I was cleaning some stuff out of post-move boxes and found a statement from Providian dated 1999. I had completely forgotten about them.
I seem to remember them catering to the sub-prime market, but I had a 7.99% APR and a $12k CL according to the statement. Never had any issues. That solves a mystery I've been trying to figure out for a long time....how did I wind up with 2 Chase cards? I had forgotten over the years how that came to be. Apparently Providian was bought out by WaMu, who in turn was bought out by Chase.
The name barely rings a bell, lol. To this day, I still have my "The Associates" (www.studentcreditcard.com (redirects you to citi!!!!)) little basketball backboard and hoop/net from when they came on the campus of SDSU in the 90s to pitch their cash back card. I can't remember but I want to say it was 1% CB?
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Oh yeah, I had one, 10k @Anonymous.99% it went to CO status along with other cards in 2003.
I also remember Providian and had a few different cards through them including one card called a Aria card; Aria had three different cards and i had the Aria Persona which had a 500.00 credit limit and a 1k max limit. I was 18 and it was my first card 
Chase purchased their portfolio at some point.
Providian memory lane, sure do remember them...my Providian card is now my OG Freedom, my oldest account
Same here! Still have the OG Freedom.
I don't remember them, but all the fond memories seem rather odd to me. They apparently targeted the subprime market space with lower income consumers, charging them higher-than-normal interest rates. The founder of the company seemed to know he was taking advantage of his customers.
"In a March 1999 memorandum published by the San Francisco Chronicle, the founder of the company, Andrew Kahr, asked company executives about its customers: "Is any bit of food too small to grab when you're starving and when there is nothing else in sight? The trick is charging a lot, repeatedly, for small doses of instrumental [sic]credit." (see wikipedia link below)
Providian was involved in multiple class action lawsuits in the 1990's - early 2000's before being purchased by WAMU. According to wikipedia, they used misleading sales tactics and charged customers for products they didn't want including the credit protection plans, balance transfers, annual fees, and other services. 
They were ordered to repay $300 Million to consumers in a settlement agreement in 2000. It was, at that time, the largest enforcement action ever by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC.) I would imagine the blow-out from all that is what led to the WAMU purchase in 2005.
@Aim_High wrote:I don't remember them, but all the fond memories seem rather odd to me. They apparently targeted the subprime market space with lower income consumers, charging them higher-than-normal interest rates. The founder of the company seemed to know he was taking advantage of his customers.
"In a March 1999 memorandum published by the San Francisco Chronicle, the founder of the company, Andrew Kahr, asked company executives about its customers: "Is any bit of food too small to grab when you're starving and when there is nothing else in sight? The trick is charging a lot, repeatedly, for small doses of instrumental [sic]credit." (see wikipedia link below)
Providian was involved in multiple class action lawsuits in the 1990's - early 2000's before being purchased by WAMU. According to wikipedia, they used misleading sales tactics and charged customers for products they didn't want including the credit protection plans, balance transfers, annual fees, and other services.
True @Aim_High, they were a shady bank, but for me it's more of a thing about the era, good times in the late 90's (Nu-metal, grad school, good years). Providian is like the Limp Bizkit of banks, I'd rather forget about them, but they left their mark haha.
I forgot all about Providian! I also ended up with a WaMu card that way. I closed it when Chase bought WaMu becuase they were going to raise the interest rate and I was carrying a balance. Since I didn't accept I got to keep the lower interest rate and pay it off.
