Complaint Review: Providian - Nationwide

Every since providian sold off its stake of card holders, its been a pain to keep up with the constant change of info. I literally have a whiteboard in my home office now tracking the statements and changes month to month.. Literally since last year when my card was converted from first a GetSmart Visa to a EMERGE mastercard and my regular Providian cards was converted to "Card Services", the interest reates have not stopped.. I used to have a perfect 9.9% on one card and a 12.94%... not great rates, but for new credit, I accepted them. Since the take over, the move of the call centers to India and the fiasco, my interest rates on one card has gone up four times, 12.94, to 16%, then 19.99, 23.94, and now today 34.90%.. each tiem I have called no one tells me anything differnt.. Everything is still the same but the statements are wrong.. this has gone on for a year now and finally I ahve been "mathmatically" gifted and have figured out the billing formula! Eureka.. they are putting daily amounts on the APR and jacking the rates up on the monthly charges as well.. I dont see anyting legal about this, and surely have not a clue how to report this to the FTC or SCC or any of the other nubmer og governemnt agencies.. i am more then happy to report it if shown the way!! I trully will end this tomorrow by a personal loan to clear all my credit with Providian or bahlahal who ever is in India.. Once and for all ending this charade... I recommend it for others too and for sure .. get your credit report and make sure nothing has happened!!!

This is the proccess they used on me. On my aug. 2002 statement there was a message that reads: Thank you for being a providian cardholder. Please note that from time to time as permitted by your card agreement we may review your account history with us and with others and consider information we obtain from you and your overall credit record.If based on this review, we reasonably believe that you are having financial diffilculties or may not repay us, we may adjust the terms of your account with us, including, but not limited to, lowering your limit or even closing or suspending your account. If we take such action,we will notify you promptly. such notice may be given before or after we take action,depending on the status of your account,and as permitted or required by law. Now, i have not ever been past due with these a** **les. I have a credit report to show that. On that statement my interest by providian was raised to 29.99% Next month Sept 2002, recieve an emerge Mastercard statement. Account was sold, interest rate boom 29.99% There is nothing on my credit report to instigate this. Nor have I paid them late. I have every Statement they ever sent me. From my very first to now. Lets think about this: > Providian was a sub prime credit card. so if you have one. At some point in time Either you had a credit issue.Or no credit at all > Now they want out of the sub prime due to their losses (for whatever reason) > They know that the credit bureaus are not infallible. They make more mistakes that are accurate. Knowing this Providian could easily find a little something on your credit to provoke a higher rate of interest. Or to close your account. > Plus being that there were some type of credit problem when they issued you the card. They can go right back on that. Negative credit stays on for 7 years. >So any one negative item. even if it is very aged. Could give them the leverage and excuse to do what they have done.(or an error thanks to the great credit reporting agency's) > Note what they said in the message. They reasonably believe I will not repay them.That's a line of crock. Why because i have been paying them faithfully for about 3 years now? Or because I have a Mortgage and a gmac car loan.Like most People do. I Just bought a home in Feb 2002. My mortgage is through Fifth Third Bank. Which is not Sub Prime. My rate is Less than 7% Think I could get a Prime Mortgage and a Prime Auto loan. If I had horrible derog credit.The answer is NO!! > This was providians way to pass the buck on to their cardholders. And still pass the fair Trade Act. Get past that very fine legal line. That the fair trade act has in place to protect not us, but the creditor!!!! > The way they handled this was sneaky and un forgiving. We need to find a way to mistake in their plan.

Thank You for your comment. I agree with you 100% This is political. I found out how much when i went after the creditor that was damaging my husbands credit. We had 2 attorneys. I asked them why it was so difficult for us as consumers to get this corrected. We had contacted the attorney general and the comptroller of the currency. Both agencies had the information removed from the credit report. However it kept reappearing. We had to hire lawyers! The attorneys told us we are fighting two of the biggest things : money and politics! Back to providian. All consumers complaining about providian should take every resource they have. To payoff their account in full. This is a dangerous company. They are going to ruin your credit. It is obvious they are un organized and don't have answers nor do they care. If you can't get simple questions answered what would happen if they reported inacurate information on your credit file. You will never get it resolved. They don't credit payments properly.The interest rate is a crime, and you will never see the light of day before they ruin your credit. Its almost apparant that this is their objective. Rip Off report what if we went to national television. Like dateline investigates. Companies like providian think they can get away with this because they think they are dealing with people to stupid and embarressed to speak out. Or that have the resources to come after them. It will take forever for each consumer on their own to fight this. It is like running into a brick wall. It takes lots of time and persistance. It took me over two years to win my battle. Two years of dozens of letters and phone calls. With providian we don't have that kind of time. There are thousand of consumers credit at stake. Not to mention our hard earned money our congressman and government are so eager to take.

I am responding to this for a few reasons. The first is my husband has been a victim of this Providian scam as well as all the others. He has had a Providian card for about 4 years. We don't ever pay late! Out of the blue we get a letter from Providian that his account has been sold to some unknown mastercard co. called Emerge.

I can find no information on this company! His account has been closed by them and his interest rate is 29.99% I called providian they have no answer for you. That's just the way it is. Or they say something on your credit report has provoked this change. I am sorry that is is bull!!!!

This is a trend for these sub prime lenders and credit cards to rip off consumers. It is their excuse and it's getting very scary. We had an error on our credit report. which since has been corrected. we sued the company that made the error(gateway, aka Gulf State credit)We recieved 500.00 from them and they deleted our remaining balance for the error on our credit.

Now that was the only derogatory item, and it was an error. so where do these predatory lenders have the right to judge your interest rate to them by something on your credit report? The other issue is all these late fees when you know good and well you sent your payment. This too is a very huge trend.It is happening all over the place with sub prime credit.

This is their way of making money off people they think are worthless.I have news for them..Some people aren't as stupid as they think. The ones who have had misfortune are not credit criminals and they need to stand up to these crooks!!! keep copies of your checks, know what day they were cashed, copy your postmarked envelope.

Do whatever you have to to snag these theives. They are trying to steal people blind! My question is? where are the agencies that are set up to protect the consumers from this kind of scams. These sub prime pirates are charging late fees and over limit fees to folks who are really making on time payments. Something absolutly must be done to stop this.

I am a finance manager and I see so much of this, it is unreal to me that no government agency has stepped in. Or a group of attorney's could make a ton of money and save people from this awfull trend. Whatever the case may be. Someone has to help the consumer. Rip off report can't you do something to provoke the FTC or Attorney General, any one? To stop this crazy stuff. They are ruining consumers financial life.

It is so frustrating to deal with these crooks. We need someone with power and resources to hack this right now. There have got to be laws and rules for these company's.There are way to many people complaining for someone not to listen. These are not people not paying, these are people getting rooked into places like providian who want to make money off even their good customers by making them look like they pay late, I have seen these companies say they lost payments, or it must have taken 12 days in the mail. Then slap you with a late fee.

It's your word against theirs. Guess who wins. By the way one last thing. The reason my husband got a providian credit card was. His credit report had so many errors on it. That was the only kind of credit card he thought he could get at the time. Since then we sued the company that placed something in error on his credit. We recieved a very large settlement.It shows it pays to not be the victim.

Not only does the due date change, but they try to make it fall on a weekend or a holiday. When it shows Monday on a holiday, you need it to be there three days earlier to avoid a heavy late charge.

They are laying off a large number of their work force in Pleasanton, California and moving a large portion of their (gag) Customer Service department to India.

Your due date may not always be the same. On my cards, I have had as much as a 7-day variance.

Attached is a complaint filed against Providian bank with the FTC. Recently, they have sold a large portion of their accounts better their image and financial position. At what cost have they done this.

In the wake of corporate scandals affecting corporate America, Providian made a decision months ago to sell of large parts of their subprime debt. Various representatives in the Company are telling conflicting stories on the question if the company that assumed the bank card accounts is actually a Providian company or not.

Regardless, this issue has personally affected me and many other Americans. The following four points make up my complaint against Providian.

1. About six to eight weeks prior to the closing of the sale, Providian increased interest rates on customer accounts to as high as 29.99% and no indication the the accounts would be sold.

2. Annual Fees have been charged on these accounts regardless if some were cancelled by the bank. Mind you, the accounts were in good standing as well.

3. Letters on the sale have reached people on the day or the day after the sale. Abandon rates in the new centers handing the debt are as high as 90%. Where is the servicing?

4. There should be some detailed investigation on this issue. I will be sending a copy of this to all four networks as well.

Providian is a financial trap that can really damage a person financial freedom. I'm amazed it's still running as a legitimate business.

They will raise your rate without notifying you, they will makes mistakes that you have to catch and resolve it yourself. After you have resolve the issue, make sure you call back and confirm the issue is really fixed or 90% of the time the false charge is back on your account. Be caution your conversation may be cut off by system failures. A superviser is never present. You can not get a written statement of what the agreement. The computer history does not show who you've spoke to. The employee ID the rep just told you is different when you ask it again 5 minutes later. You can not use the Employee ID to look up the name of an employee. The last name of the employee you're talking to can not be revealed. That's Providian. I can go on forever just off the top of my head. If you do not believe me, try Providian for yourself! (800) 897-4895.

Listen, you can claim all you want that Providian is taking care of their business, and I guess you're right, if the business is ripping people off, not living up to promises made, etc. I can call Providian right now and anybody there can look at their computer and tell me that my interest rate is 9.9%, but every single month my bill shows 18.99%. That is what they charge me; 18/99%.

Every single month I am promised that my next statement will show the refunded interest overcharges, and the correct interest rate, but since October 2001 it has not happened, and it's been 10 months! Are they ever going to pay me any interest or late fees? or reduce my interest rates for not sending me my money on time since they were late taking care of their business?!?!?!?!

You can't have the same due date every month, because not every month has the same amount of days, they are due every 30 days, if my due date was the 30th of every month, does that mean I just DO NOT have to pay my bill in February, because it has 28 days??? Doesn't really makes sense does it?? I don't even know why you are so worried about it, because you get a statement every month, that shows the due date. or you could call to see when the bill's due, or pay thru the net , so don't blame providian for not taking care of your responsibilities. The reason your rate was raised?, It's called payment default!!!, It should say on your contract that if you are late on payments that can happen. Not just Providian, but on any card. You signed a contract in which you agreed to not be late on payments or you will be subject to fees or higher rates. It's not a scam, it is commmon sense