Wells Fargo is an international banking and financial services holding company that were founded in March of 1852. Their headquarters is located in San Francisco, California. The company offers a wide range of services for personal use as well as small business and commercial. Their identity theft services include comprehensive monitoring of all three credit bureaus as well as fraud monitoring and resolution assistance. In this Wells Fargo Identity Protection Review , we’ll find out if their identity theft protection services are on par with their competitors.
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Service Features
Automatic Daily Monitoring
Provides a comprehensive report for up to all three credit bureaus. The reports are straightforward and easy to read. The credit bureaus are monitored daily for any possible changes that could signify identity theft including requests for new credit, the opening of accounts or change of address.
Alerts at the First Sign of Trouble
If any unusual or unauthorized activity is detected through the monitoring of your personal information, you will be notified immediately. If you sign up online, you will receive these alerts via e-mail, and if you sign up over the phone, the alerts will be sent to you through US Mail.
Resolution Specialists Ready to Help
If your identity is compromised, you will be given a personalized support contact that will walk you through the necessary steps that need to be taken to rectify the situation. Also, if a credit card is lost or stolen, you will be assisted with cancellation and replacement.
The Good
Affordable Pricing
The Wells Fargo Identity Protection services are relatively inexpensive on a monthly basis and should be affordable for most people.
Comprehensive Credit Monitoring
Wells Fargo monitors all three credit bureaus on a daily basis and customizes a profile for you which is easy to read and understand. Some companies will only provide reports from one of the three bureaus or will provide less frequent monitoring. Because Wells Fargo is an established bank, they have a stable relationship with the credit bureaus and will be able to provide accurate information whereas a less established company may not. Daily monitoring can alert you of all of the following: new inquiries, new accounts, certain new derogatory information, public records, potentially negative information, cards reported lost or stolen, or change of address.
Built-In Protection
In addition to the identity theft services provided, Wells Fargo also offers built-in protection for their account holders. This protection includes credit and debit cards with added security chip technology, 24/7 fraud monitoring, and zero liability protection at no extra cost with your debit card and temporary replacement if that card is ever stolen or lost.
The Bad
Limited Service
Compared to what some other companies offer, what is provided by Wells Fargo is very basic. What Wells Fargo offers is essentially nothing more than credit monitoring. Even if the credit monitoring services are thorough and comprehensive, there are many other avenues in which an identity can be compromised. Without proper internet surveillance or any type of identity theft software , the chances of saving your identity after discovering an issue are markedly lower.
Specialists Are Not Available 24/7
According to the Wells Fargo site, their resolution specialists are only available Monday-Friday from 8:00 am – 9:00 pm Central Time. If for example, you have an urgent issue and need to speak to a representative on a Saturday or late at night, there won’t be anyone you can talk with. Identity theft issues can be especially time sensitive, so this could potentially be problematic in certain scenarios.
Numerous Complaints and Poor BBB Rating
Wells Fargo was given a grade of C- by the Better Business Bureau and 4086 complaints have been closed over the past three years. Wells Fargo is also not an accredited BBB business. Many dissatisfied customers have noted that they had a tough time trying to cancel the service and also pointed out that they had a hard time accessing their reports. In some cases, customers said they were given an “all clear” only to find out months later that a new account had been opened in their name without Wells Fargo ever catching it.
Limited Reimbursement
Many similar companies provide up to $1 million in reimbursement coverage, but Wells Fargo only offers consumers up to $10,000 in identity theft expense reimbursement.
Pricing and Packages
Wells Fargo’s Identity Protection is essentially an optional “add-on” for account holders, and the package costs an additional $12.99 per month. It appears that the company had been offering an Enhanced Identity Theft Protection plan in the past for $15.99 per month, but the website no longer shows that as an option so it may have been discontinued. The standard $12.99 package consists of triple bureau daily credit monitoring, 24/7 fraud monitoring, fraud resolution assistance, and expense reimbursement insurance.
Is Wells Fargo Identity Protection Worth it?
Ultimately, it depends on what you are looking for as a consumer when it comes to identity protection. As an add-on service, what is provided by Wells Fargo is not particularly expensive overall although there are companies offering similar identity theft services for less. The company has been around for an incredibly long time, so there is a degree of trustworthiness and reliability involved but the number of complaints and poor Better Business Bureau rating is slightly troubling.
The service is more or less stripped down, and while it provides the consumer with a very useful tool that allows them to monitor their triple bureau credit scores on a daily basis, there isn’t a whole lot else provided. Especially considering that there are sites that allow you to check your credit score for free. It seems there could be numerous scenarios where a consumers identity could be compromised without Wells Fargo picking up on it because their program is missing several features that are offered by competitors and the coverage overall does not appear to be all that extensive in general.
Are they the best identity theft protection company ? Probably not. Wells Fargo seems to be sticking to what they know and work with on a daily basis when it comes to identity protection. Their services may be sufficient for some people, and there are certainly customers who are happy with what they offer but overall, there are certainly similarly priced identity theft protection companies out there that provide more comprehensive protection.
