Cell Phones and a Cashless Society

Wells Fargo Extends Text Banking to All Customers

Wells Fargo Becomes First Major U.S. Financial Institution to Enable Customers to Connect to Accounts with Text Banking, Without a Need to Have a Personal Computer or an Enrollment in Online Banking

February 4, 2010

Press Release - Wells Fargo & Company announced today that text banking -- a safe and easy way to stay on top of account information -- is now accessible to all customers including those who have yet to enroll in Wells Fargo Online Banking. Wells Fargo is the first major financial services company in the United States to offer text banking to all its customers.

"Our text banking service is now available to all Wells Fargo customers via a mobile phone, not just online banking customers. Through simple and secure text queries, text banking is the fastest, easiest way for customers to see a snapshot of their accounts," said Arah Erickson, vice president and head of Wells Fargo Retail Mobile Banking. "We are proud to enable access to account information through whichever channel best suits customers' changing needs and preferences. Text banking is convenient and customers say it works well with their busy lifestyles."

Through its research, Wells Fargo learned that customers appreciate being able to check their current available account balances while they are "on the go." A text banking request to Wells Fargo can quickly provide customers with their current available account balances, transaction history, credit card payment information, and the address of the nearest Wells Fargo ATM.

"Mobile phones are becoming an integral part of our customers' lifestyles. People want to take action immediately -- whether it's ordering a pizza, getting tweets or checking their current available account balance," said Wells Fargo Senior Vice President Secil Watson, Head of Customer Experience and Money Movement for Internet and Mobile Banking. "The ability to bank via text message expands financial management options for all our customers, regardless of whether they spend a lot of time in front of a computer" ...

Wells Fargo Makes Mobile Text Banking Service Available for Non-Online Banking Customers

February 5, 2010

The Paypers - US financial services provider Wells Fargo has made its text banking service available to all customers, including those who have yet to sign up for the bank’s Online Banking service.

The service allows users to access their account information through their mobile phones via text queries. A text banking request to Wells Fargo can provide customers with their current available account balances, transaction history, credit card payment information, and the address of the nearest Wells Fargo ATM.

To activate the service, customers first need to visit wf.com/text from an internet-enabled mobile phone and provide their mobile phone number. They receive a “welcome” text message from Wells Fargo with instructions on how to use the service. Within the Wells Fargo Mobile Text Banking, customer accounts are referred to only by nicknames, therefore account numbers, passwords or other personal information are not needed. Mobile Banking is covered by the bank’s Online Security Guarantee policy.

Wells Fargo Quietly Releases LBS-Enabled iPhone Mobile Banking App

May 22, 2009

GoMo News - Wells Fargo, the 4th largest bank in the US, has released it’s Mobile Banking service as an iPhone and iPod Touch application. It did this very quietly earlier this month, which was a surprise. Most companies holler about every little iPhone app they create, but the Wells Fargo app received almost no publicity despite being a good, free service.

The app integrates pretty much any function you would want to use your account for when on the go. The UI is simple and clean, and allows you check account balances, move money around and pay bills. As a nice added touch, it also uses location-based technology to show you the closest ATM or Wells Fargo building on a map.

From the release:

Secil Watson, senior vice president of Wells Fargo Internet Services Group, said:

“We have been providing the mobile banking service for nearly two years, and we know that customers want and demand convenient banking solutions that help them manage finances while on-the-go. We help them view accounts and take care of tasks anytime, anywhere, whether it is a customer in a taxi or a customer who realizes at the last minute that the utility bill needs to be paid before leaving for vacation.”

What we think?

This is exactly the kind of thing I would want from a banking app. It’s easy-to-use, basic and free. For more complicated procedures I can just call my branch or, indeed, use the map function to just walk there. With good services like this becoming more widespread, hopefully the number of people relying on mobile banking will increase.