Since the banks and credit bureaus witness first-hand just how devastating and frequent identity theft can be, it only made sense that they would start offering protection to its customers. With this bank being one of the most recognizable names on the market, there’s a considerable relationship between them and the 3 major credit bureaus. Wells Fargo’s services are primarily based on quickly alerting members if there’s a problem with their credit through consistent tracking and monitoring, assisting if there is any type of fraud and a $10,000 insurance policy against expenses associated with theft.
We like the emphasis on credit monitoring, since this is clearly a common way consumers are affected when something has gone wrong with their identity. However, it goes much further than just whether or not thieves have your info, and can even empower you to take action to improve your own financial health as well. On one of their plans, you’ll receive a Simulator showing estimated credit scores in the event you take specific actions. For example, it will reflect your credit score will likely be raised 20 points if you pay off a specific card. With Wells Fargo being an established bank, their relationships with all 3 credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion) suggests their information will be more accurate and received faster than if you contracted with an outside company. You can also receive help after you lose a credit card and personalized fraud assistance. So if something did happen, it appears you’re promised one person who knows your case inside and out. This service is only offered to account holders, meaning they’ll have additional control and authority over how your personal accounts are handled as well.
While these are services give you alerts when something occurs, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of attention given to proactive measures. Wells Fargo has 6 out of 9 services that are associated with monitoring your credit, and no services that go through records (either public or private) to see if your information is available for sale or already being used. Generally companies will contract with computer specialist companies that troll the web, but in this case it seems that Wells Fargo simply went with services they know and understand. But identity protection companies that do offer surveillance systems can penetrate countless websites both on the legitimate web and Dark Web to give your reputation a better chance of being saved. It also saves you the hassle of having to rebuild your identity afterward. They also don’t offer 24/7 support, meaning you might feel powerless until you can get ahold of someone during standard business hours. Many of the services they offer, for example score analysis, can be found for free on creditkarma.com. To be fair to Wells Fargo’s services though, you would need to check CreditKarma.com constantly in order to have the same monitoring effects.
When you know you won’t do any type of monitoring on your own, want basic coverage and already belong to Wells Fargo, then this might be a smart plan for you to get. When you already trust a company and understand how they conduct their business, there’s value in taking their bundled services because you’re already familiar with how they communicate and hopefully already have a relationship or two there if something does go wrong. However, if you want more comprehensive coverage, then this will not be a recommended plan as it generally just offers intense credit monitoring in a variety of forms.
The Wells Fargo plans offer heavy monitoring of your credit score, so you have a trusted leader in the finance industry to quickly reverse the effects. Here’s how their plan works.
There are 2 plans offered by Wells Fargo with a few notable differences between the basic and advanced plan. Generally, you’re receiving more information on the advanced plan so you have a better look at your scores in context.
This includes basic credit monitoring, fraud resolution and financial assistance. PLUS scores show your information in aggregate so you can assess your risk of identity theft.
The enhanced plan comes with the same protection with the following changes and additions. A PLUS Score tracker compares your score to the national average, and the simulator will give you a projected score if you take common actions such as pay off bills, close a card, etc.
Wells Fargo does not advertise that they have 24/7 customer support, nor do they give an emergency number to call on their website. They do list their general Customer Service line as the following:
Contact Phone: 1-877-364-9343
The corporate office of Wells Fargo is in San Francisco and they’ve partnered with AIG for their insurance policy. The company itself is an industry leader and has been around for more than 160 years.