutter and enable our customers to better organize their household finances."

Paperless electronic bills, commonly known as e-bills, contain all of the same information as traditional paper bills, but are delivered to a financial institution or company website instead of a physical mailbox. E-bill use can reduce paper waste and curb the release of greenhouse gases associated with the transport of paper bills. They are also secure, convenient and clutter-free, enabling consumers to receive and store bills online at the same site where they are paid. E-bill recipients at Bank of the West can schedule a specific date on which their household bill will be paid and take advantage of features such as email reminders.

According to the latest Fiserv Billing Household Survey, when asked about the single most important reason to receive e-bills, current recipients chose convenience (30 percent), followed by saves paper and energy (21 percent). In addition, 58 percent of recipients said the environment was an important or very important factor in their decision to receive e-bills.

"Overall consumer interest in e-bills is strong, yet many consumers are still unsure of how e-bills work and how they might benefit from them," said Bryan Allison, director, Consumer Marketing and Insights, Fiserv. "Bank of the West is taking steps to educate their customers on the benefits of e-bills, and offering incentives to try e-bills with a donation to a respected organization and a personal account credit. We've seen that this combination of education and incentives does motivate consumers to sign up for e-bills."

Consumers can visit EBillPlace.com for more information on e-bills and to calculate how much they can reduce their environmental impact by switching to electronic billing, statements and payments.

Bank of the West has been a Fiserv client since 2002, and uses solutions including Corillian Online(R) for online banking and CheckFree(R) RXP(R) for electronic payments.