Well, with Lady's advice, I gave Aria a call to negotiate better terms on my account. At first, the rep wouldn't budge, and became nasty with me when I asked to go from Persona to Portrait. "We don't allow that," she said. "You were approved for the Persona and that's the card you will have." My response was that I got the Persona when I was first starting to establish credit the beginning of this year. I said no credit=persona. I told her that since then, with clean credit and good tradelines and income, I've been approved by several prime lenders with good limits and APRs. She didn't care, and said she'll gladly close the account if I'm not happy with what she's telling me. I asked to speak to retention. The guy said blah, blah, blah, no account upgrades are possible until Mar. 2001 (hopefully, he said) But he did raise my limit $1500 (yes, he gave me an extra $1500; limit now at $2700; approved 3/00 for $500). No charge, of course, for any increases. I don't even care that much, since I only use the ugly thing at gas stations at night or over the internet!!! Just thought I'd share. The only reason I care about higher limits is because $700 or $1000 limits don't look particularly awe-inspiring to lenders...
RE: Called Aria today/ wheeled Congrats Dave on the increase, sorry they wouldn't upgrade you though.
RE: Called Aria today/ wheeled No kidding. They don't seem to understand how the fugly persona is a turn-off to using the card! Whats the deal? I'd take a Uni-color metallic (silver/gold/platinum) card over a fee reduction from the pure point of view of whipping it out in a restaurant. Don't get me wrong, image is nothing, d0h, thats sprite i'm thinking of.. Good work on the nice fat free line increase.
RE: Called Aria today/ wheeled Congrats Dave, I knew it would work. Just call back next month to get the apr lowered, and then the month after that, call for another increase. Don't worry about asking for the Potrait, that sh** don't matter, I think the card still looks the same as the Persona, and anyway you can still negotiate the terms of any account, regardless of the title. We'll keep each other posted.
RE: Called Aria today/ wheeled Dave, Quick question if you don't mind my asking. You say you opened this account 03/00. How often (besides today) have they increased your limit? Thanks, CR
RE: Called Aria today/ wheeled Please tell me as well. i've only had mine for about 2 months now. whats the roadmap to increases that you got, if you don't mind sharing that personal information. Perhaps you could detail your purchase/payment habits ROUGHLY, so we could replicate your success. Of course, if any of this is too personal, my apologies. Just trying to get a feel for how to work aria. (i have a persona as well. woohoo)
RE: Called Aria today/ wheeled Oh, not a problem guys. Maybe I should make a website with images of my statements!! (w/o my account number, of course!!) Here is the complete story of Providian's Aria Persona card for me: Applied 2/23/00: Approved online for the Persona with 23.99% interest rate and a $500 limit. It's obviously unsecured. I think the cash advance limit was $265. In 5/00: I called because my card was declined for a purchase at Best Buy. If it's not bad enough I have to use the damn card in a store, I was worse that this card was declined on me (*so* embarrassing!!) They apologized(because there was absolutely no reason it should have declined), and I said for my inconvenience, I want my line increased. A mini fight over the phone, I asked to speak to a supervisor, and he bumped me a mere $200 (no fee) Now I'm at $700. Now in 8/00, I called for a credit line increase. I'd had the account 6 months at that point. Again, the rep said no, you just had one in May, but I explained that was for an inconvenience; she didn't care. I, of course, asked to speak to a supervisor. He bumped it $500 (no fee). The limit was then at $1200. I also noticed that my cash advance limit was bumped, too, to $1200. Called yesterday (11/00) and asked for an account upgrade. I've already posted the details on that conversation. Got $1500 line increase (no fee); limit now at $2700. Don't think cash advance was bumped, but I'll never use it anyway... PURCHASING HABITS First about how I pay the bill. For the first few months, they didn't have online payment, so I always sent in a check (personal) for the ENTIRE BALANCE. Balances ranged from $275-850. Always sent the check the day (or next) after I got the statment. When they revamped the site, I starting using the online payment. I would send in the full balance within a week of the statement closing date. So: balances always paid in full, no over the limits, no NSF checks, nothing derogatory on the account (or CRs for that matter). Never obtained cash advances, either. Purchasing was pretty typical stuff: grocery store, Walgreens, stores in the mall, etc. In July, I was vacationing in Florida, so I charged the rental car, and lots of restaurants. Well, you asked for it, so now you've got it!
