Fitch Affirms Rtgs on Wells Fargo & Co. & Wells Fargo Financial Following Announcement.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 2002

Fitch Ratings affirms its ratings on Wells Fargo & Company (WFC, Senior 'AA') and Wells Fargo Financial, Inc. (WFFI, Senior 'AA') following the announcement that WFC is guaranteeing the public debt of its wholly-owned subsidiary WFFI. WFFI will no longer issue term debt securities and is expected to cease issuing commercial paper within the next 30 days. Once WFFI stops issuing commercial paper, Fitch will withdraw its long-term and short-term issuer ratings for WFFI as well as the entity's Individual rating. The ratings assigned to WFFI's debt obligations will remain outstanding for the term of securities. The ratings on WFFI's debt obligations will be directly linked to those of WFC in recognition of the formal guaranty now provided by WFC.

Ratings Affirmed:

Wells Fargo & Co.

--Long-term Issuer           'AA';

--Short-Term Issuer          'F1+';

--Individual                 'A';

--Support                    '5';

--Rating Outlook             'Stable'.

Wells Fargo Financial, Inc.

--Long-Term Issuer           'AA';

--Short-Term Issuer          'F1+';

--Individual                 'A';

--Senior Debt/Global Notes   'AA';

--Senior Subordinated Debt   'AA-';

--Commercial Paper           'F1+'.