Providian?

I had 2 Providian cards for years that weighed on my like a beast of burden. I started out like you, happy to get a card from anyone after a pretty nasty d-i-v-o-r-c-e. Every time I got close to the limit they would send me a credit line increase offer, and charge me $99 if i accepted (they later got sued for this by the state of florida and had to return me the money at 18%).

Next thing you know I have about 8400 of credit with them at 23.99%.

One of there tricks was to hide a note in my bill saying the rate was being increased unless I mailed them to say I do not accept. This would close the account and allow to pay it off at the current rate, but it was mixed in with a bunch of marketing crap, so it made it to the circular file with out me seeing it (they got sued for this also, now they must make a note on your statement that says"important information about your account is enclosed").

Then out of nowhere they froze the credit line at the current balance for both cards, so now I have weird credit lines like $4421 and 3560. They were both supposed to be 5k (They got sued for this also, they would change you for a 1k increase, and then freeze your limit before you used all of the 1k you paid to have).

I could go on for days about my dealings with them.

Beware!

PS They are both paid off as of Monday. Good Riddance!

 

And that will probably be your credit limit for the next 3 years! I believe there is also NO grace period on their cards.

 

Guys, that was the old providian, that is not the case with their new cards, most of which are no annual fee and a 25-day grace period

 

Providian enjoys raising interest rates and cutting credit limits. They tried to cut my MasterCard limit from $1600 to $250, after I had paid it off and a few days before I closed it.

 

Providian was good to me. They do give large lines. Started me at 5k and more than doubled the line shortly thereafter with balance transfers which were free and at the rate for purchases, lowered rate... I wish Chase never bought my account. All they did was jack me continually from the day they bought my account even though I was never late with them. And the very first time I had a late show on my report they were the first and only ones to apply default rate. Excuse my ranting.

Maybe at the time they sold their platinum portfolio "folder" to Chase they changed their lending policies and focused on non prime borrowers where they can make more. I think their best card starts you at $5k @ 9.9%. A family member has a 2K platinum account with them @ 9.9% even for cash advances. They did change it over to two cycle Average Daily Balance recently. Providian sent notice of change of terms, but so did all of my other creditors. Funny thing is that, unlike any other creditors, they actually let me keep my existing rate when I called them to close the card after I received the notice "because I called". Guess most people didn't.

I think that's just how the game is played. If you put yourself in the position where you carry a lot so your score drops significantly and can't pay off or transfer the balance at a short notice they will take you for whatever they can. All of them.

I'm thinking maybe PENFED and USAA and less then a hand full of others aren't that aggressive. BTW those two are the only cards I'm aware of that don't charge fees. Not even for cash advances. The only one that even comes close to that is generations bank with a flat $2 CA fee.

 

Just hope you never have anything unexpected happen and need them to help you out if you can't make the payments for full amount or on time.
They won't!!

 

They really are scum. I defended them for a long time. Then I noticed so many things that they had done to me.

There is no old or new providian. They are one and the same.

Get out your calender and starting with December 2001, look and see how many holidays fall on a weekend or are Friday or Monday. Chances are, those were my due dates!

They actually charged me a late fee in January 2002 for making my December 2001 payment TOO EARLY. No sh$t. Look at 12/31/01 and what day that falls on. Guess they wanted to charge me a late payment regardless of whether I paid them late or not. How dare I mess with their forecasted revenue from the NEW YEAR RIPOFF OUR CUSTOMERS WITH LATE PAYMENT FEES projections. I am such a bad girl.

 

They are considered so, but I'm sure they have prime and subprime accts. What are you terms? That'll help determine what you got.

Also, I asked the question about prime or subprime making a difference on here not long ago in the "Straight from the horse's mouth" thread - and apparently, the bureaus & FICO don't consider companies to be prime or subprime. Just use the card and watch out for their tactics.

 

I went through hell with them while I was unemployed and had a high balance - they wouldn't work with me at all. They wanted me to be late so they could jack up my interest rate to 24.99%. Once I got the card paid down to a few hundred they became very cooperative. I called to close the account because of the annual fee and the high interest and they lowered my rate to 7.9% credited me back the annual fee (+ interest) and no annual fee ever on the card. I was shocked and kept the card open, but will never use the account again. EVER.

 

amdforever, what is the apr?

 

Re: Re: Providian?

Here's a tip: just think of Providian as an open positive tradeline, and never as a major source of credit.

Other banks will offer you much better CL's and APR's much sooner into your realtionship.

Having a lot of credit from Providian could tempt you to use it. That would be a huge mistake.

Having a lot of credit from Providian could also scare away banks that would otherwise be willing to give you much better deals.

My advice: just keep the account as it is, use it in moderation, pay on time, pay the annual fees if necessary, and then close it after you've had two prime cards for two years.