WAMU / Providian is Unethical and a Ripoff. They Almost Doubled My APR on Purchases Henderson Nevada

I have been a customer of Providian for several years. I have always paid my bills on time and have never had any late fees, over-the-limit or returned payment fees. Never a fee of any kind. I always pay at least minimum and mostly above minimum.

My APR for purchases is (or rather was) 12.74%. This is according to my 09/08 bill. I received my Nov. bill and there was an "Important Notice of Changes to Your WashingtonMutual Visa/Mastercard Agreement". Well, needless to say, the changes are NOT in my favor. They state "as explained below, we are amending your Visa/Mastercard agreement." The way they have "amended" it is to say that from my Dec. billing forward my new APR for purchases will be-get this- 23.99%. This for purchases, not cash advances, which are ALSO 23.99%. Is this insane or what???

Like the previous complaintants, I too called their customer service dept. for an explaination. The notice they sent clearly states " If you would like a statement of specific reasons why we have decided to amend your Agreement, please write to us or call us within 60 days of the date you receive this notice". When I called I could not get any explaination as to why they did this.

I tried all kinds of angles trying to get them to give me some kind of reason. They couldn't (or more likely wouldn't) explain jack to me. I feel like one of the other complaintants, that I have been raped with no dinner either! I could understand if I had done something wrong on my account but I haven't. Furthermore, all my other accounts with other companies are in good standing and never been late etc.

I would be willing to join a class action suit and if anyone out there has been able to get this type of thing reversed, please let me know. Also if anyone is aware of the proper agencies or consumer advocacy groups to report this to, let all of us know. I would totally steer clear of Providian and will tell everyone I know that they are a rip off company. If there is a hell, they will be the gate keepers.

Topcat75
Dallas, Texas
U.S.A.