Last week I paid off my Prov. Gold card. Yesterday, I get the bill in the mail showing a $0.00 balance. I was like Yippee!!! then a little leaflet falls out of the envelope. It was a new provision of terms. It seems that they are increasing my APR up to 29.99%. I was so pisseddddd!!! So, I call up retention this morning and talk to a customer service rep who stated they could do nothing about it. I asked for a supervisor. When she got on the phone I asked her if there was anything she could do about it, she said no. I asked would this affect my other account. She said no. I asked how it was determined in the first place. She said they take an overall look and then makes the evaluation on whether to increase. I say well if it's an overall look how come my other account is not affected by it. She says she doesn't know but will request a letter be sent to me to detail how they came to the conclusion to up my rate. She then goes through thier spiel about did she answer all my questions and was I satisfied. So I said, HECK NO, I am not satisfied. My APR on my MC is 23.99% and now when I have a $0.00 balance on my GOLD you want to up that rate to 29.99%. I say you can alleviate some of my dissatisfaction by reducing my APR on my MC. She puts me on hold then comes back and says I can offer you 19.99% on purchases starting with your next billing cycle. I say fine. I also say that I plan to pay off the MC too and will call back and if they cannot offer me better terms I will close the accounts. This sucks because they are the only major (MC) that I have. Other than that I only have a couple of store cards. Who would have guessed I would get penalized for paying off the account. nj_newbie
Thanks for the info. I never read those pamphlets but I guess I should start. I have 2 accts. with them and now I'm wondering if they are uping MY interest. I am at 23.99 on one of my cards, I opened it in August of this year. When did you open yours? KHM
Newbie, It's all about S&D. If more people were like you and said I have no use for 29% money then, these ridiculous rates would not exist. Keep the card if you must but, just don't run a balance. Let them realize that 29%x0=0.
My MC is over two years old and my gold I just got in July. Before finding creditnet.com and other financial sites I never even bothered to read the bill, I just tore off the payment part and sent it in. I am much more careful now. nj_newbie
I don't plan to use the card at all with that rate. The only reason I am keeping it is to help my credit reports. nj_newbie
Just a suggestion to try Planetfeedback w/ them. Customer retention at Providian is WORTHLESS. I tried 3 times to get my APR lowered w/retention and customer (dis)service. I used Planetfeedback and got my APR lowered 9 points.
Newbie, I am understanding that you paid off the account but how was your payment history prior to that? A few years ago, I made 2 late payments within a 6 month period (Fleet) and while my pay off check was being processed, my account was closed due to too many lates. When I pleaded my case I was told no. Iv
I just got off the phone with them and they aren't raising my rate. BUT I have had the card for 4 months and "have an excellent payment history" but I didn't use the card last month so I don't get a CL increase. She said it has to be 4 straight months of USAGE as well as proper payments. I told her to look at my other card with them that I always carry a balance on, she said "one acct. has nothing to do with the other." So I am keeping the crappy 23.99 interest account OPEN but in the "never use again" drawer it goes! KHM
Dont even count on the four months of usage for that credit line increase now. I've been arguing with the executive offices for a month now and all they can tell me is that they look at " a lot of factors, which they do not make public"??? Basically my account history is very good with them, it my fico score thats bad (working on it) and they are basing there decision not to increase my limit on that and no one there has the guts to say that outright. Such a great company to deal with.
