Wells Fargo said Monday that its Wells Fargo Mobile service has added text banking to its features.
The San Francisco bank said it's the first major financial services company to offer consumers and small business customers both browser- and test-based account access via mobile devices.
"We don't believe any one mobile banking method will ultimately provide all the functions customers demand, which is why we're offering two ways for consumers to bank with us through a mobile device," said Eskander Matta, senior vice president at Wells Fargo Internet services group. "Real-time banking updates are never farther away than their cell phone."
Customers first enroll online to activate the text banking service and then send a text message to 93557 (WELLS). After sending one of the Wells Fargo Mobile text banking shortcut commands, they will receive a reply with the requested information. Examples of shortcut commands include "bal" for primary account balance; "bal all" for all account balances; "act" for most recent account activity; and "help" to receive a list of available text commands as well as the phone number for customer service.
All Wells Fargo Mobile transactions are covered by Wells Fargo's online security measures. The bank doesn't send text messages with confidential information. Account numbers are never displayed via text banking. Instead, the bank refers to the account nicknames that a customer specifies during enrollment.
Large numbers of consumers use text messaging as a primary means of communication.
According to InsightExpress, an online market research firm, 43 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds send text messages daily.
Additionally, 42 percent of the U.S wireless customer base sent a text message during a three-month period ending July 31, according to M:Metrics, a research firm that measures the mobile media audience.
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