Protection is always a racket
I’ve been a reasonably happy customer of Wells Fargo for this entire century (damn, doesn’t that sound impressive!) and I suppose they’re more or less as good as any of the other big national banks. Your experience may be different, of course, as the collision of individuals dealt with and company policies create an individual track record so I’m not asserting anything other than my own.
This morning I’m beginning to wonder. Wells Fargo sent me the latest installment of their monthly customer newsletter email and I clicked a link labeled Detect Credit Fraud Early: ID Theft Protection because, hey, who isn’t interested in bank security. The page beings okay, with a headline of “Protect Your Good Credit with Identity Theft Protection” and is short too, covering the program with six bullet points, all less than two narrow lines.
And then I my eyes reached the closer: “Enjoy peace of mind for just $12.99 a month.” That’s right, Wells Fargo expects you, me and Dupree to pay $156 per year for keeping safe what I–and you may feel differently–expect ought to be the normal course of business! Not necessarily by a bank, maybe by the major credit bureaus, but if I had to guess I’d say that Wells Fargo is doing this in some sort of partnership with them.
Credit card companies and banks, here’s a competitive advantage you can offer customers: do this service, maybe minus the personal credit analysis, for free. Make a big deal about it in your advertising and marketing. Most other things being equal I’d sign up and blog you very positively, just drop me a note.
