Mobile coach introduces e-bill, goes anywhere

June 2003 - Wells Fargo's first gold shipment left Iditarod, Alaska by dogsled on December 14, 1911. Today, Wells Fargo is delivering e-Bills via its go anywhere, WellsFargo.com bus, which traveled deep into the Alaskan interior to introduce Well's Fargo electronic bills or e-Bills.

Last month, Alaskans climb aboard the bus to learn about the most cutting edge online financial services from the U.S.'s top Internet bank. The bus stopped at several cities such as Glennallen, Seward, Homer, Soldotna, Kenai, Fairbanks, Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer, Juneau and Ketchikan and has more than 30,000 Alaskans already using wellsfargo.com for online banking, up 50 percent from a year ago.

The bus is a customized 45-foot, 16-ton motor coach is designed to provide customer education and employee training virtually anywhere in the United States through a secure, high-speed Internet access to wellsfargo.com.
The bus is the first coach to be custom-built with business-grade, satellite-enabled Internet access and a virtual private network that meets Wells Fargo's requirements for secure online financial services on the Internet.

With nearly 260 companies on its roster of billers -- including Alaska Airlines, AT&T, Chevron and Shell Credit Card -- Wells Fargo claims it has more e-Bills than any other financial services company.

Wells Fargo is providing Alaskans with the flexibility and convenience to view and pay e-Bills from multiple billers in one secure place with one user name and password. Wells Fargo customers can go to one site to view and pay bills from a number of different billers at the same time - whether it's the utility company, the telephone company or even a department store.

The Alaska tour is part of Wells Fargo national education campaign for e-Bills. As the #1 Internet bank as recognized by Gomez, wellsfargo.com's unique e-Bills capabilities include:

"Wells Fargo has long been recognized as a trailblazer in Alaska. From the dogsleds that first brought gold from Iditarod in 1911 to The WellsFargo.com Bus, Wells Fargo has always been committed to bringing the bank to the community," said Richard Strutz, regional president for Alaska, where Wells Fargo has 51 stores and 130 ATMs.

"Now, we want to help people in Alaska learn about managing their finances online to gain greater control over their expenditures. Receiving and paying bills online, with e-Bills, for example, will free up hours of time each month, and it will also allow people to track, organize and record their expenditures."