An opportunity for ALL people!
Written: Jan 04 '01 (Updated Jan 06 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: practically anyone can get a VISA, their website has real time account info
Cons: High interest rate, costly annual fee
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| imgr82day's Full Review: Visa Classic (Providian Bank) |
Providian has been doing a great job at giving credit to those whom have no credit or bad credit. Unfortunately, my credit is wrecked, but I qualify for their card under their loose guidelines and got the credit I needed WITHOUT SUPPLYING A SECURITY DEPOSIT.
It's difficult to survive without any type of credit in modern times. Rent-a-cars, movie rentals, and even dealing online with Ebay all require a credit card.
Yes, I know the rate of interest is high compared to the norm (about 19.8%APR), but that's to be expected since these companies are taking on (industry term) "high risk" people. These are individuals whom have had credit problems in the past (defaulting-not paying back or delinquent-late payments) and even those whom have never established a payment pattern or "history."
Here's my personal story...
I pay a $59.00 annual fee for the card I have, however no security deposit was required. A security deposit is the money you give the card issuer upfront and held against your line of credit. This is basically your guarantee to them that they'll be paid back. (I.E. You send in $200.00 security deposit and the card company give you $200.00 line of credit.)
My interest rate is a whopping 23.98% for purchases and cash advances(they tack on 2% fee on top of the interest rate for withdrawing cash off the credit card) I know this gets real tempting (for credit rookies), but try to avoid the cash advances as much as possible.
I have had to call customer service before and the only time they can be reached is daytime during business banking hours(Providian happens to be a bank) The lost or stolen card hotline is available around the clock to handle special cases) When you cannot reach their live customer service, they have a 24 hour automated account inquiry system. They are pretty good about keeping the system up and running all times of the day (and night)
Here's something that I've recently discovered online which I believe will be very helpful to those who access the internet regularly. If you go to www.providianservices.com, you can get all you account info about purchases and available credit line, make payments via online securely and dispute charges that you feel aren't made by you. All you have to do is setup an name and password online which takes about 3 minutes. Really cool.
Overall, I really thankful that I'm able to get credit again after ruining my past credit and I didn't have to send them a security deposit. I understand that although, I'm never going to get the best rate or avoid the annual fee of $59, I'm doing pretty good again with my new line of credit and again working at rebuilding my credit for the future.
An important note: I remember having to send in 3 recent paycheck stubs to prove that I was a working man. I don't think anyone will want to lend anyone money (especially an unemployed individual)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
imgr82day
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Member: Frank Chen
Location: Burbank, California
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 14 members
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