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See what identity theft protection options exist for your Wells Fargo account and find out what to do if you think your Wells Fargo account may have been compromised.
Wells Fargo offers identity theft protection as a paid add-on. In this guide, we’ll discuss what the system offers and if it’s any good, what to do if you notice potential identity theft related to your Wells Fargo account, and alternatives to Wells Fargo Identity Theft Protection.
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Wells Fargo Identity Theft Protection is an optional product that customers choose to purchase (for $15.99/month) as a means of potentially helping protect against identity theft. The company indicates that this identity theft protection monitors the three credit bureaus, looks for certain changes, and sends the customer an alert at the first sign of a problem.
Wells Fargo Identity Theft Protection provides daily monitoring of each customer’s personal information for identity theft signs when they opt in to the protection. The company sends the alerts to your phone, or email, depending on how the customer purchases the identity theft protection provided by Wells Fargo.
The company’s optional identity theft protection provides up to $10,000 insurance coverage if you experience identity theft. You also get access to fraud resolution support via a toll-free number, which provides assistance with fraud, and allows you to keep an eye out for suspicious account activities.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) explains that seeing withdrawals from your bank account that you cannot explain, and discovering unfamiliar accounts or charges on your credit account are examples of possible identity theft. Another example includes receiving a notice that your information was compromised by a data breach at a company where you do business or have an account.
Taking immediate steps when you first suspect identity theft, or discover definite evidence of identity theft is crucial to minimizing losses, and expediting identity theft recovery. Whether you experienced previous identity theft because of a previous Wells Fargo issue, or you discover a new possibility of identity theft, follow the instructions provided by Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo provides access to an identity theft assistance kit, that you can download on its site. The kit contains a checklist of what you need to do when dealing with fraud. This includes contacting Wells Fargo by phone, contacting the three credit bureaus and placing a fraud alert on your credit record, obtaining a banking history report, filing a report with the local police, and more.
Wells Fargo’s identity theft protection isn’t outright bad, but it’s simply very limited when compared to other top identity theft protection systems. Most of them come with triple-bureau monitoring, fraud resolution, and real-time alerts.
But on top of that, they also provide other features, such as dark web monitoring, social media monitoring, 401K investment account monitoring, home title monitoring, and sex offender registry reports. Plus, they also provide much more generous identity theft insurance — the industry standard is $1 million.
What’s more, most competitors are also cheaper than Wells Fargo’s identity theft protection service. So, you get superior value for a much better price.
Identity Guard offers comprehensive identity theft protection, and a variety of plan options. The company offers affordable plans for every budget.
The Value Plan includes dark web monitoring, data breach notifications, one-bureau monitoring, and up to $1 million in identity theft insurance. The Total Plan adds extra services, including triple-bureau monitoring, monthly credit score, and bank account monitoring. And the Ultra Plan adds social media monitoring, 401K investment account monitoring, criminal and sex offense monitoring, and USPS address change monitoring.
LifeLock offers three identity theft protection plans. Each plan includes support for personal restoration specialists (they help restore stolen identities), identity and Social Security number alerts, stolen wallet protection, dark web monitoring, and data breach notifications.
The Standard package includes monitoring by one credit bureau, stolen funds and personal expense compensation of up to $25,000 each, and 24-hour live member support. The Advantage plan offers several additional protections, including a variety of alerts. And the Ultimate Plus plan comes with phone takeover monitoring, home title monitoring, and stolen funds reimbursement of up to $1 million.
IdentityForce has plans for individuals and families, and it provides great credit monitoring and identity protection. It monitors the dark web for data leaks involving you, it sends real-time alerts, and it features advanced fraud monitoring.
Its UltraSecure subscription comes with a dedicated restoration specialist, up to $1 million in identity theft insurance, and additional security tools (including a VPN, which protects your internet traffic). And the UltraSecure+Credit subscription ups the identity theft insurance to $2 million, adds triple-bureau monitoring, and provides phishing monitoring.
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Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the companies referenced in this article. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the companies mentioned. We may be compensated through advertiser affiliate programs.