Box A:
Providian National Bank, FSB (& Capital One) at it again
Box B:
played 'Bait & Switch' w/phony "Low Int Rate" promise-Raised rate immed after concocting new excuse though not in default (more...)
Box C:
Arlington/Dallas,
Box D:
Tex-ass (in their case, anyway)
Last year and the year before, my husband and I respectively got Providian "Platinum" and "Gold" cards - whatever THAT racket is (that enables them to charge heftier annual fees AND monthly "maintenance" fees). [NOTE: Capital One has done the EXACT SAME THING this year! ]
We agreed because it was the only way to get credit cards after a SCAM called "Equinox International" [*SEE BELOW] forced us into bankruptcy several years ago. We are not idiots and watch hard to avoid scams and thought we had been careful then. Besides, we both had pretty good jobs, and had a big anniversary upcoming and knew we'd want the cards for the biggest trip we've ever takenhell, the only real' trip we've ever taken at all.
I wrote to the FTC on 9/9/03 and never heard back, stating, Though I've heard the warnings a thousand times, I feel foolish writing this, but: I never thought it would happen to me because I didn't think it applied. We were well on our way to (financial) recovery when we received low interest rate cards from both of these companies.instead: Both companies INCREASED the interest rates within the last 6 9 months BECAUSE they checked our credit after-the-fact, saw we are making minimum payments (and/or have large balances) on other credit cards, and used THAT as an excuse to renege on the low interest' plan, claiming we're a bigger risk (to which I ask, Of what, bankruptcy?).
We have NOT MISSED PAYMENTS and have NOT been LATEexcept the one time that overnight mail delivered the wrong day making ONE payment late on one card as I recall. THAT still did NOT, according to terms, warrant an interest rate increase. We could have had ANY number of reasons, OTHER than poor finances for paying minimum payments. We could have wanted to save for something, start a business, or we could simply have been stockpiling our cash in fear of an evacuation from the DC Metro area. We've really never traveled at all, and maxed out all our cards, but kept making large payments on all cards. THAT was UNTIL my jerk boss decided I hadn't been on Instant Messenger flirting, hadn't dressed sexy (by not wearing his favorite, Fk me pumps, for example), and that the 3000 unpaid overtime hours I worked in only a year and a half from his failure to provide promised assistance weren't enough to warrant keeping me on after admitting I'm disabled (depression from overwork, no life, and sexual discrimination at work on top of my chemical/perfume sensitivity and ADHD/ADD that make me need telecommuting work). I was fired from my only legitimate telecommuting Controller position on 1/3/03, and my money held out for a few months, but I made minimum payments and both Providian AND Capitol One RAISED OUR RATES "because we have high credit AND made minimum payments". I would have paid off both of those jerks by May if I hadn't lost my job.
We had only been notified that rates could increase IF WE WERE LATE or MISSED PAYMENTS, NOT IF WE PAID MINIMUMS or USED OTHER CARDS. That's CRAP! THAT is LOOKING FOR ANY REASON to renege on an agreement; IT IS BAIT AND SWITCH as they probably never intended on keeping those low rates. We always had some revolving debt, often made low payments, making this even more suspect.! Those large balances of other debt were on record WHEN WE FIRST GOT THE Providian Accounts, and we hadn't previously paid off cards until earlier in after refinancing our home mortgage, long after I paid the accounts IN FULL and used all of our cards again for the June trip.
As long as they are owed money, and they KNOW you'll need the credit cards for something (like online printer cartridges since I can't shop in stores), they 'have you as prisoner'. Now, our finance charges are almost twice or thrice the monthly payment on a couple of our cards. If I wasn't without work, I would pay off the cards, send them the shredded pieces, and tell them to shove them where the sun doesn't shine. I've already so much as said that to their customer service agents.
Additionally, Providian is KING OF THE FINANCE CHARGE RIPOFFS and has the following in common with Capitol One:
#1. When check by phone option is used to pay account, they will NOT allow more than one account to be paid on a check - their way to FORCE consumers to pay extra PER PAYMENT FEES. When consumers pay by mail, especially those with check-printing programs, ONE check would list all various accounts, account numbers and amounts being paid as applicable. Why should the credit card companies be able to guarantee another fee for themselves when they otherwise would not be entitled to it? They won't allow combined accounts on telephone or online payments. If you need to wait until the last moment to pay, God help you. They'll hit you up with the highest possible fee PER ACCOUNT.
#2. These co's shouldn't be allowed to charge so much for accepting phone payments, either, as it doesn't cost them A THING! If anything, it is EASIER for them to process and gives them LONGER USE of payment funds. I ought to know - I was a corporate Controller. They take forever an a day to answer the phones, often disconnecting you while you're waiting, for which I've complained COUNTLESS times. That's a great way to get you to give up and forget to call back to pay or check balances and incur fees, Paranoid? NOT AT ALL! Ask a Providian cardholder
#3. Providian's online Express payment is a bigger joke, with terms a rocket scientist may be able to figure out. (For ex: If you make a standard payment after 4pm on a normal business day, when does it get credited to the account you are paying? Why would an express payment get there later than a standard one (per chart, express takes 2 days, standard only 1).?
#4-THESE creditors will ALLOW charges over the limit, even when asked not to, JUST to earn more over-the-limit fee income. They PRETEND it is a benefit' or courtesy', but often, we went over the limit because they had charged hefty finance charges the day before a charge went through. This happened recently, when a charge that was made wasn't immediately posted as I thought it had been. The finance charges were huge due to the increased interest rates, and THEN the charge posted, that I show had been purchased nearly a month earlier.
The credit card company even ADMITTED earmarking those funds as available' to the merchant on the earlier date. Why then, are they allowed to change the posting date to one that is AFTER the interest date, JUST SO THEY CAN ATTACH an over-limit fee? BY law, shouldn't they have had to take the available funds away immediately when the first charge was posted? Instead, they program their computers to let these things go through JUST to benefit them in this manner. I would not have gone over the limit had it posted the way MY RECORDS INDICATED. (I charged a resume service that should have posted BEFORE finance charges, resulting in total balance that was LESS than credit limit.increased Int Rate & resulting HUGE Int Chgs put account over limit the next day. THAT is how timing SHOULD have been. Of course, though they plainly see where the funds were earmarked BEFORE the statement cutoff date, but still refused to reverse the fee.
#5. They said they CAN prevent charges from going over the limit, BUT, IF WE DECIDE TO enact the request, WE CAN NEVER, EVER REVERSE THE REQUEST. That way, they make it undesirable to enact the request (in case of future travel, for example), and they then get to continue charging all of the extra overdraft fees and interest that result when people unintentionally go over the limit!
#6-On more than one occasion, the recorded messages at Capital One in particular have informed me that I had x dollars available as of xx/xx/xx date. I made a charge according to that information. I only called to make sure there weren't any outstanding interest charges, as I had accounted for every charge I had made, and knew what the balance otherwise should be. I will be honest and state that I have had some disability issues that did warrant using a lot of my credit i.E., getting close to maxing out the cards. Regardless, I received my statement to find out that the message had been incorrect, over limit fees had been levied, and I was told there was nothing I could do when I called.
I saw: if there's an atty who wants to do a class action lawsuit: let's go for it. I have all my records and will gladly participate!
[* RE Equinox: Equinox was a pyramid scheme that was raking in $200-$300 MILLION/year in "environmentally friendly top of the line product sales". The sales had really been the result of conning new reps to "buy and try everything" which then couldn't be returned after being opened. We WERE supposed to recruit and sell to others (who "weren't our friends and/or didn't care about us if they didn't support us, buy from us, or succumb to our continued harassment of them at our "up line's" direction) which was a cult tactic that alienated us from everyone whose common sense could've helped steer us away from the group. Although they'd had appealed because of my chemical sensitivity and desire to avoid office work - my "why's" which they trained us to watch for, and their status as #1 on the "Inc 500" (magazine list of top upcoming companies) with sales of $200 million / year seemed to lend credibility, I stopped listening to their "be positive for once in your life" crap and listened to my common sense negativity. Why were we continually asked to pay hefty fees to attend trainings? There were too many inconsistencies just like that. My continued complaints to the FTC, local authorities, and Attorney's General in ALL states involved (MD, VA & Nevada) finally resulted in action when enough other people had complained, too. Nine states and the FTC sued jerk owner, Bill Gould, who, without admitting wrongdoing, forfeited all assets but $50K (agreeing never to do business in the US again.) Though I may never get a cent back I kept that jerk from hurting another person. I even went on TV immediately after leaving AND another time to warn people via consumer reporting segments.
Iris
Silver Spring, Maryland
U.S.A.
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