Wells Fargo is rolling out a mobile alert service for its Visa credit card customers which sends out alerts within seconds of a suspicious transaction. The Rapid Alerts service, built on Visa’s transaction alerts platform, is based on criteria selected by the Wells Fargo Visa account holder and delivered via text message or e-mail.

“We believe Rapid Alerts will give customers added peace of mind that they will be notified almost immediately when transactions occur,” said Peter Ho, a product manager at Wells Fargo, in a statement. “We piloted Rapid Alerts in 2009 and received an overwhelming positive response from participants who said text alerts were an invaluable tool for monitoring their accounts.”

The alerts contain the amount, time, date and location of the transaction. Customers also will be alerted to credit card payments that have been declined.

Wells Fargo Visa credit card customers can sign up for the service at rapidalerts.wellsfargo.com, where they can filter the alerts by criteria including dollar amount, location and declined transactions.

Wells Fargo is a founding member of ITAC, the Identity Theft Assistance Center and formed Early Warning Services together with Bank of America, BB&T and JP Morgan Chase to help eliminate fraud in financial systems. Wells Fargo also partners with the Anti-Phishing Working Group and law enforcement when necessary.