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Wells Fargo Jeopardize Customers and Make Profit
By karen | February 14, 2009
It’s true Wells Fargo along with many other companies have jeopardized the personal information of hundreds of thousands of their customers through a string of security breaches and now have found a way to profit from the problem. So now, after endangering the personal data of about 700,000 customers, Wells is offering a service that will provide protection from identity theft. For $12.99 a month. $12.99 x 12 (months) x 700,000 (victims) = $109,116,000 a year for Wells and its partner Trilegiant. Wells, by the way, reported record quarterly earnings of $1.9 billion.
They are turning their security problems into a profit center when they should be giving this service to their customers for free. Working with the marketing giant Trilegiant, Wells’ offers a credit monitoring service which they claim will protect your identity from theft. For $12.99 a month, it includes daily monitoring of one’s credit files and assistance in dealing with cases of fraud. Well Fargo is encouraging people to enroll in the service by providing the first 30 days free. Becoming a regular practice with companies if you don’t call to cancel during that period — the bank will begin automatically bill your credit card every month.
Though it is important for us to safeguard our personal information a service like the one Wells is offering is NOT true identity theft protection. The service only monitors credit. For instance, it doesn’t watch fraudulent usage of your Social Security Number. Most people don’t need to pay for a credit monitoring services. Instead, taking advantage of a federal law that allows you to receive a free report from each of the three credit agencies (Equifax.com, Experian.com, and TransUnion.com) once a year. Simply arrange it so you get a different report from each agency every few months, thus providing year-round coverage. If you are concerned with identity theft insurance it pays to shop around for a company that is truly offering identity theft protection.
The bank has experienced a series of major security breaches from stolen computers since November 2003. In each instance, customers’ names, addresses and Social Security numbers — the main ingredients for identity theft — went missing. In most cases they didn’t alert customer of breaches until years later. Wells consistently declined to say precisely how many customers have been affected in each security breach. They claim disclosing this information could jeopardize any criminal investigations. How can making your customers aware be jeopardizing? They just don’t want to lose customers.
And of course Wells Fargo continues to deny that customer’s stolen information has been misused.
(PERSONAL NOTE: I am disgusted with the practice of automatic billing. I recently found a monthly charge on my phone bill when I hadn’t signed up for any service. When I complained they removed the charges but they were reluctant to report my complaint when I said I hadn’t signed up for anything. They told me I must have purchased an item and then was automatically enrolled. I asked how this can be I was never informed and I never purchased an item. They said this was a legal practice any business can have a disclaimer ‘in the fine print’ on our purchases. It seems you need a lawyer these days to know what you are purchasing anymore. It was fraud and no one at AT&T was interested in taking a claim for the issue. They acted like it was just a part of everyday business practices and that was okay. Maybe to them it is, but not to me!)
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February 15th, 2009 at 1:29 am
[...] Wells Fargo Jeopardize Customers and Make Profit | Karen Lodrick [...]
February 15th, 2009 at 6:22 am
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March 26th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
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