I was checking my account online with Providian and noticed my annual fee posted. I have always been able to call and have it reversed. I just called Providian and the rep politely said that they can no longer credit the annual fee back. Granted, my fee is only $39, but the amount that I spend and revolve with them creates MUCHO interest for them. She said that the fee pays for the gold card benefits, cost of reissuing the cards on renewal, blah blah blah, but I said that my interest every month is $XXX, but, alas, I got nowhere and hung up (but not before she offered me some BuySmart program LOL). I know they are hurting, but I have been a loyal customer since 1995 and they can't afford to credit me a lousy $39? Just annoyed and venting! Gregory
THEY NEED MONEY$$$$$$$$ They will need a lot of money for the BK!!! If you have other cards, you can tell them that the $39.00 is the only thing they will get from you this year... DON'T USE THE CARD AT ALL, SEND IN THE $39.00 AND PUT THE CARD IN THE SOCK DRAWER...
They would get more from you out of their "CUT OF SALES" and any interest you pay, than they will make on that $39.00... The $39.00 annual fee is just PURE PROFIT, like an OVER-LIMIT FEE, and LATE FEE. $$$$$$$$
Providian has ALWAYS been shortsighted. First when they were granting excessive credit limit increases just so they could count the "upgrade fees" as profit, and now when they try to pay for the resulting delinquencies by refusing to negotiate APR's and annual fees. What a bunch of losers. They should realize that they're driving away the only normal people who will ever do business with them. This guy Mehta should be an object lesson in financial fraud for all of us. He comes here, gets a Ph.D. in math without understanding the essentials of finance, and then uses his meaningless "credentials" and "technology" to get control of billions of dollars, which he proceeds to loan to the wrong people. That doesn't include me, by the way, since I have never defaulted on my account. Mehta is a typical late 20th-century academic impostor. This country doesn't need him and his worthless "skills." He should go back where he came from. If not, he should be deported for fraud, which is a felony.
Gregory, I am fuming as well. Twice this year (in April and in July) Providian retention promised me that my $59.00 annual fee for November 2001 would not be applied to my account. Well... on the 28th of November, they applied the annual fee anyway. I called retention directly (1-800-215-7318) and closed the account after I asked them to reverse the fee and interest made on the fee. After the rep reversed the annual fee + interest, she asked why would I still want to close the account and I basically vented many of the views on this board about how Providian has mistreated its "newly prime" customers by not improving their account terms, particularly when said customers have recieved much better business from other issuers. She then said "oh" and stated that the account was closed (yay!), and "her goal was customer satisfaction/did she answer all my questions, etc...". Then last night out of the blue, I got a call from Providian for no other reason than to thank me for being such a good customer. I'm just so thankful that I didn't have a balance on this account when I closed it. I wanted to wait another couple of months before closing, but as November is my 36th month, and they ticked me off with the annual fee, I decided to close it yesterday. I'm about to write the Executive Office via PFB to make sure that the fee gets credited and the account gets closed, and share my reasons why this last snafu pushed me over the edge.
