Providian Financial, one of the all-time class action losers, has sunk to a new low.in November of 1998, I had an account with Providian, which I elected to close. I had a balance of $340 at the time. After I closed the account, I never received another bill, statement, or past due notice. On two occasions, I tried to call Providian and both times and both times the hold time exceeded ten minutes, so I hung up (I don't feel this is unreasonable). The account then fell into "out of sight, out of mind" for five years. California has a statute of limitations of 4 years to collect delinquent accounts.
In May of I began receiving bills from Providian as if this account were open. I contacted them to tell them that the account was beyond statute, and was told that my account was reflected as current. I was aware that if I made a payment, it would start the clock again. For the next six months, I received bills reflecting the account as current, although the last activity had been five years previous.
I wrote to Providian and demanded copies of the aging, and copies of receipts for the charges leading to the balance stated. They failed to respond.in February of I began to receive aggressive calls from Risk Management Alternatives, a very disreputable bottom feeder collection agency. After disputing and demanding verification, they too dropped off the map.
Recently, I pulled an Experian report and found out that Providian has been reporting me as a charge off, as of 2003. It also states the date of last activity was when it was 1998. Even if it were delinquent, the Fair Credit Reporting Act stipulates that the 7-year time frame for reporting charge offs begins with the first delinquency leading to the charge off.
Twice, I have disputed with Experian. The first time it was a Friday night, after business hours. Monday morning, at 9:05 AM, Providian responded, standing behind the information. The second time, they also responded nearly instantaneously, again standing behind it. This basically means that whoever received the dispute just automatically verified it, without bothering to do any work.
FTC fines for illegal reaging are $2,500, not the usual $1,000 cap. With multiple counts of violations of the FCRA, I have a $10,000 claim in violations alone. I have written to them twice, both times the letters (certified and receipted) have gone unanswered.
I urge anyone else who has had a problem with Providian Bank to aggressively report these low-lives to the Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc. Gov). They gain nothing by mischaracterizing my history with them — this is simply malicious.
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