I am a new Visa Gold Cardmember of Provdian. I have a 25 day grace period, the dreaded 23.99% rate, ect. I have had my card since April. I keep reading how people have received a lower rate on their gold card. Do you have to call and ask for it? Do you have to call and ask for any upgrades or credit line increases? I read one post where a cardholder received an upgrade to gold on their mastercard. Is the mastercard by invitation only? Can you request a gold upgrade? Does anyone know how long it takes to start to receive upgrades automatically? any and all help would be appreciated.
You will get an increase every 121 days. So if you open your account in April you will get a increase in August. The amount is nominal(about 10% of your starting cl). After the second increase you will get an invitation to increase your line for either $500 or $1000 for a $49.00 fee. The MC is by invite only, my invite occured about a month after my second increase. The MC comes with a cl of $500-$1000 No grace and a high APR. Some have posted here that a phone call to retention can have the $49.00 fee waived. This assumes that you maintain perfect payments and no overlimit. Use the online payment service. Best regards, Sam
I got my mastercard after two years with Providian, and I was the one who posted about the gold upgrade a couple of weeks ago. I had to call to get it, and I had the card for 11 months at that point. The CL increase took effect the same day they said they upgraded me, but it's been two weeks and I still haven't seen the new card. Increases come without you calling in, but my interest rate never moved until I started calling. You should call them every time you get an increase offer to ask them to waive the fee. I never knew you could do this and paid the fees all this time until this March when I found this board.
