Wait, WHAT?! 
That is highway robbery...
@QuakerOatmeal wrote:Credit One Bank, 99 dollar annual fee, and interest that starts accruing from the day you swipe.
/shiver
Glad I cancelled that.
@Anonymous wrote:Around 2001 I had a Providian Visa with a $300 Credit limit. The card had $295 in upfront fees, so I had to pay it down to even use it. Super high interest and monthly fees. I ended up defaulting. Collection got sold to Portfolio Recovery, but is long past being collectible or showing up on any credit reports.
Funny ... I hooked up with Providian Bank around 2001. Knew nothing about them and then dug out a rap sheet of banking comments by customers. Too late ... was already in. Based on my findings I watched my "P"s & "Q"s very closely. Was able to avoid the pitfalls and survived the closing of them and the move to WAMU. Now WAMU was good to me on my banking and credit relationships (there was some problems with them but again I stayed out of the pit). Then along comes the "white knight" Chase who would not approve me for anything taking over my accounts. By this time I had closed my personal and business banking products except the credit cards. Figured Chase would close me down like they did so many others (they bought WAMU for the brick and motar banking sites not the low FICO credit card holders). Some how I managed to stay off the closing radar and was converted to Chase Flexible Rewards Visas (personal and business). In 2010 Chase reduced my credit limits by 75% just because they could (my record was spotless) ... and after four days I contacted Chase and pushed on them about my credit profile and history. They re-in-stated my limits and have been good to work with. Now they have me with Visa Signature products and revolving limits (they did not in the early days). 
Capital One Platinum.
It had high interest, high fees, and no rewards.
Other than that, it was great 
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:Around 2001 I had a Providian Visa with a $300 Credit limit. The card had $295 in upfront fees, so I had to pay it down to even use it. Super high interest and monthly fees. I ended up defaulting. Collection got sold to Portfolio Recovery, but is long past being collectible or showing up on any credit reports.
Funny ... I hooked up with Providian Bank around 2001. Knew nothing about them and then dug out a rap sheet of banking comments by customers. Too late ... was already in. Based on my findings I watched my "P"s & "Q"s very closely. Was able to avoid the pitfalls and survived the closing of them and the move to WAMU. Now WAMU was good to me on my banking and credit relationships (there was some problems with them but again I stayed out of the pit). Then along comes the "white knight" Chase who would not approve me for anything taking over my accounts. By this time I had closed my personal and business banking products except the credit cards. Figured Chase would close me down like they did so many others (they bought WAMU for the brick and motar banking sites not the low FICO credit card holders). Some how I managed to stay off the closing radar and was converted to Chase Flexible Rewards Visas (personal and business). In 2010 Chase reduced my credit limits by 75% just because they could (my record was spotless) ... and after four days I contacted Chase and pushed on them about my credit profile and history. They re-in-stated my limits and have been good to work with. Now they have me with Visa Signature products and revolving limits (they did not in the early days).
I hadn't heard of Providian before, but Wikipedia has some interesting information about them; here's a quote: "'The trick is charging a lot, repeatedly, for small doses of instrumental [sic]credit.'"
I was unhappy with WaMu in late 2001 / early 2002, so I parted ways with them. What I feel especially fortunate about was switching my WaMu home mortgage to a bank that holds its own mortgages, so I wasn't affected by WaMu's subsequent collapse (other than not wanting to have anything to do with certain banks). That was dumb luck on my part, not a result of shrewd decisions, but there's a saying: "I'd rather be lucky than good."
@Meanmchine wrote:
@pizza1 wrote:
@RicHowe wrote:
One word: Providian
A lifetime ago.omg, LOL..I SOOO had Providian, and CCB (Cross Country Bank)...ages ago... LOL
I had both of thoe cards too. I also had these cards
Advanta
Home and Office Store (HP computers)
Tribute
Orchid
Direct Merchants Bank ( they loved me ) MC and Disc
Juniper
Matrix
Salute
Gateway Perfered
Venue
Direct Rewards Disc
and I still have my old Blockbuster Movie Card
WAIT, WHAT?!! DID WE JUST BECOME BEST FRIENDS??? LOL
Dont make me revive my old CC thread from a few years back. We're talking...Spiegal, Harry and David, Chadwicks of Boston, I mean, I still have my old SWB and MCI calling cards for nostaglia reasons, LMAO!!
@UncleB wrote:My worst card of all time was probably a card I had 25 years ago... it was a MasterCard from a bank called "The Associates".
The credit line was $300 (never got a CLI) and the APR was in the high 20s if I remember correctly (for perspective, my Citibank card at the time had a rate of 19.9%). It was truly a 'stinker' of a card, and I closed it after I got nice CLIs on my other cards, which says a lot because I'm not one to close cards often.
Present-day I'm pleased to say I don't really have any 'bad' cards, although I do have a few that are no longer as useful as they once were (Diamond Preferred). That doesn't make them 'bad', though... they were useful for a time, after all.
OMG. Your post just made me nostalgic, haha. It felt like a walk down memory lane and my college days. If I remember correctly, this Associates card I had was called the Student Visa or something like that. I actually had 2 of them, lol. I had to look it up on Google but couldn't find anything but this old pic... good times
I also had the Providian card people mentioned. Thanks for reminding me how old I am, lol.