I have held two separate cards with Providian, the company now owned by Washington Mutual, a PayPal and a Democratic Party Visa card (no, I'm not politically affiliated, just had a good intro offer on the Dem Party Visa). Despite a challenged credit history due to medical expenses for my ex-wife, I have had a sterling payment history for over three years with Providian previously and now with Washington Mutual, never being late on a payment and ALWAYS paying more than the minimum payment due, often a multiple of the minimum due. As a result, I have been rewarded with a higher limit on one of the Dem Party Visa and the interest rates on both cards has remained roughly the same within less than a percentage point, i.E. 15.99 versus 16.49 percent respectively. I just opened my latest bill for February, however, to find that my interest rate on the PayPal Visa had been jacked up from 15.49 to 23.99 percent APR. When I opened up the bill for my other card (with the same company), however, the interest rate was shown to be the same as it has pretty much always been, around 15 to 16 percent. I called customer service to inquire why they had apparently arbitrarily increased the interest rate and was advised they had sent out notices to most of their customers last November (in the paper statements) that if we (I) did not close our (my) accounts with them, we then "agree" to have our accounts "repriced, " in other words, fancy bank jargon for being financially screwed to the tune of a 23.99 (or higher) percent APR. I was told that in order to maintain the former interest rate, I would need to close my account and then pay off the entire balance at the old interest rate and leave it closed. Unfortunately, I don't typically open paper statements, as I do all of my banking online, and there was no notification of any kind that I could see online that would have warned me of this occurrence. Customer service advised they could not guarantee my interest rate would be returned to the old level, but only that it would be closed and the interest rate "reviewed." I am just afraid they will do the same rate increase on my Dem Party Visa, which has a much higher balance and is therefore at greater risk of default if I were to all of a sudden be responsible for finance charges of 23.99 percent or higher. This is frightening, but I have no apparent recourse, as there is no law I'm aware of that prohibits this bank and others from arbitrarily raising their interest rate with no apparent logic or reasoning given my (and other customer's) sterling payment histories and loyalty. It appears they wish to either leave the credit card business or force everyone into bankruptcy. I'm really scratching my head exactly who the brilliant genius was at Washington Mutual who conceived of this "business" plan to alienate every good customer they possibly could. It boggles the mind.
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