Got a hilarious letter from Providian today.... "You are a valued customer and at Providian we are committed to providing you with superior customer service. With this in mind, we want to inform you of an error in the Important Notice of Changes to Your Account Agreement that we included in your December 2001 billing statement. The notification incorrectly referred to an increase of the Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) on your account. Please be aware that this was an error. We have not increased your APRs. Your February 2002 statement will also contain a message explaining this error. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may have caused. Please note that the other changes reflected in the Notice will apply to your account in the Effective Date as they are part of our standardization effort. Thank you for choosing Providian for yor credit needs. If you have any questions regarding your account, please call our Customer Service department...." THIS FROM THE PEOPLE WHO AFTER A PERFECT PAYMENT RECORD JACKED OUR RATE TO 29.9% AND AFTER A PFB LETTER FOLLOWED UP WITH A "THAT'S THE RATE, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT" PHONE CALL. Looks like we must not have been the only ones who paid them off ($7600) and are now charging $2 a month. (Which will continue until they come up with a reasonably competitive rate.)
hmmm so they discovered the folly of arrogance, eh? I had to double check my account but noticed that I wasn't slated to be jacked up on the interest rate. You made a smart move, maybe you'll be part of the new group of platinum cardholders after they sell off the current crop?
I received the same letter;however, I didn't send a PFB back in 12/2001. I did call this month and ask why my APR was being increased. The rep said that it was a mistake. He said a lot their customers were scheduled for the increase;however, those with great histories were manually reviewed and corrected.
How can it be a mistake if they publicly made a statement to the fact that they were raising the rates. I think you are seeing this in the wrong light of things.
In our case, if it had been a mistake there was an opportunity for it to have been corrected via the PFB contact. The only thing different now versus then is they're not making money on our account anymore. (and I'm sure lots of others responded to their APR increase notification in exactly the same way.)
Oh no! I am not defending them! I think they are robbers who are taking advantage of subprime customers to increase their revenue! I was only letting nquisitive know that the letter probably went to a lot people without us sending PFB.
FIRST USA "JACKED" one of our three accounts (22.49%)...SO I "JACKED" THEM...CLOSED AND PAID IN FULL $72,000+ (3 ACCOUNTS)...
which means they are maybe going to make a change to the better.I put there card on hold and bought some stock when it was at $2.84
