I jest, but I had an eye opening experience today when I opened the mail and inside an unmarked envelope was a packet from Wells Fargo welcoming me to their financial credit arm, with a NEW credit card and everything! And a whopping north of $10K credit limit! Just call and activate the card and the next 12 months I get 0% promotional APR on all new purchases. What's not to love?
Only one teensy little issue- I never applied. I'm like, WTF? I know there a couple of my credit cards that were due to renew soon, but nobody said anything about a Wells Fargo account. I haven't applied for a new credit card in many years, so I know it wasn't me. It's against Federal law to just send someone an unsolicited credit card anymore without the customer requesting it, so it shouldn't be someone trying to fish for someone that will blindly activate an account. I've never had a Wells Fargo account so they couldn't pull an end-around "renewal" credit card send, either.
I first verified, then called Wells Fargo customer service number and got routed to a credit card advocate and after explaining what happened they ran a check and found it was applied for online on 7/25/21 (6 days ago). Wow, that was fast. I assured them I did not apply for the card, nor anyone else in the household did. The guy on the phone suspected fraudulent activity (ya think?) and I was then routed to their fraud division. After talking to them, they cancelled the account after verifying 0 balance and no activity, and the account information history shows the account was never even activated (duh). They said no replacement card will be going out and this account is locked and closed. They were going to have their investigative team backtrack the online application and find out where it originated, and start the process for criminal activity. They kept apologizing for the situation, and they were going to reach out to the credit bureaus to ensure that no inquiry is recorded due to fraudulent actions and I would be getting information in the mail as to the status of that (like they were doing me a favor, although Federal law says they have to do that). They seemed sincere and were anxious to chase this down. The lady on the phone says the online forms are actually easier to backtrack because of the digital footprints they leave. I figure they know what to look for even if they did spoof them.
Now for the Public Service Announcement- As I never felt the need to do it before, I broke down and put a freeze on all my credit reports at the big 3 credit reporting bureaus. It is free to do so at all 3 places. Equifax does not require a PIN to temporarily or permanently lift a freeze, but Transunion and Experian does. All a freeze does is prevent any 3rd party from pulling your credit report. Law enforcement and the hosting bureau can pull it in official capacity. If the lender can't pull it, they don't lend. You can temporarily lift it if you know you're going to apply for credit, so you can thaw it for a few days while the bank gets your new car loan ready. I haven't placed a fraud alert on any just yet, until I get some further corroborating evidence as to if it was indeed fraud, I'm going to wait on doing that. Also, a credit report freeze does NOTHING to any existing accounts, so your current auto loan company can still check your credit periodically. If someone rips off your Master Card credit card, a freeze won't help you, although the credit card companies can usually freeze your applicable account. A freeze basically just protects from any new credit from being established without your actions.
BUT- while Equifax and Transunion don't have any problem having the link on their pages so you can use the freeze option, Experian hides theirs. They want you to join their protection plan and pay them monthly so you can lock/unlock your credit report whenever you like. So they don't make it easy to find how to set up a freeze on your report.
So if you can't seem to find the "freeze" option on Experian, here's the link you need to do it, in case anyone was wondering.
www.experian.com
A freeze isn't for everyone, so use it if you feel the need. Also, you want to make sure you check all 3 credit reports at least annually by using https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action and check them in detail to make sure there isn't any fraudulent activity.
There's a bunch of azzholes out there waiting to screw you. All you can do is your best to c*ck block them at every turn.
Only one teensy little issue- I never applied. I'm like, WTF? I know there a couple of my credit cards that were due to renew soon, but nobody said anything about a Wells Fargo account. I haven't applied for a new credit card in many years, so I know it wasn't me. It's against Federal law to just send someone an unsolicited credit card anymore without the customer requesting it, so it shouldn't be someone trying to fish for someone that will blindly activate an account. I've never had a Wells Fargo account so they couldn't pull an end-around "renewal" credit card send, either.
I first verified, then called Wells Fargo customer service number and got routed to a credit card advocate and after explaining what happened they ran a check and found it was applied for online on 7/25/21 (6 days ago). Wow, that was fast. I assured them I did not apply for the card, nor anyone else in the household did. The guy on the phone suspected fraudulent activity (ya think?) and I was then routed to their fraud division. After talking to them, they cancelled the account after verifying 0 balance and no activity, and the account information history shows the account was never even activated (duh). They said no replacement card will be going out and this account is locked and closed. They were going to have their investigative team backtrack the online application and find out where it originated, and start the process for criminal activity. They kept apologizing for the situation, and they were going to reach out to the credit bureaus to ensure that no inquiry is recorded due to fraudulent actions and I would be getting information in the mail as to the status of that (like they were doing me a favor, although Federal law says they have to do that). They seemed sincere and were anxious to chase this down. The lady on the phone says the online forms are actually easier to backtrack because of the digital footprints they leave. I figure they know what to look for even if they did spoof them.
Now for the Public Service Announcement- As I never felt the need to do it before, I broke down and put a freeze on all my credit reports at the big 3 credit reporting bureaus. It is free to do so at all 3 places. Equifax does not require a PIN to temporarily or permanently lift a freeze, but Transunion and Experian does. All a freeze does is prevent any 3rd party from pulling your credit report. Law enforcement and the hosting bureau can pull it in official capacity. If the lender can't pull it, they don't lend. You can temporarily lift it if you know you're going to apply for credit, so you can thaw it for a few days while the bank gets your new car loan ready. I haven't placed a fraud alert on any just yet, until I get some further corroborating evidence as to if it was indeed fraud, I'm going to wait on doing that. Also, a credit report freeze does NOTHING to any existing accounts, so your current auto loan company can still check your credit periodically. If someone rips off your Master Card credit card, a freeze won't help you, although the credit card companies can usually freeze your applicable account. A freeze basically just protects from any new credit from being established without your actions.
BUT- while Equifax and Transunion don't have any problem having the link on their pages so you can use the freeze option, Experian hides theirs. They want you to join their protection plan and pay them monthly so you can lock/unlock your credit report whenever you like. So they don't make it easy to find how to set up a freeze on your report.
So if you can't seem to find the "freeze" option on Experian, here's the link you need to do it, in case anyone was wondering.
Freeze or Unfreeze Your Credit File for Free - Experian
A security freeze, often known as a credit freeze, will limit access to your Experian credit report. Here’s how to freeze and unfreeze your Experian credit report for free.
www.experian.com
A freeze isn't for everyone, so use it if you feel the need. Also, you want to make sure you check all 3 credit reports at least annually by using https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action and check them in detail to make sure there isn't any fraudulent activity.
There's a bunch of azzholes out there waiting to screw you. All you can do is your best to c*ck block them at every turn.
