Providian = bad!

[skreidle]

For the last several months, I've been getting mail from Providian, urging me to apply for their card and transfer my balances over there--0.00% for the first 6 months -or- 3.99% fixed on transfers, then 9.99% (variable). Great for transfers, pretty good regular rate--I have 7.99 and 8.99 on other cards, and ignore any offers over 9.99% anyhow.

Christine was leery, though--not due to anything negative she'd heard, but because she hadn't heard of this company before. So, before I considered them further, I asked Google about providian credit. And lo, what should over half of the first ten results be, but "predatory," "desperate? think twice", "Class action," "offer stinks," "proposed settlement," "consumer protection," and "consumer complaints!" Quality!

Yeah, I have a trash can full of Providian advertising now. Wonder if I can convince them to stop sending them?

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The rain looks like it's clearing up! (Huzzah! Weather.com seems to show it's moved on!)

Comments

[alacrity.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I signed up for a Providian Visa about 6 months ago, and used it to charge all my travel expenses to and from Redmond. My only complaint is the low credit limit I got. On the way to redmond I went $60 over my limit and was charged a $35 overlimit fee, perfectly fine. It was my mistake for not keeping closer track of exactly how much I had charged. But I sent them a short message saying I messed up and they reversed the fee! So, on the whole, that was completely unnecessary and very nice of them. :-)

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you were lucky, unlike the people who missed one payment and got jacked up to almost 30% APR. :)

Now, what I'd like to find is a credit company who will extend my limit (along with a good transfer rate) enough to cover both of my outstanding balances--or about $13K combined.

[alacrity.livejournal.com]

I of course have no idea what my APR is, though. I don't carry a balance. I did need a few thousand dollars to buy my car last year when I was unexpectedly in the car market again, but fortunately I was able to use some of my nice low APR (interest defered, no less!) school loans to take care of that.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Heh.. I'm quite cognizant of my APRs, since I do carry a balance, and have occasionally transferred said balance to get better rates and whatnot. As soon as I can afford to pay off my balances, I will--I was paying off the motorcycle purchase $1K/mo at a time, but got laid off after two months of that and had to cut back. :P

[blistex.livejournal.com]

My mom is one of those people. Acually, hers is 32%, and I can't figure out why she doesn't cancel the fricking thing.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Oh my god.

There is no reason, none, to keep a card like that. If your credit is bad enough to deserve it, you should already be cutting the cards up; if it's not, it should be -easy- to get a better card.

32!? That's almost 2.7% per month!

[whytraven.livejournal.com]

Providian was the card I used to get started with a credit history in the USA, since the British one is non-transferable. I had a secured card, then it became an unsecured card, then I replaced it with a card without a fee, and now I'm all right. Which about explains what kind of clientele they take on: people who are desperate to build a credit history (such as fresh immigrants with a fresh social security number).

If you don't want to get credit card offers, write to the credit houses - Experian, etc (there are three) and tell them that you no longer want them to release your credit info to companies for the purpose of soliciting. If you get a copy of your credit reports you'll probably see a bunch of "inquiries" listed, which is credit card companies sniffing you out for potential customerdom.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I laugh out loud at card offers with fees, now--even my first card, with a $600 limit and 18% APR, had no fee.

I don't mind credit offers in general, as I've gotten some good ones--but Providian seems to be sending me one at least 2 or 3 times a month. (And they're barking up the wrong tree if they're out for folks with poor/no credit--the only way mine could be better would be if I had less college debt and more years of credit history.)

[whytraven.livejournal.com]

Your situation and my situation were very, very different.

It's incredibly hard to get started with credit as an immigrant; this is one of the big beefs I hear from all of my immigrant friends. You take what you can.

It was at least another year before I received an offer from anyone else, and when I tried prior to that to get a card, all were turned down.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

I wonder what the reasoning behind that is.. do they just assume that all immigrants, regardless of national origin, are credit risks? I'm sure that many are, but one would think immigrants from more affluent countries would get a little more slack.

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

My wife and I have a really good credit rating, own (jointly with the bank) our home, are in our early/mid 30's, &c..

She's taking classes at a state-sponsored university, so every week or two we get a credit card offer to "The parents of (her name)."

These companies are so formulaic that they just don't have any idea who their customers are as individuals.

As an immigrant, you aren't on enough lists. Until you've subscribed to some magazines, bought some stuff from a department store on a payment plan, &c., they think you don't exist. But once you exist, they don't care if you fit better in a different demographic. They just send you the stuff for every list you end up on.

For some reason, I keep getting solicitations to come and check out retirement villages and assisted-living facilities. I'm 34! *laugh*

[whytraven.livejournal.com]

Heh. If I'd relied on those kinds of things, I'd still not have a credit rating. (And payment plans/department store is all credit-building, just like owning and paying a credit card.)

The only way they could have found me was to query my social security number on a credit report.

So, I went ahead and got the secured credit card, and worked from there.

My husband's somewhat older than me (I'm 34 too), and for a while AARP thought I was the one turning 50 and I got all the solicitations. Made me laugh. ;-)

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

Certainly you're right about the department store thing being credit building, but more importantly, they will usually sell your info to the big banks as well, so you get on their mailing list at the same time.

Your method probably ended up being faster given your situation, I was just pointing out that for US citizens, your name usually starts getting passed around by the time you're 14 or 15, so by the time you hit 18 or 19, they're already slavering to collect those high-interest payments while you still don't have an extensive credit history. :)

[whytraven.livejournal.com]

Gottit :-)

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

Providian specializes in dealing with people who are bad credit risks.

I don't think they are an inherently bad company, I just think that their primary clientele has forced them to have some rather harsh and inflexible policies.

They seem to be trying to re-vamp their image, but for those of us who have a fair to good credit rating, there are probably better and more accommodating companies.

Even some of the "better" companies screw you. And when given a second chance they may not fix it.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Heh.. nice icon. :)

I don't know why they're barking up my tree--the only marks on my credit record are "a lot of [college] debt vs. my income" and "not many years of credit record--only 7 or so." Other than that, I'm sparkling.

Fucked up about BoA, too--though I have gotten notices about rate increases, and later talked them out of it (post-deadline) via the ultimatum, "change it back or lose my business." However, -random-? That's seriously fucked.

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

Well, Providian *is* trying to change their image, so they are probably going after less risky customers and easing off on some of their terms.

Hell, I get offers for rates in the mid 20's now and then, but I also get offers for cards in the 5-7% range about once every 6-8 weeks.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Nice! Lowest I seem to get (for long-term rates, not intro) are about 7.9, with most in the 10-16 range.

[visgoth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't count intro rates anymore, because they generally only apply to balance transfers, and we seldom carry a balance for more than a month or two now.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

And in that scenario, interest rates don't much matter, since you're paying very little interest.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Ooh, quick survey of my available cards tells me one of my cards dropped from 7.9 to 6.9%, and has enough balance to take over from MBNA's unfortunate upcoming increase. Goodbye MBNA, hello again CapitalOne!

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Come to think of it, I need to decide whether I'm calling MBNA on their notification of "we're changing your APR from 8.99% fixed to 10.99% variable, as of September statement date," or giving them the finger and taking my business elsewhere. They say "you can only opt out in writing, and then not charge anything more to the card," but they're generally more flexible vs. ultimatums.

[inkyblue2.livejournal.com]

There is some 800 number you can call that opts you out of credit score-based advertising with all three big bureaus at once.

Watch out with balance transfers, too, because a lot of the time low APR offers still have a one-shot fee of ~3% of the transferred balance.

Of course, I'm sure you'll roll my eyes for saying this since you're in the land of the insane real estate prices, but rolling consumer debt into property debt is the best move in terms of raw numbers. (Assuming you're not going to default.)

[inkyblue2.livejournal.com]

Er, roll your eyes.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm rollin' your eyes, buddy.



Eyes will roll!

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know about the fee, but it usually caps at $35, which is less than I pay in interest at 8-10% anyway.


I'd consider rolling consumer debt into property debt if, you know, I had a job and could seriously contemplate a real estate purchase. ;)