Hi all, I saw this on Motley Fool today, and confirmed the telephone charge with a Providian rep a few minutes ago. She said the $9.95 charge for online bill pay may be assessed in the near future but "for right now" it is free. Both the telephone and online single pay methods are under their PaySmart system. This is just another reason to close my account, if Providian chooses to charge folks for making payments online. ______________________ (begin post from MF....) Now guess what little note I found in my monthly statement? This one: ------------------------------------------- Important notice of changes to your account agreement If you use our On-Request Service for PaySmart to make a single payment by phone or online from your personal checking account to your Account with us, we may charge a fee of $9.95. This fee is a FINANCE CHARGE and will apply even if the payment is returned unpaid. Funds posted may not be immideately available for your use. The first use of this service is no longer free of charge. Our Automatic Monthly Service for PaySmart will continue to remain free of charge. This service allows you to have your Account payments automatically deducted from your personal checking account each month. Simply call us to request an enrollment package. These changes will be effective November 5, 2001. If you live in Iowa, Massachusetts, Texas or Wisconsin, these changes will be effective January 1, 2002. If you live in Wyoming, these changes will be effective April 1, 2002. Use of your Account or the On-Request Service for PaySmart on or after this date will mean that you accept the new terms. ------------------------------------------- On their website they say PaySmart is over-the-phone scheduling service but on this note they include online system too. Therefore from that moment you can either let them deduct whatever they decide from your checking account or pay ten bucks fee. If I am interpreting it wrong, please correct me (if something reads "we may charge" it actually means "we WILL charge") ____________________________________________ (end post from MF...)
Oh, that stinks. These credit card companies have got us where they want us. If you pay by phone they'll charge you. If you pay online they'll charge you. And if you pay by snail mail they will say it's late and charge you. I really hate greed. Dani
What ticks me off about it is that they keep stressing that you'll be charged if they take it from your checking account as if you had a *choice* to pay the credit card bill any other way. Finally, when I have paid online - the transaction shows up as an "electronic transfer" - which essentially means there is NO work for Providian. Now, Citibank I can understand, since they actually cut a check to present to your bank (hence the 3 day turnaround...). But for Providian, there are no resources taken, other than maintaining the bill pay web-site. This is pure greed. As the original post points out, Providian is saying "either let us deduct automatically what *we choose* to deduct or pay us $10 for an electronic transfer from your checking account". I bet for people who do choose the automatic deduction route, they'll raise the minimum payment to 10-15% just to jack people up with returned check fees and the like... It's just like the grace period issue. I haven't used my card in three months, and they told me that I HAD to use the card in order to qualify for *consideration* of a grace period - meaning that they are guaranteed to make money off of me even when I pay in full - and even then I'm not guaranteed to get a grace period. Simple and plain highway robbery. Well, not *this* woman. This card will NOT be used until it passes the 36 month mark - and then I will have to shut it down.
Re: Providian $10 charge for online Hmm... they've always had high fees and usually no-grace cards. But they had a good "R" dept to offset it. Now their "R" dept is powerless and won't do a thing. OTOH, fees have only gone up. Telling them they suck won't deliver the message, if their corporate profit continues to rise. If you want to express yourself, you'd need to do it in a way that would reflect on their corporate profit. Close your Providian accounts today. There are still much better CC companies in the subprime industry. Capital One (Exec. Offices), FCNB, The Associates, Sterling, etc. Saar
Re: Providian $10 charge for online This is ludicrous!!! It's bad enough I have 2 cards and can only pay ONE on-line. Now they want to charge me for doing that? Wow.... I just paid on-line like 2 weeks ago. I'll be checking my statement to see what's up.
Re: Providian $10 charge for online I have been paying them online each month for a long time..If they start charging i will use my new citi card and pay them there $5,500 and will cut up the card..However i need to leave it open due to the fact it is her longest card on her report 38 months...When i do transfer the $$ i will use planet feedback and tell them why i did for reason above and the A.P.R. as well..I am really begining to hate this bank..Maybe i will tell them there nothing but scum i like to use improper language..
Re: Providian $10 charge for online Whoa!! and they think they are going to move into the prime market????????? Somebody there is crazy.
Re: Providian $10 charge for online Bill B, although my current balance is zero, I will hang on to my card for a while longer (without using it), for the reasons you posted. Like you, I will also write a "shared letter" to Providian via PlanetFeedback when I close the account. I was sorely tempted to apply for their Smart Card (not GetSmart) - but I think that whoever hated Providian for introducing so many of the subprime tactics to the CC industry (was it J. Edgar?) is right on point. I'm done with them.
Re: Providian $10 charge for online If they charge for online payments, that will suck. HOWEVER, you can get around it by paying them for free online with yahoo bill pay. Yahoo will let you pay any V/MC free with their service. Shawn
Re: Providian $10 charge for online Hi All: I talked to Providian this morning about the charge for paying your bill online or by telephone. I was told by the rep that Providian must cut a check and print it for their records every time an online payment is processed or a payment is made using the telephone. This rep assured me that no profit was being made by Providian! She said their good customers understand that processing costs are going up and to keep pace in the industry Providian had to make changes to remain as the number one credit card for people rebuilding credit! I challenged the part about processing costs, stating that inflation was only 2 percent right now (Clark Howard) and credit card wars were going on for customers. She politely said she would close my account if the new terms offended me! So you see the technique? First you say our costs are going up. Then you say good customers understand our plight trying to stay competitive. Then you say I can close your account since you don't want to be a good customer. UGH!!!
:-( F'ers! Sorry.....had to go there. I'm getting the impression that they are loosing *late fee* revenue because everyone and their grandma pays on-line to ensure on time payments (which they preach time and time again). So now this is one more fee that they can extort money out of sub-primers. Talk about getting over......taking advantage, etc. This is horrible. Man, maybe I should call Citibank and BT the hell outta Providian. It's just not that crucial anymore.
Re: Providian $10 charge for online COMING SOON PROVIDIAN AND NEXT CARD MERGER!! Im glad i closed my two accounts from them. I would have told them a big F.U. if they tried to tell me that.. Wow, I'm going to have to say I'll recommend Cross Country bank before i recommend Providian. I understand the economy is going down hill, but the nerve they have to even consider it. Looks Like Cap 1, Orchard/Household, Nextcard, Aria/Providian, (tied with cross country bank), is the new Order of preference.
Re: Providian $10 charge for online Since it is my oldest line, and it is a $7,000 limit, it will be hard to replace right now, however they will get no fees from me!! I have about three years worth of envelopes and old statements, and I will use them. I'll just check my account online, when the new statements show up, I will mail the payment - that should prevent any late payments. I'll be darned if I'm gonna a) let them draft my account each month (that is a set up for catching you offguard-I can see it now) or b) pay them a $10 fee to pay online. and I will just use it enough to keep them from closing it. I have free online bill payment with Netbank, but it is my understanding they have to send a paper check. I just don't trust that at all. I can send my own paper checks. They are trying to get their corporate earnings back up, but they are going about it the wrong way. They said earnings are down because people aren't using their cards as much - well I don't use the card because the interest is too high. They won't come down but so far on interest... sorry, but the lowest rate card gets my balance. This is making me think about selling their stock. I have held onto it the whole time it was down, because I was confident they would figure out how to market to prime customers. Not with this mindset they won't!!
Re: Providian $10 charge for online Yup breeze....that's how I find out exactly when my bill is due.....See this is some funny crap b/c about 1 and 1/2 weeks ago, I pulled up my account and I have a payment due oct 8th. I STILL have not gotten that statement from them....
Re: Providian $10 charge for online That statement is really funny to me. Citi, Amex, Chase, etc. don't charge $10 for an online payment, do they? Costs are going up my ass. What is really going on here is that they are not making any money on sub-primers anymore. You see, when people learn from their mistakes, they know enough to PAY ON TIME, AND IN FULL. (whenever possible). This not only cuts down on late fees, over limit fees, and whatever, but they are not earning any money on interest charges and finance charges.
Re: Providian $10 charge for online IS THAT FOR REAL??? It will be NICE to UPGRADE to PROVIDIAN from SUB-PRIME NEXTCARD...
Re: Providian $10 charge for online 'Good' is certainly one way to describe those understanding customers. Actually I was thinking of a few quite different adjectives to describe them. Saar
Re: Providian $10 charge for online LOL, their good customers move up to prime and Providian isn't following. Then we get Citi, AmEx, B of A, and we don't have to put up with their extra charges. They don't want more "rebuilders" - they said they want prime people. Fat chance!! But the bad customers are stuck. Providian has had more write offs than they really anticipated, and they have not been able to attract the prime people like they thought. They lowered my rate once, and keep giving me higher limits. I am not the sucker they seem to think. I like what it does for my ratios, but that's about it. $7,000 limit - $100 balance!!! Helllllllloooooo!! Pro-vid-i-annnnnnnn!!! You just don't get it!!!!
