Anyone in the US is entitled by law to a free copy of their credit file, commonly referred to as a "credit report", once every twelve months, via
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https://www.annualcreditreport.com
(Beware of similar addresses that are *not* the official site.) However, credit scores, which are three-digit numbers that rank one's credit by proprietary algorithms, and which are used by lenders in considering applications for any type of credit -- loans, credit cards, etc. -- are not readily available to consumers without paying a fee to the provider.
Wells Fargo is is currently running a promotion that offers customers both their credit report *and* their credit score at no charge.
Branch offices hand out brochures with an access code (each one unique) and a web site to obtain one such proprietary score, from the credit agency Experian.
What Is Wrong With This Picture:
The brochure points one to
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wellsfargo.com/creditscore
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https://adfarm.mediaplex.com/some/random/cr*p
It Gets Worse:
I called their customer service to complain. The rep could not reproduce the issue (from his company workstation): he was taken to a link that did not involve the ad agency, despite using the URL I gave him from the brochure. WF probably uses IE, with no redirect warnings; the successive redirects may be invisible in such cases. In addition, the rep said that they had been given "a little slip of paper" with a Web address, so that they could go through the process of getting the score and be familiar if customers complained. The address was *not* the one above with the evil redirect. Perhaps they don't want their employees to know of the shoddy practices to which customers are subjected.
I asked him if I could have the address they were given, to see if I could obtain the information without going through the ad agency. He said that he didn't think he was allowed to give that out. I asked if I could have the address to which he was redirected, and he did give it:
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https://www.wellsfargo.com/jump/home_equity/creditscore
You can also bypass the ad agency by calling WF's customer service to obtain the required Experian report number:
Epilogue:1. Call and speak to a live agent to verify your identity and to get your credit score and credit report.
Toll-free number 1 855 339 7876
Days and Hours of Operation Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM (Central)
The rep said that IF he could reproduce the ad-agency redirect on his home computer, *then* he would report this to higher levels. I suggested also asking family and friends who are WF customers, but not employees, on the off-chance that employee IP addresses, cookies, etc. are recognized from their home computers.
In any case, I urge all Wells Fargo customers to register their complaints about this shoddy practice and serious breach of security and privacy.