• Credit
• Data Breach
• Fraud
• Identity Theft
• Other News
• Privacy
• Reviews
• Scams
• Tips
• Truston

« Previous Post | Blog Home | Next Post »

Opting-In After You Have Opted-Out

Posted on Oct 9, 2007 by Tom Fragala

You may recall my saga from a few months ago, where some of my banks accounts fell victim to fraud because two of my banks sent me convenience checks (which I never requested) on a home equity line and credit card. Even after I called one of the banks and asked to have my name removed from all solicitation lists, and the phone rep promised it would apply to all my accounts, I still received promo checks a few weeks later.

I also warned readers that if you ever sign up for any new service or accounts, that you are probably opting in again. Well, I just received a notice from my bank about their new mobile banking service. And I glanced through the TERMS OF USE, and sure enough I came across this paragraph:

PRIVACY AND SOLICITATION. Wells Fargo is committed to protecting your privacy. All information gathered from you in connection with using the Wells Fargo Mobile service will be governed by the provisions of the Wells Fargo Privacy Policy, including the Online Privacy Statement, all of which are incorporated herein by reference, and the receipt of which you acknowledge as part of your agreement to these Terms of Use. Upon enrollment, you are also providing your EXPRESS PRIOR CONSENT permitting Wells Fargo to contact you for fraud prevention, servicing, and/or telemarketing purposes.

Notice the last sentence. Leads me to believe that this would override my previous umbrella opt-out. The takeaway here multi-faceted. First, if you are highly concerned about privacy, you should be aware of this opt-in “re-loading” possibility whenever you signup for a new service with your existing financial institution. You might want keep a form letter and resend it or call your bank back and request a blanket opt-out again.

Second, you should realize now that it becomes very difficult to opt-out consistently and cut off all vectors for fraud. So take other precautions like protecting your mail, checking your free annual credit reports, checking all accounts statements monthly, and even setting fraud alerts.