I had an account with Providian in the past. I had the account for almost 6 years. I couldn't get a lower rate than 16.9% and they would not even give me a grace period. I was always on time with my payments, used the card heavily and my credit scores were well over 700, but they refused to upgrade me to a Platinum card with better terms. I eventually closed the account. NOW I receive an offer for a "Exclusive Pre-Approved" Platinum card: -Choice of 5 different designs -0% fixed apr on purchases until May 2004 -7.99% fixed rate for balance transfers w/ no fee (they need to work on this-LOL) -No annual fee -25 day grace period -$0 mimimum finance charge Looks like Providian is really trying to add more prime accounts. Like I said in the past, they had (and have) many prime customers right under their nose. The just refuse open their eyes. Many subprime customers WILL reach prime status. Why not try and keep them? When I closed my account, I had FICO scores well above 700 as well as accounts with BofA, Amex and Chase. No lates or derogatory info on any of my reports. They didn't offer anything to keep me. Hopefully they are learning their lesson. I am sure many customers had the same problem I did and left Providian in the dust. Heads up: They may be trying to get back some of the customers they stupidly let go. Check your mail!! BTW, I will not be applying. LOL
I have a similar story with providian. I have been with them for about 6 years and never missed a payment. So far they have upgraded my credit line to 6500 but refuse to lower my rate from a really crappy 23.49%. I was carrying a balance of about 2k but did a balance transfer with a lower rate card I have. Now I have a zero balance with providian So now they are making zero off me even though my account is open. I placed this card in the sock drawer and its not coming back out! The only reason I don't close it is because its one of my oldest accounts and has a high credit line. Seems like providian would wise up and treat their long time customers better. I am no math genius but it seems that 7.9% of 2k is better than 23.49% of zip! for them. I wonder if they will offer me a better rate now ? Not holding my breath. Like you I pretty much think they suck!!!! They must figure we are idiots. pb
Miles, our stories are very similar. I had a Providian Visa Gold, 8500k CL, customer for 5 years, 16.99% APR and NO GRACE PERIOD, oh yeah, let us not forget the annual fee (luckily they waived it after the second year). 4 months after I closed it, now I have received similar offers as you but with a 9.9% APR (my FICO is only 680). Don't know what to do yet, keep it or leave it. I really do not understand how they let so many prime customers slip through their fingers.
I got a $300 card 1 1/2 years ago. Never missed a payment. Use it alot. Pay it off alot. They give me alot of excuses but I am still stuck at $300. I only keep it and its high annual fee because it is the longest open cc I have but when it hits 2 years it is a goner. I think they have idiots running their company because they always treat their customers like dirt.
THAT'S FUNNY, THEY WERE NEVER INTERESTED IN "PRIME" CUSTOMERS BEFORE... Wife was 741 DENIED Me was 739 DENIED
My wife recieved a providian platimun offer,, except the fine print said that if you default on/latepay/ etc with them,,, or any other of your creditors,, they will change the interest from 9.9 to the default rate of 24.99% Dosnt look like there fishing for prime customers,, just ignorant ones.
If thats the case, then Providian is not alone. MBNA, Citi, and BofA are all members of that club. Providian is just the first one to do it.
Received another offer already. The first one had a go to rate of 9.9%. This one has a go to of 8.9%. Not bad rates with 25 day grace periods (almost impossible to find anymore) and average daily balance calculations. Both have 0% rates until May 2004 on purchases. Looks like they are trying to build another large prime customer base after selling the original one to Chase. I never had a problem with their customer service or account management including posting payments, but I'm still mad at them for not upgrading my account. Why should someone have to reapply and start a new account history? Stupid. :-/
Perhaps they'll send me an offer to lower the interest rate, I can hope at least. Anyway, I have a visa and mc from them with limits of 7500 and 6000. Without any lates, over the limits, or anything, my rates were raised to 28.99 as of last month...so after trying to get them to give me a reason or lower the rates with no luck, I paid off both cards yesterday. Let's see what happens in the near future...
Yes with interest rates at 40 year lows from the fed you would think providian would feel a little shameful charging that interest! Paying them off is the best thing you could have done. Make them come begging back with a better offer, then refuse it and see how they like them apples. pb
I have that problem with both First USA and MBNA. I've been a customer with both for a long time ('92 and '90 respectively) with 5-digit credit lines, but still have a couple of 30-59s with each of them. They won't budge on the rate, and they are two of my four oldest tradelines. For MBNA, I keep an exceptionally small balance, less than $100 and usually less than $50. I have my online banking send them $25 each month, and I have a couple of small monthly bills like ebay that I have autocharged. That way, I show a balance all the time but the interest doesn't kill me. They send me 8.99% no-teaser BT offers each month, but I don't bite. For First USA, I just waited for them to get desperate looking at a zero balance with zero activity for over a year. Finally, they came along with a 7.99 APR BT check offer with no teaser period, so I bit for 60% of my credit line, about $5k more than I wanted. Then after about three months of making the minimum payment, I paid the $5k back. This seemed to freak First USA out, and they started sending me letters asking if I had a different BT account and if they were losing my business. They came through with an unsolicited 5.99% BT with no teaser. I emptied my checking account to get the 7.99% paid off as far as possible, then took the 5.99% up to 40% of my limit and used it to take the last year off of my 10.49% 4-year used car loan. I have my online banking set up to pay FUSA off monthly automatically on a 3-year payback schedule. Both cards are in the medicine cabinet (my sock drawer is too messy) - I use my AMEX and my CITI Hilton Visa for my day-to-day stuff. But both cards (and my bank's online banking) let me build positive tradelines at bank profits that I can tolerate.
