My Providian card was sold to SST. I was not notified of the change. I had paperless billing with Providian and never missed a payment. I did receive mail from SST, but as with 99% of other card users with excellent credit, I thought it was just another junk mail offer.
When I was finally contacted by SST and told they now held my Providian balance hostage, I asked that the late fees and interest charges be reversed since I was NEVER notified of the change. They pretty much laughed in my face. I explained that I would pay as much as possible monthly to try and catch up. I was informed that my interest rate was now over 29% and I was being charged $39.00 late fees for each month I was late. Now here is the catch. I was charged late fees even though I was mailing my payment 20 days in advance.
I was not allowed on the website to try and control my payment posting dates because of my POOR account status. I was harrassed by hundreds of telephone calls for months even though I had contacted customer service.
Here I am many months later and have called and asked for some the late fees to be removed since I have secured financing to pay off this bill. I dealt with the rudest CSR I have ever encountered. She did tell me that Columbus Bank and Trust actually owns my balance and that I should have read all of the fine print. Columbus Bank and Trust NEVER refunds any late fees or finance charges.
If I ever have any other card "Sold" to SST, I will just cut off my arm in advance of their poor business practices. This company directly contributes to the poor state of the national ecomony.
0 comments