I got approved for a $500 providian Gold card w/ 23.99 apr, some kind of annual/processing fee and no grace period. I have no credit, so I guess it's a start.I would like to call Providian to have them lower the apr, give me a grace period and give me lower/no annual fee. I haven't sent the money order to receive the card yet, but I was wondering how soon I would be able to request all this? Thanks...
I've seen that same offer many times, and the processing fee is $49 on top of a $59 annual fee. My guess would be a year and a half before they would be willing to make any concessions. I'm almost a year into my Providian "looks like Platinum" Visa Classic, and I'm planning on paying another annual fee in December. Then next fall, I want to start negotiating.
This is a standard Providian offer. If you have no credit, this is a very good start. If you use it responsibly, they'll increase the limit about every three months. There is no point in calling them now and trying to get better terms. You don't have enough leverage on them (because you don't have any other card). Pay this annual fee, and after about 1 year, try to get it waived. For APR and grace period, wait some more extra months (an extra 6 should be enough). Anyway one year from now you should have several other cards as well, so a better negotiation position. Depending on that, you should try to convince them to give you similar terms as for the aother cards.
