ok, take this with a grain of salt: I talked w/several departments at Providian and got different answers to the smartcard issue. Here the 3 answers I got: 1. You may have up to 2 Gateway (their term) cards eg: Prov Visa and Prov MC. If you only have one, you may still apply for the smartcard. If you have a visa and a Mc (both from Prov) then cancel one and apply for the smartcard. They said the card shows immediately that it's closed. Apply the next day for the smartcard. 2. You may have up to 3 Prov cards total (including Aria). If you still have 1 slot on the Prov side, go ahead and apply for the smartcard (so you could have an Aria and 1 Prov card and still apply). 3. They just changed their policy, used to be 3 cards max, now it's as many cards as you can qualify for. There is no limit of cards you can have anymore. Do you like the 3 distinct answers??? Regardless of which answer is correct, I would guess that if you have only 1 Prov card, apply and see what happens. I was told unilaterally that the message "if you already have a Prov card you can't apply" is bogus... HOWEVER: do this at your own discretion. I am very curious about this, but I have 3 Prov cards (2 Prov and 1 Aria) so I'm going to just wait for an upgrade. I don't need another card at all and another new card would kill my score. If anyone tries this, let us know what happens. I got the postcard in the mail today so I was curious as to what the deal really is. Clearly, Prov reps aren't told the same things.
Applied online and was approved.4th Providian card. One GOLD. one MC ,One Aria middle and now Getsmart.I also got different answers from different csr's
Smartcard has the "prime" platinum card with a minimum of a $5000 limit and a 9.99% variable APR. The other two cards are the "gold" with up to a $2000 limit and an APR of 20.49% and finally the classic, with up to a $1000 limit, a 23.49% APR, a $59 or $89 annual fee depending on your credit report, but NO grace period. I think it's a good rebuilding card. I had the equivalent, the Aria Persona Visa, and I've been a good customer for the past year, had many generous increases and had my annual fee refunded. Still they are stingy about some things and you have to keep on them if you want to get what you want. On the other hand, people have had problems with Providian so you might want to exercise some caution. It's all relative. Good luck!
I just applied and they told me that I already had a Providian Visa so I could not apply ??? Went to get smart and applied on line...I think I will call them and find out what the deal is..I only have 1 providian gold card..
ok, now I'm confused. I thought GetSmart was the new name for Aria. I know they've got a new smartcard instead of the old red and yellow card. I'm trying to get the providian smartcard (not the Aria one)... but it's interesting to know you can have multiple aria cards too
Have 1 Visa - Got New Smartcard I have a current Providian Visa for $3200. Perferct payments for over 3 yrs. Snapped online and got Gold approval. $2500 - 0% for 2 months - then 20% - who cares - I try not to pay interest. It'll go in the drawer - but I like the smart card chip. YES - if you have a Providian account now, you CAN get another account. I do not know about more than 2 - though reading the above suggests 3 or 4 are now OK. Hope this helps Dogman
Hi Marie / You'll Get Gold or Plat yup- check it out. I didn't even know it was a providian card - it looks great and of course has the smart chip. I don't think the smart chips do much yet..... hope you're doing well dogman
Re: Hi Marie / You'll Get Gold or Plat Sweet. I was originally talking about the Providian one at http://www.providiansmart.com. I like the clear look. That's a tougher one to get and I'm going to try and convert my MC to a visa and then upgrade to this clear card (when they finally allow upgrades). I'm saving my older Prov Gold Visa for a Platinum upgrade. I have it on very good authority that the Account Benefits dept (aka: retention) will be able to upgrade to Plat in June or so by customer request(computer issues or they'd do it now). So good to make friends in retention. I only call 1 person now On the rest of the front, All is well. Got the Membership Banking w/no issues whatsoever. Continuing to est relationship w/Amex. Going to get sig other to get a Blue (we just got an invitation yesterday) and I'm going on as an Au. We got the platinum invite last week but I was told NO to the 300 annual fee Fair is fair, and it is expensive. It's so funny I live w/Mr Perfect Credit and I'm still rebuilding I get to evaluate whether an offer is good but I can't override the "$300 isn't a reasonable annual fee" issue. I almost offered to pay it.. but decided Blue was good enough Still so grateful to you for all your wonderful Amex advice. Feel much more whole w/Amex products in my wallet And I've also had such good luck w/Cap1 that I'm on the wagon for a while except for Amex cards. Hope all is well w/you too