Wells Fargo has opened an estimated two MILLION fake accounts for very real customers who had no idea that bank and credit card accounts were opened in their names. Many of these customers incurred fees and/or suffered damage to their credit through no fault of their own. You may be one of them.
Even if you don’t bank with Wells Fargo, there’s a good chance that other banks have been up to the same bad behavior. I recommend that you take two steps immediately:
First, call or visit your bank to ask for a complete list of your accounts. This way you’ll know if any checking or savings accounts have been opened without your permission.
To make sure that no credit cards or lines of credit were opened in your name, go to annualcreditreport.com. It’s a quick, easy and free way to check your credit report.
You’ll have the option to check 1, 2 or all 3 credit reports (they’re generated by 3 credit bureau’s: Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian).
I recommend that you check one now, the next one in four months, and the last one four months after that. Then repeat the pattern from here on out so that every four months you’ll get to look at one of your credit reports for free.
For example, check your Equifax report on October 4th, 2016, then your TransUnion report on February 4th, 2017, and then your Experian report on June 4th, 2017. You’ll start this again by checking your Equifax report on October 4th, 2017.
Keep an eye on your credit report and you’ll prevent an unhappy surprise when someone runs a credit check for a job, apartment, loan, mortgage, or even for a cell phone you want.
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