Usury + Fraud = Aria
Written: Apr 11 '00 (Updated Apr 16 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: good for a joke, Got a settlement check for a class action lawsuit.
Cons: Usury, Fraud, Fine Print
The Bottom Line: These guys are crooks!!! Don't get a card from them!!!
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| SlickFish's Full Review: Aria Visa Card (Providian Bank) |
I saw the 0% banner add on the Onion's web site and thought, what do I have to lose. I was a student then, and was tired of giving Citibank my money. Impulse order, I'm now a proud owner of the Aria Visa.
I've always been curious how financial bottom feeders work. It's been a bit of a joke between my friends and me when I'd whip out the orange and yellow with sparkles Aria card to pick up a tab. The card is really gaudy.
I try to keep as little on a card as possible after digging myself out of a couple of five figure holes, with it's low limit I thought that the Aria visa wouldn't be a terrible card to have. Well, I was right and wrong. I only used it for groceries, impulse buys, and gas, about $400 a month, which I can pretty much pay off in full.
I must have missed this 0% period, because they were charging me about 22% interest, and I think that they were tacking it on without so much as a grace period. Another thing that I appreciated was that I'd get my statement about ten to fourteen days after the date on it. I would check Aria's website, too much flash by the way, to see when they actually received my payments, and it wouldn't show up until about a week after I sent it in. Given that it is due about three weeks after the statement's date that gives a very narrow window of opportunity to actually pay your bill without accruing late fees.
I made the mistake of taking out a cash advance on my handy Aria visa for new years. I knew that I would get reemed by charges so I paid of the full balance plus about a hundred the month before, and paid off the balance in full plus a hundred for the following month. The thing is that they will try to put your payments towards everything they possibly can before they take off any of the cash advance money. Granted it's down to about $15 but it's the principle of trying to take me for a ride that irks me.
I stopped using my Aria card and got a fantastic offer from them. They sent me a very exciting letter telling me that they raised my credit limit by $250!!!!!! And if I act now, for $49 I can get an additional $500 added to my limit. What kind of lunkhead do they take me for? That's absolutely the worst deal I've ever heard of.
It's been kind of a joke for me to have this card to begin with, but I think that I really hate these people. I'm not their typical cardholder. In a month I'll be a software engineer. That money that they are charging me is not getting diverted from anything important. The people who do get the Aria cards because it seems like a good way to catch up on their credit are the ones that I feel sorry for, especially say a single mother who's having trouble making the ends meet. To the b@st@rds at Providian these are their bread and butter. Normal banks are bad enough but these guys are f@cking vampires!!!! Their usurous policies are borderline, if not blatant, fraud. This is a credit card that is good for nobody.
I'm using Citibank now.
Aparently the State of Califonia agrees with my opinion of these guys. I was awarded a check for six bucks as part of a class action lawsuit for practices that are harmful to consumers
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
SlickFish
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Location: Arden Hills, MN
Reviews written: 34
Trusted by: 12 members
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