Are you familiar with the Providian credit card? This credit card is famous throughout the banking industry for its features or even the credit card promotion often linked with it.

The use of the Providian credit card started from the marketing strategy of Andrew Kahr, the founder of the Providian Financial Corporation. Through its credit card promotion that entitled clients from the lower income groups or even those with low credit scores – which is an indication used by lending institutions to determine if a borrower can actually be able to pay back his or her loan, as reported by credit bureaus – the company was able to gather more than 10 million customers. The only drawback from the use of the Providian Bank credit card was its high Annual Percentage Rates (APR) of about 30%.

Issues in the latter 1990s about the unethical marketing style and the manipulating and misleading strategy of the company at the expense of its clients rose. The memos from Andrew Kahr to its executives were even published in the San Francisco Chronicle which began a class suit in 1999 from their credit card holders. The company began paying their clients, causing much financial instability and a considerable drop from their status as the leading credit card provider that time. The company eventually lost its hold in October 2005 to the Washington Mutual, Inc (WaMu), which was a mutual fund company that turned its operation to banking and rose to become the biggest bank of America for years.

The Providian credit card still shined brighter when it was handled by the WaMu group. To increase the Providian credit card application from more clients, they launched another promotion – which made them the first one to do so – that allowed the credit card holders easy access to their FICO credit score so they would know their credit-worthiness status.

In 2008, a bigger shock came when the Washington Mutual, Inc. also struggled in the business, and was procured by the Chase group. The Providian credit card was hence known as the WaMu Chase card.

However, even until this day, the legacy of the Providian credit card remains, as it paved way for better banking practices like issuing credit cards and disclosing vital information regarding the use of such cards.