Providian is Questionable!

Does anyone have a Providian Credit Card.
I had to cuss them out today.
They have shady business practices and I called them on it.

Really! What happened? I have a providian card!

I have a card with them.

Unless you end up posting it, can you FM me when you have a chance? Maybe I should look for another card...

oh man I have one, let us know what happend

We applied for a card to transfer our balances to. The offer sent was for up 10K since he had good credit. (his credit is good) We clearly stated that if we cannot be approved for the full amount to cover our transfers we do not want to proceed....so what do they do..approved us for 3k and transfered 2500.00 from one card..so basically they instantly created 2 bills . Hullo does that make any sense...................?

So I called today and yesterday and was repeatedly told the fine print said that they would transfer a certain amount based on the amount you qualify for. So i pointed out that in the special notes section we had our own stipulation that nothing should be done if we do not qualify for the full amount. One of the the supervisor said that providian assumes that a partial balance transfer at a lower rate would be welcomed by their customers...... Well u know what assuming gets you.....

ohh and they are there are charges of them sending bills out late to collect 29.00 charges each month..
Some people have problems and some dont so its hit or miss with them...but soooooooo many are having roblems..do a google.

We argued back and forth until I got to the corporate level and was told that we could request for the $$$ to be transffered back from Sears CC back to providian and it would be as if nothing happened. So I called Sears..no can do. Called providian again andgot the run around, got hung up on, got sarcasm and finally when I threatened to call Investor relation instead of the regular corporate office I was told that I can request that Sears can send us back the check ..which Sears said can take 30-60 days and providian will reverse the 75.00 fee they charged for this soppossed balance transfer. I also got names and rep id # of people who hung up on me because I refused to repeat my self to customer service reps when I called back.

So my problem is on its way to being solved.

But wait..heres the kicker..

Providian has been sued by people for such things as unauthorized balance transfers as they did to us, the wordage of their contracts have been called 'deceptive business practices in some of the lawsuits..they are or have paid over 300 million ..but not accepted any blame. Other things they have done is raised APRS to rates higher than 29.99 in some cases even more..***..so research them and if they give u any B.S about everything stated in your contract challenge them.

thanks for letting us know... good luck with everything

I'll tell you my short story about Providian. When I was first in college, I got a cc from them and it had a low 300 dollar credit line. Well, I used it to buy books, then I canceled it because I didn't need another cc. I paid the balance in full and stopped getting statements because I had canceled my card and had no balance anymore.........or so I thought. FOUR YEARS LATER I get a letter from a collection company stating that I owe Providian SEVENTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! They claimed that I had a balance of 50 dollars that I neglected and never paid. They also claimed that they tried to contact me, yet they never did. I handed the account over to my father so he could deal with it with his lawyer and I ended up having to pay 800 bucks! They just MADE UP this balance. And they assumed since it was FOUR YEARS LATER that I probably didn't have any statements or payment history left. And I didn't ARGH! NEVER AGAIN!

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Posted by 121502

I'll tell you my short story about Providian. When I was first in college, I got a cc from them and it had a low 300 dollar credit line. Well, I used it to buy books, then I canceled it because I didn't need another cc. I paid the balance in full and stopped getting statements because I had canceled my card and had no balance anymore.........or so I thought. FOUR YEARS LATER I get a letter from a collection company stating that I owe Providian SEVENTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! They claimed that I had a balance of 50 dollars that I neglected and never paid. They also claimed that they tried to contact me, yet they never did. I handed the account over to my father so he could deal with it with his lawyer and I ended up having to pay 800 bucks! They just MADE UP this balance. And they assumed since it was FOUR YEARS LATER that I probably didn't have any statements or payment history left. And I didn't ARGH! NEVER AGAIN!

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I had a similar experience with Providian. I used mine just for gas every month to try & build my credit...I would pay it every month down to a zero balance, then I eventually got a better card so I cancelled it. Well about 3 - 4 years later I get a letter from a collection agency hired by Providian for $1185.00...they claimed I did not make my annual fee of $49.00, so they automatically added it to the card. they never sent me a statement, and I didn't even know I had an annual fee. Well after 26% (yes that's 26%) interest for however many months, the bill came out to $1185. It is STILL on my credit report!

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Posted by 121502

I'll tell you my short story about Providian. When I was first in college, I got a cc from them and it had a low 300 dollar credit line. Well, I used it to buy books, then I canceled it because I didn't need another cc. I paid the balance in full and stopped getting statements because I had canceled my card and had no balance anymore.........or so I thought. FOUR YEARS LATER I get a letter from a collection company stating that I owe Providian SEVENTEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! They claimed that I had a balance of 50 dollars that I neglected and never paid. They also claimed that they tried to contact me, yet they never did. I handed the account over to my father so he could deal with it with his lawyer and I ended up having to pay 800 bucks! They just MADE UP this balance. And they assumed since it was FOUR YEARS LATER that I probably didn't have any statements or payment history left. And I didn't ARGH! NEVER AGAIN!

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do you know how long you are supposed to keep the statements, how the CC company can ask for money like in your case? I usually keep my stuff for 5 years, do you think thats enough?

you girls are scaring me, I was thinking of paying off the card and cancelling it, I guess I should keep my statements

Three of my friends used to work for Providian. I heard all of their horror stories. The way they treat employees is no better than the way they treat customers. Yes, Providian is questionable... or just plain evil!

when you cancel the card, you should request a letter from them saying you cancelled and that you have a zero balance also.....and then keep it

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Posted by palebride

when you cancel the card, you should request a letter from them saying you cancelled and that you have a zero balance also.....and then keep it

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And send the letter requesting the cancellation certified mail, return reciept so you can prove they received it.

They send me a credit card application every single day.. Very annoying. I just rip them up and throw them out.