Providian

Infobox_Company
company_name = Providian Financial Corporation
company_type = Defunct; formerly Public (NYSE: PVN)
company_slogan = Providing More
foundation = 1997
location = San Francisco, California
key_people = Joseph W. Saunders, Chairman, President, & CEO
Anthony F. Vuoto, Vice Chairman & CFO
Warren Wilcox, Vice Chairman of Planning and Marketing
num_employees = 3,500
industry = Finance and Insurance
products = Financial Services
revenue = $2.6 billion USD (2004)
homepage = [http://www.providian.com/ www.providian.com]
parent = JPMorgan Chase

Providian Financial Corporation was one of the leading credit card issuers in the United States when it was sold to Washington Mutual for approximately $6.5 billion in October 2005. Providian was headquartered in San Francisco, California, and had more than 10 million card holders at the time of its sale. Washington Mutual ran the company as a wholly owned subsidiary, continuing to operate out of its San Francisco headquarters until WaMu's insolvency on September 26th, 2008. At its peak, the company employed approximately 3,000 people nationwide. Providian had significant operations in California, New Hampshire, and Texas.

History

In 1984 Andrew Kahr founded a credit card company called First Deposit Corp. [ [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/more/rise.html "The Ascendancy of the Credit Card Industry" by Robin Stein, Frontline, PBS.org] ]

Providian was a company that sold credit in the "subprime market." Providian provided credit cards primarily to the lowest income group at high interest rates. The annual percentage rates (APR) charged by Providian was as high as 29.9 percent. 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." Many critics contended that the extended credit makes the borrower poorer than before the credit was extended, having the opposite effect on officers and directors of the company. It made them conspicuously wealthier. David Alvarez, former president of the integrated-card unit, made a $12.2 million profit selling his stock before the company disclosed that it was in deep trouble. Larry Thompson sold all his stock having a value of approximately $4.7 million following his confirmation hearing and a short time before Providian's financial problems became public information and the stock price plummeted.

Class Action Suit

Beginning in mid-1999, a number of class-action suits were filed against the company regarding aggressive sales tactics for various "credit protection" services being sold to Providian credit card holders.

On November 7, 2001, the Hon. Stuart R. Pollak of the Superior Court of California, the City and County of San Francisco, granted final approval to a settlement agreement in the case, and certified a settlement class. The settlement required Providian to pay over $100 million in cash, credits, and other benefits to the Class, and to stop certain practices that were at issue in the class actions. Combined with an earlier settlement with governmental entities, the award constitutes the largest settlement ever against a credit card company for alleged widespread unlawful business practices.

References

External links

* [http://www.providian.com/ Providian Financial website]
* [http://www.lieffcabraser.com/pdf/20030505_sfchron_providian.pdf "How Providian misled card holders", San Fransico Chronicle, May 5, 2002]
* [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/05/05/MN138910.DTL "How Providian misled card holders", SFGate.com, May 5, 2002]
* [http://www.providiots.com "Providian Gripe Site - One Cardholders Nightmare", ProvidianFinancialSucks.com]