Hey guys...my 5 year anniversary with Providian and they will not waive my annual fee....All the money they have made over 5 years and they would not even connect me to their retention department. So I got the address, fax # to Corporate office.I will be writing to them. I will PFB as well.
Let me guess, the card has no grace period and/or a 19% or higher APR. If so, Providian is sending you a message that it no longer wants your business. Best bet is to dump it. If Providian wants you back, you'll get a pre-approved offer in about 2 months after you close the account, if you don't, then you won't hear from them again. BTW, Providian stopped issuing cards to people with FICO's less than 600 in mid 2002 from what I've heard.
Yep...no grace period and 23.99% apr...never late for 60 months....Boy I love they way the appreciate their customers.
Yeah, some way to show appreciation for a cardholder that held onto their card for 60 months, it makes no sense at all.
But hey...got off the phone with Providian and walked into my Credit union and got a 10k Platinum card with 9.9% apr...
I have been a providian card holder for 8 years with that crappy 23.99 card and never missed one payment. I called them last week to see if they would lower their interest rate on my card and they replied that my interest rate was tied to my credit risk at the time of initial application. I said ok, but that was 8 years ago- how about looking at my payment record? The lady was not enthusiastic to help me at all. She said she would put a note on my file. I am not holding my breath! In fact I did a balance transfer to zero them out and am just keeping the card to show zero balance.
First off, Congrats Thickman!!! Now, Cap. 1 seems to be the same way. I had a secured card that is now a gold card (13.9% and $3000) but they refuse to go plat even after 4 years. Reason? Well, you started out as secured and I cannot approve you for a plat., you must apply again, they said. So, what to do? Keep a 4 year old TL or trade it in for a perhaps better card.
These cc companies do what ever they want, to whomever they want. They waived my annual fee last year and I've only have the card since 6/00. I had one late payment by a couple of days. The raised my rate to 27.99. The have since lowered it to 21.99. I request to have it lowered again and got nowhere. I didn't have to request the 1st one. I score was below 550 when I go it.
Re: Wow...Provdian wont waive ann. I read somewhere that due to Providian's problems with high chargeoff ratios and the like, they are trying to reinvent themselves as a prime card issuer (they are doing away with their subprime customer base). So, basically they are trying to get you off their books. If I were you, I would keep the card (even if you never use it again) just to piss them off.
Re: Wow...Provdian wont waive ann. I think the only way to get anywhere with Providian is to talk to retention. I asked to get my annual fee waived and the person I spoke with said "no". I asked to cancel my card (I was totally bluffing) and she passed me to retention. They waived the fee permanently. This month, I called and asked for a grace period and they said "no". Same story and now I have a grace period. I will say that I'm sure you have to have decent scores and most importantly, your balance has to go to zero once in a while. Last time my balance went to zero, my CL jumped from 3,900 to 6,900. I use the card for business travel so they get a lot of activity on the card, but rarely do they get any interest so my case may be different. Hint: If you don't have a grace period and you want to avoid a finance charge, pay the card down to zero right before your statement cycles. Granted, you get hardly any float at all but at least you don't have to pay interest.
Re: Re: Wow...Provdian wont waive ann. You are clearly an exception. Providian does not do that for the majority of their legacy customers, i.e. simply by asking for retention. Providian has exited the sub-prime market and they have a hard stop at FICO 600. Of course, they are rebuilding their image and in a few years, they might earn a respectable name, after all they are still in the top ten of card issuers. They have a long way to go. But they are off to a good start by selectively marketing to middle/prime customers who are stable and profitable. It will be fun to watch how it unfolds. One thing though, notice how the executive team is totally revamped and many left good companies (AMEX, BofA, Fleet, Bank 1) to join Providian. Don't know if that means much, but they do have the experience to turn Providian around. We'll see.
Re: Re: Wow...Provdian wont waive ann. 1-800-215-7318 Call them directly. If you get told no, call back and ask for their San Antonio office (they seem to be nicer.. or at least they have been in the past). If you get told no again, ask for a supervisor. I have experienced little to no relief from the Exec dept (they used to be able to do a lot, including refunding up to 6 mos interest) but no longer. I think you can accomplish what you want through retention.
