Everything You’ve Wanted To Know About Early Warning Services (EWS)

What Is Early Warning Services?

Early Warning Services (EWS) is a specialty nationwide consumer reporting agency that focuses on deposit accounts, if you’re familiar with ChexSystems then Early Warning Services provides a similar service to ChexSystems. EWS was created by a number of large financial institutions (e.g Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Capital One & Wells Fargo) more than 25 years ago. There are now over 2,300 financial institutions that use EWS.

These financial institutions primarily use EWS to help them determine if they should approve or deny somebody for a new deposit account (similar to how credit card issuers use consumer reporting agencies Equifax, Experian & TransUnion). EWS reports are useful for this as they will contain negative information regarding an individual, such as instances of:

  • Fraud
  • Forgery
  • Check Kiting
  • And more

Another one of the uses of EWS is to authenticate you are who you say you are, this is usually done by asking a series of financial/general questions that only you’d know the answer to (e.g previous address, specific loan amounts etc).

Request Your Report

To request your free report from EWS, you need to call them on (800) 325-7775 Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. Can also be requested online now.

Final Thoughts

We’ve also started compiling a list of financial institutions that do and don’t use EWS, you can view that list here. We have similar information already on the site for ChexSystems:
    William Charles
  • On October 17, 2016, 14:30

View Comments (132)

  • For EWS, is there a way to create portal login (similar to Chex) so that we can look at the report online without having the report emailed or sent to us?

    • No, there is no such thing as an EWS portal.

      Some of the ID theft prevention services sometimes work to alert for EWS inquiries. In my experience, they're not all that reliable. (OPM MYIDCARE)

        • Yeah there's a login area to submit files. It's not like you can review your report from there. You have to wait until they send it to you.

          Unlike the chex portal... Where you can have your report in minutes, and if you don't get your report almost instantly, you can still go to the dispute tab and view all the information in your report.

  • Does Fidelity Investments do EWS inquiry again for existing brokerage customer when you open another brokerage account?

    Also, when you link external account using Fidelity portal, does that also cause another inquiry? Does Fidelity report my financial transactions and account balances to EWS?

    I am using Fidelity as my hub, so I would like to know if I should consider another bank as a hub.

    • That is a complicated question. EWS used to have a separate section for soft pulls and hard pulls.

      I think it's safe to say, based on my opinion, linking an account via EWS it's going to be a soft pull. Opening a new account is a hard pull. However I can't prove that.

      I do believe Fidelity does an EWS inquiry when you add an account even as an existing customer. However I can't confirm that it is soft or hard.

      • It can be very confusing as many of the services have different tiers which adds to the convolution. One person may sign up/be offered the basic/free service while another person may sign up/be offered the premium service for any particular monitoring.

        • Agreed. Curious... if you still have that alert from KeyBank/Laurel Road, did it say the source credit report?

          I just found "Bank Account" alerts in my inbox from OnAlert and MyIDCare from my last Citi bank account opening. Source was Experian. (not EWS)

          I know I had Chex frozen... so there was no Chex inquiry. Maybe the financial account monitoring I thought was EWS is just certain banks that trigger soft pulls of credit? But I am DEFINATLY not getting alerts for soft-pulls at other banks.

          Anyway, I am done with this subject for now. Seems the only way to effectively monitor EWS is to pull it yourself.

          • Decipher what you can? I’m not sure.

            “Experian IdentityWorks detected a change to a financial account.

            Alert Found: Bank Account Opening
            Bank: KeyBank NA”

    • My OPM data breach MyIDCare gives Financial Account Alerts for EWS, but not Chex.

      However, I find it very spotty and only seems to work when opening at a bank where I have never had an account. For example, I know Chase and BofA pull EWS and I did not get alerts. I maintain CC's with them. Even when it works, takes a few days to get the alert too.

      I think there was one other service like this that someone had from a breach, but I don't recall the name of the service. It was @guest_1200269 DP, IIRC.

      • I have so many redundant monitoring services, I don’t recall either unless you can give me a specific bank to look up and I can search my email alert archive.

        • Interestingly enough... As of Sept 2023, my P2 and I also enrolled in Experian IdentityWorks. I see nothing involving EWS accounts. Our subscriptions would have been from the MoveIt breach... Fulton Bank maybe? They Expire SEPT 2024... oh great!

          So, just like MyIDCare, just depends on the package you got signed up for. (other people have MyIDCare for other than the OPM breach... and don't get financial account monitoring, from what I am told)

          • I have Experian IDWorks, and I get an alert for almost everything including new accounts and contact info changes. For LR account I got below...

            Reason: Pending
            Secondary Matches: name, address, dob, phone
            Financial Institution Name: KeyBank NA
            Financial Institution Phone:800XXXXXXX
            Inquiry Date: September XX, 2024
            Account Opened Date: September XX, 2024
            Notification ID: XXXXXX

            Initially it used to give me a bit of pause every time I get the alert, because it comes with title "Financial Account Takeover".

            On a related note - I see some of the institutions pulling EWS report twice i.e. couple of days in a row. I noticed duplicate inquiries by Santander, Truist. Fidelity and Schwab seem to be inquiring monthly.

            Any idea?

            https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-america-100-checking-bonus-public-nationwide/#comment-1927232

          • Not sure what you are asking me.

            Since you are the one that made the changes, no need for alarm.

            I can tell you my "Experian IdentityWorks" is not very sensitive. My subscription just expired, but searching my inbox, it was alerting very often. Last one I had with that subject was in 2017.

            As you stated over on the BofA page, some of those inquiries are likely promotional and shouldn't "count" against your score. But, is that true? I think some of those inquiries will also be done for linking external accounts or doing transfers.

            You could dispute the excess inquires. Looks like it's one per dispute. I haven't tried and might be a waste of time.

            Instructions here:
            https://www.earlywarning.com/sites/default/files/2019-04/dispute_information.pdf

          • Another possible conclusion... like I said about MyIDCare... the alert only gets triggered when the applicant is a truly new customer.

            For example, I recently opened a Laurel Road account for a churn... reasonably certain they pulled EWS, and did not get a MyIDCare or Experian IdentityWorks notification.

        • Oh fine... I will figure it out. I only have 30K emails to search though to find it. :)

  • As we all have noticed, EWS reports account status. Secifically, accounts usually go from "new" to "present" after approximately six months. Question: Will it improve your EWS score if you wait for the new-to-present transition before closing an account? In other words, does it make sense to wait for six months before closing new accounts?

    • Banks don't share the EWS score (that I recall)... Or, how they calculate it.

      It's just a guessing game. Is it a good rule of thumb? Sure.

      • Are you required to provide the copy of ID or sort to request a report? P2 got denied for PNC based on EWS info.

        • Yes, it's part of the request form to include your ID.

          I don't know if calling in to request a report emailed would change that.

      • My BoA declination notice dated 5/21/24 was based on the EWS "deposit account score" of 718. The notice also said that the range of possible scores is 495-1000 and the key factors affecting the score were [my comments in brackets]:

        The number of different banks inquiring during the last year. [high]
        The status of the relationship with the inquiring bank. [none]
        The number of items returned in the last 60 days. [none]
        The consumer's transaction activity over the last 30 days is out of pattern when compared to the prior 180 days. [pretty much the same].

        Do we know the EWS score cutoffs for varoius banks?

        • I don't recall any other bank giving out an EWS score. @guest_1887856

          Banks don't release their criteria. They aren't require to do so. You can ask a banker, and sometimes they will be loose lipped, but can you trust what they tell you?

          Just like when you get a credit card denial, the bullet points don't always perfectly match why you were REALLY denied.

          Nothing there about age of newest accounts. I did find a person on Reddit that had this comment on their denial report:

          "The status of the relationship with the inquiring bank as compared to the age of the established relationship with any bank"

          I am guessing you just didn't type the 2nd part of the comment.

          Just FYI, specifically at BofA, some have had success opening in branch after being denied online YMMV.

  • An update to this comment: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/everything-youve-wanted-know-early-warning-services-ews/#comment-1657738

    I recently discovered that although you cannot reset the password to the EWS submission portal linked on the disclosure request form if you have used it to request your report before, there is a way around it. (without having to call for support to reset the login)

    If you have requested your EWS report to be sent to you via email in the past (year? years?) and still have that email, you can download the "Secure html file" attached, open it again, and access your old EWS report via the portal. Once you have that "Secure portal" email on your screen, you can hit the Reply button, clear all comments in the body, change the email subject, and attach your ID & new EWS Disclosure request form.

    I recently did this for P1 and P2, and P2 had her report next day, and I had my report in about a week. Not sure why the disparity, but not having to call support and recreate the wheel was a huge plus.

    As @guest_1700838 stated too, you don't have to print and scan the documents, and I used FoxIt Reader to do the signatures and editing of the PDF. For this recent request, I just changed the signed date on the old request form (because I had kept my last request form), changed the file name to something logical like "Disclosure-request-March-2024", from the last time I made the EWS disclosure request.

    • Still works! Just did this again this month... took just over a week to get the EWS Report file (9 calendar days).

      • I tried it today with an email with the subject "Early Warning File Disclosure" dated March 13, 2024. (I think those are the emails you were referencing? No other saved EWS email that I have seems to make sense in this context.)

        Opened the "SecureMessageAtt.html" attachment > Click to read message > Login

        Tried to login and got this error:

        "Key Expired
        The key for this message has expired. You may not decrypt it. For assistance, please contact Early Warning Services at 877-851-3463.."

        Maybe I used the wrong type of email - or don't have the right type of email - or goofed up somewhere else.

        @guest_825692

        • Yes, that's the correct file. You save it to your computer, then open it. However, it looks like they are setting expiration dates on the new Early Warning email messages. I have older ones with no expiration date. The older EWS email says:

          "To read it, open the attachment."

          The newer emails say:

          "Click here by 2024-10-16 07:59 MST to read your message.
          After that, open the attachment."

          So, only if you are an email hoarder like me, you can do my trick. Sorry... :(

          • I'm an email hoarder, too. And hot-diggity-dog, one from March 2022 worked! THANKS, @guest_825692!

          • Once logged in, if you checkmark "Send me a copy", I think that will send a non-expiring email file... so you will have a more current one to hoard. NP, @guest_1700838!

    • TY! This is an awesome discovery and it worked for me too.

      I received two messages:

      1. a copy of my own request almost instantly
      2. my full file disclosure 10 days later

      The previous disclosure I responded to was from 13 months earlier.

    • The first time I ordered my report back in 2019, and a week ago I ordered it again using the same email address. I didn't try to login, I just created new account with the same email I used almost 5 years ago and it worked. But now, after a week, I tried to login and they don't allow.

      • Creating an account is the same as logging in. It seems like their main login expires very quickly. The guy on the phone I spoke to said it's a "security feature". Pretty silly if you ask me. Gives him something to do, I guess.

        You will have to call and they can reset the password/unlock it. Then you will upload the request form using their email portal.

        Once they email you the report link, save that email. You can use the steps I mentioned above to request a new report potentially years down the road. @guest_1841164

    • Dang, @guest_825692, that is an awesome tip to backdoor into the portal. Love it!

      • Yeah, I thought so too. But to be fair, it's not a hack and we are still authenticating with a login/password. :)

  • I arranged the list of FIs that provided ACH transaction data on my EWS report that appear in my below comment in ABC order to make it easier for everyone to read.

    Ally
    Arizona FCU
    Bank of America
    BBVA (Compass Bank)
    Capital One
    Chase
    Citi
    Comerica
    FNBO
    HSBC
    Marcus (Goldman Sachs)
    Monifi (MidFirst Bank)
    Santander
    Truist
    Wells Fargo

  • I requested my EWS report for the 1st time in years. I just reviewed it and the following FIs report ACH transaction data. This "feature" annoys me but maybe it doesn't bother any of you.

    It's not in ABC order because I pulled it in order from the beginning of the report through the end.

    Chase
    Truist
    MidFirst Bank (probably Monifi)
    Bank of America
    Wells Fargo
    Compass Bank (probably BBVA)
    FNBO
    Santander
    Citi
    Ally
    Arizona FCU
    Capital One
    Comerica
    HSBC
    Goldman Sachs (probably Marcus)

  • Anyone having issues with fidelity making inquires like every few weeks? I have had 6+ in the past 3 months. I am thinking that whenever you "link" an account with plaid they pull EWS. US Bank and Citi are doing similar things too.

  • Has anybody noticed that their EWS report is sometimes missing a bunch of accounts between reports? Meaning, they show up one report 1, disappear on report 2, are back on report 3.

    I received a somewhat thin file last time around, which I know is missing a bunch of stuff, not just accounts that were on there previously, but also new accounts from banks I know report.

    Would be nice if my current report is what banks are seeing :)

Leave a Comment