I had a Providian credit card for at least 4 years never paid late, always paid minimum pmt and above. I never looked at my bill to see if there was any problems I just paid what I had to (my own fault) one day I took a look at the bill and relized that I had a 29.9% intrest rate, when I contacted Providian there response was....they sent me a notice in the mail, and I had the chance to respond and did not, so they raised the rate. When I told them to cancel the card and I will pay my bill. Within the next month or so after that I received a new card from Emerge stating that they have taken over Providian accounts. I still continue to pay my bill but will NEVER use Providian again. The thing I dont understand is that all of Providians cards did not do this, my husband has 2 accounts with them and has not had this problem. PROVIDIAN AND EMERGE ARE RIPP-OFF'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!