Providian Bank offered a number of interesting credit cards in the past, before they stopped issuing new ones to people and were bought out by Aspire. Their cards were mostly issued to people in need of help with bad or poor credit. At one point, Providian was among the leading credit card issuers for these types of credit profiles and individuals. Among their credit cards offered were the Providian Visa Platinum, Providian Visa Platinum Preferred, the Paypal Visa Platinum, and the Paypal Visa Preferred credit cards.
The Providian Visa Platinum credit card has a couple of terrific features. First, it lists the person’s most current FICO credit scores from all three of the credit bureau reporting agencies Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax on the secure personal information log in. Second, the website for this credit card servicing is called beautifully laid out. It is easily understood and very convenient for making payments. Although the rate was initially set, consumers have complained that this rate is increased most every year, even when they pay their balances in full every month, as well as on time. Rates have been reported as high as from twenty-six percent to thirty-one percent. There are numerous complaints of the rates being unjustifiably and unscrupulously high for no apparent reason. Customer service for this credit card is commonly referred to as atrocious and obnoxious.
The Providian Visa Platinum Preferred credit card is intended to be for a higher grade of clientele and to provide for better Providian service. The initial rate is typically lower, beginning at eleven point nine percent. The danger in it is that this rate resets to a higher one after the initial first six month teaser period ends, commonly on up to a still tolerable fourteen point nine percent. Rates have been commonly heard of adjusting on up to nearly thirty percent. This card has a similar helpful servicing website available to all of its members.
Update: See current Paypal MasterCard product.
The Paypal Visa Platinum Card is a branded Providian credit card linked to the Internet based payment service Paypal. This card has several perks, such as a teaser zero percent interest rate for the initial six month period. It also comes with a no interest due on balance transfers feature. Like with the Providian Platinum Visa Credit Card, it offers free FICO credit scores. On top of this, it also provides users a complete break down of how they spend their money using the credit card every month. Their online based customer service is called better, and customers have complimented them on managing to answer emails sent to customer service consistently in twenty-four hours or less, often times in only a single hour. The phone support for customer service is not so highly complimented, though. A weakness in the online payment service lies in the fact that it commonly takes as many as five to seven business days for the payment made electronically to be picked up on and credited by the system. Even though the system backdates the payments to the date on which they were effectively made, it temporarily generates late fees anyway, which are later refunded, if users do not make the payment a good week in advance of its due date.
The Paypal Visa Premier Card is another Providian branded credit card linked to the online payment service PayPal. It was offered to individuals who did not have a credit history, and it featured a nice no annual fee provision. Although the initial credit limits were set low, typically around $1,000, consumers who had it said that they received regular credit line increases frequently. One complimented Providian on raising his rate from $1,000 to $5,500 in only a year from the inception of the account. The downside to this credit card lies in the fact that the rates are typically usurious, running at a twenty-four percent APR per year and higher. Also, no grace period is included. Customer service is said to be unaccommodating and not responsive to customer requests.
