Complaint Review: Emerge Master Card

My wife and I had not one but three Providian cards for about three years with a relatively low interest rate. Then one bright day in March of 2002, I received a letter from Providian informing me that my Providian Visa account had been sold to a company called Emerge. I immediately called and asked Providian why they had sold my Visa account when I had never been late or over the credit limit. They said I had been deemed a serious credit risk. I then asked that if I was indeed such a bad risk, why were the other two cards I had not also sold?

They of course could not or would not give me an answer. Well I figured what the heck, how bad could this possibly be. Boy was I in for a shock. The very first bill I received from Emerge had over doubled my previous interest rate to 29.99% with no explanation whatsoever. Then I called customer service to inquire into this new interest rate and lo and behold they had absolutely no idea why but that I must have been deemed a very bad credit risk.

Of course actually getting this information was worse than having your teeth pulled without an anesthetic but we eventually got there. I had an attorney contact both Providian and Emerge to get some straight answers but even he had no luck. After going through the Emerge Customer Service run-around a few times with these incredibly rude indiviuals I decide to just pyoff the balance and have done with them. I paid off the balance 27 days before my payment was due I for the next five months I still received bills saying I owed late charges for not paying my outstanding balance.

I finally had to pay a Credit Attorney to have this harrassment stopped. Since this time I have of course closed ALL Providian and Emerge accounts and would never do business with either of these companies again. My recommendation: Stay as far away from this company as possible and warn everyone within earshot about their predatory practives.

Thomas
Yukon, Oklahoma
U.S.A.