It's in the news today. By the end of the year, the # of workers will be reduced from 13,200 to 7,200 as I recall. Write off of bad debt is droppong from 17% to 15% in the last 2 quarters / Good news /. No wonder we can't get our gold card limits raised from $3,000 each and our rates lowered from 19.8%. We hope Providian rides out the storm because we have had our cards for over 3 years and we are 5 years out of #7 BK.
I have the gold card for 4 years at a rate of 16.99% ,They just sent us a upgrade to platinum with no fee and a 11.99% rate..So think posotive!
That's great Bill. My husband and I just emailed Providian last week thru their website and each of us asked for an account review. We got the blah, blah, when we decide you can have better terms we will let you know. We don't want Providian to go belly up like Nextcard. If I remember right, the article also said Providian sold off their worst accounts to somebody else. $6,000 in combined limits is still pretty good for us anyway.
Maybe you can get that apr lowered to 16.90% I also have had my anual fee waived too..Other than that they didn't budge..I have had my account exactly 4 years to this month and i got that upgrade to platinum..I think providian is going to be ok in the long run.
Hi Bill B, Congratulations on your upgrade to platinum. I have had my Providian classic visa since July 2000 with 16.9 fixed APR, $3250 credit line. I PFB them last week and got a call from the Exec. Dept. and I asked if I could be upgraded to Gold. The lady said "we are not offering that at this time" she then said "you already have our lowest rate" and finally she told me "but I can waive your annual fee" I said great and she hung up. The call must have lasted no more than a minute. My card is idling in the sock drawer till it gets upgraded. Maybe one day I will get upgraded.
I hope they survive to. Here is a link to news about Providian. http://stocks.usatoday.com/custom/usatoday-com/html-quote.asp?symb=PVN
If they aren't going to give out any more increases in CL, I am going to sock drawer them and try to move as much money as I can through my two new Visa cards.