Last August I received an offer for a Providian Visa with no annual fee. I suppose I ought to have realized that there was a catch to this somewhere, but at the time I was so pissed off with Capital One that I thought I would take a chance on one of the other pirates. The offer contained a line the read "Grace Period: None". There was no explanation of what this meant, although every other term in the offer was clearly defined in asterisked footnotes. Against all better judgment, I went ahead and applied for the card. I freely confess my mistake. Now here is what followed.
When I received the card, the documentation that accompanied it contained not one word about any grace period or the lack thereof. There was the usual information about APR, late charges, etc. NOTHING, not one word about any grace period. Everything looked OK.
I went ahead and started using the card. Until recently, all was well. Absolutely no problems. Until yesterday. The monthly statement arrived, and there was a $3.66 finance charge attached, despite the fact that I always pay my monthly bill in full, and never carry over any charges. I called Providian's toll free number to inquire into this, and was informed by a rather surly female representative that mine was a "no grace period" card, and that for every purchase made with this card, interest begins to accrue immediately, the minute the purchase is made. I asked why I was charged no interest on previous statements, and was told that that had been a "special introductory offer" which was valid only for the first three months. When I pointed out that I had already been using the card for 5 months, she quickly changed her story accordingly. And throughout the conversation, she made numerous insulting insinuations that the real problem was that I had not read the documentation that accompanied the card, despite the fact that the documentation contained not one word about this so-called "grace period". Only the initial offer even mentioned the phrase, and with no explanation of its meaning. If this had been spelled out in the initial offer, I would have thrown the offer in the proper receptacle without further consideration.
Naturally I told her to cancel the card. I was then transferred to an even more surly male representative, who really didn't try too hard to talk me out of it, but pointedly reminded me that even if I pay off this bill, by the time they receive the check, more interest will have piled up, I will continue to receive statements, etc., etc. Accordingly, I have sent them a check for the full amount plus an extra $5, to cover any additional "finance charges". I would have attached a pound of flesh, if I could have found an animal filthy enough to cut it off of.
Is this legal? I suppose it probably is, or their company lawyers would have told them otherwise. Probably there is nothing that can be done about it, but at the very least, I want everyone else to know what these shylocks mean when they say "grace period".
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