FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Privacy
What is Wachovia Security Plus^SM?
How much does Security Plus cost?
How does Wachovia protect my information?
How does Wachovia protect my privacy and personal information?

Online Fraud
How are you protecting me from online fraud?
What is email fraud?
What do I do if I shared information about my account?

Protect Yourself
How do I protect myself from fraud?
How do I contact Wachovia about fraudulent emails or identity theft?

Secure Transactions
Is my account secure?
How do I know when Internet transactions are safe?
How do I know that your Web site is secure?
How do I know if the Web site is really yours?

Security Questions
Why am I being presented with questions when I try to login or during some online transactions?
Will I be asked challenge questions each time I log in?
Why do I need additional protection?
Where do you get the information for challenge questions?
Can I choose which challenge questions you will ask me?
Can I bypass the questions and still access Online Services?
What do I do if I don't know the answers to any of the challenge questions?

What is Wachovia Security Plus^SM?
Wachovia Security Plus^SMis our commitment to protecting our customers' privacy and security. We use a wide variety of fraud prevention programs, sophisticated analysis tools and processes to pinpoint and analyze unusual online activity. This helps us detect and prevent fraud and reassure you that your personal and financial information, as well as your money is safe online as it is at home, at the branch or over the phone.

To learn more about how we protect you, how you can protect yourself, and general information on fraud and identity theft, visit wachovia.com/securityplus.

How much does Security Plus cost?
There is no cost associated with Security Plus. It is an ongoing service from Wachovia designed to provide additional protection to our customers that bank online.

How does Wachovia protect my information?
Wachovia Security Plus is committed to doing everything possible to secure customer information. From secure logins with your User ID and Password to Secure Socket Layers (SSL) technology, we're always working to secure your personal information.

How does Wachovia protect my privacy and personal Information?
With Wachovia Security Plus keeping your financial information secure is our responsibility and our commitment to you.

We protect customer information through physical, electronic, contractual and procedural measures that comply with or exceed applicable laws and standards.
We train our employees to protect customer information and only authorize access for employees who we believe have a business need for that information. Employees are held accountable by Wachovia's Code of Conduct and Ethics to properly protect customer information.
We maintain policies and procedures that provide for the proper physical security of workspaces and records.
We require contractors and other companies that provide services on our behalf to protect information, and we prohibit those companies from using it for any other purpose. We only provide them with information that we believe is necessary to fulfill their responsibilities or to provide a financial service to you.

Please review our Privacy Statement.

How are you protecting me from online fraud?
The security of our customers' accounts and personal information is our highest priority. With Wachovia Security Plus we regularly monitor accounts through fraud prevention programs, sophisticated analysis tools and backroom processes to identify fraudulent activity, and we have a team dedicated to online fraud that is working with law enforcement agencies, industry groups, and other financial institutions to help minimize the impact of online fraud.

What is email fraud?
There are many types of email fraud. A common approach uses phony emails that ask you to provide sensitive personal information that can be used for identity theft. This is called phishing (pronounced "fishing.") Visit our Fraud Glossary for more definitions.

It is difficult to detect a fraudulent email because the address of the sender appears to be genuine and often contains the name of a company that you know or trust. These emails will often request personal information or include links to a site that tries to get you to disclose personal data. The people trying to extract this information may use it to access your accounts and withdraw money, or attempt to open new accounts using your personal information.

Visit Fraud and Identity Theft to understand different kinds of fraud—online and off.

What do I do if I shared information about my account?
If you suspect that you're a victim of online fraud or identity theft, follow these steps immediately:

Contact your financial institutions and credit card companies. Close the affected accounts and open new ones with new personal identification numbers and passwords.
Contact the local police department. Ask to file a miscellaneous incident report. Even if the police do not catch the criminal, having a police report can help you clear up your credit records. Ask for the case number and copy of the report.
Contact businesses. Contact the ones that have opened accounts in your name without your permission. Close the accounts and let the businesses know that the accounts were opened fraudulently. Make sure you communicate with the businesses in writing.
Call the Social Security Fraud Hotline. Immediately report that your card has been lost or stolen by calling the Hotline at (800) 269-0271. Learn More
Report stolen checks. If your checks have been stolen or misused, stop all payments and contact these check verification companies:

TeleCheck: (800) 710-9898
Certegy: (800) 437-5120

Notify the Federal Trade Commission by calling 877-ID-THEFT (877-438-4338) or visiting www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/.
Notify one of the three major credit bureaus. Call the toll-free number of any of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit report. This can help prevent an identity thief from opening additional accounts in your name. Once the credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the other two credit bureaus will automatically be notified. Learn More

How do I protect myself from fraud?
Treat your personal information with care - online and off. Don't give out your information online or on the phone to any company or person that you don't know. Keep all financial documents safe and secure. Bank online so you can regularly monitor your accounts and remove the risk of mail fraud. Learn more tips at Protect Yourself.

How do I Contact Wachovia about Fraudulent Emails or Identity Theft?
If you receive an email that you believe could be fraudulent, immediately forward it to abuse@wachovia.com. Please do not remove the original subject line, or change the email in any way when you forward it to us.

If you have already responded to an email with your account information and you believe it to be fraudulent, please contact us immediately at (888) 647-3648 during business hours or 24 hours a day at (800) WACHOVIA (800-922-4684).

Is my account secure?
You're the only one authorized to access your account, and your deposits are FDIC-insured. Wachovia Security Plus ensures your security online through sophisticated encryption that turns every online transaction into an unreadable mathematical formula. Prevention programs and backroom processes help identify suspicious fraud activity.

How do I know when Internet transactions are safe?
Secured connections to Web sites are provided by a technology called Secure Socket Layers, or SSL. SSL secures Web sites by providing "certificates" of data, verifying that your browser is actually communicating with a particular Web site, rather than an Internet "hacker" who is attempting to replicate the site.

Whatever site you visit and whenever you need to input personal data, be certain to confirm that the site shows the small lock in the lower portion of the browser window (see Figure 1). It signals that your information is secure during transmission. If you double-click on the padlock, you can view the security certificate (see Figure 2). The URL in the “Issued to” field for legitimate Wachovia sites will end in “wachovia.com.”

Figure 1: Padlock icon on browser status bar.

Figure 2: Wachovia Security certificate.

How do I know that your Web site is secure?
We use secure transmission mechanisms to encrypt communications that contain your confidential information. The encryption helps prevent information from being intercepted by third parties. In addition, we use safety measures such as firewalls and pass codes to protect your accounts.

How do I know if the Web site is really yours?
By typing the URL into your browser or using a bookmark that you previously created, you can help ensure that you've reached Wachovia's site.

Why am I being presented with challenge questions when I try to login or during some online transactions?
In order to protect you and your financial information, you may be asked several challenge questions. These questions are used by Wachovia as an additional security measure to help ensure a secure banking environment and security for your accounts.

Will I be asked challenge questions each time I log in?
No. There are many factors that may trigger a challenge question being posed to you. Whenever we need to further verify your identity while you are logging in we will invoke added security features to protect you and your financial information.

Why do I need additional protection?
Online fraud schemes are becoming more advanced and complex. Security Plus addresses the growing complexity of online fraud by providing you with the additional protection you need to protect your accounts online.

Where do you get the information for challenge questions?
This information is gathered from a large compilation of public and commercially available data sources. This data is solely used for the purpose of identifying you as customer, and is not stored on any Wachovia system. We only know if the questions have been answered correctly or incorrectly. In addition, no credit, financial, or confidential data is used.

Can I choose which challenge questions you will ask me?
No, for security reasons you are not be able to create your own questions. The information contained in the questions is gathered from public and commercial public data sources. Wachovia does not have the ability to create questions for you and we only use this data to identify you as a customer. No credit, financial, or confidential data is used.

Can I bypass the questions and still access Online Services?
No. In order to access your accounts you must answer the challenge questions correctly. The questions and answers are used as an extra layer of online security.

What do I do if I don't know the answer to any of the questions?
You should answer the questions to the best of your knowledge. If you fail the challenge, you will be denied access to your online account and will need to speak with a customer service representative for further assistance.

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