I have had my Visa and Mastercard accounts since 1999 and have never missed a single payment. I may have been late one or two times over the course of 10 years back when I actuall mailed my payment in, but NEVER ONCE since my credit card company (Providian) was bought out by WaMu.

With the exception of purchasing a $14,000 Infinity Heat Pump for my home last year, there have been no changes to my credit history. Opening a new line of credit to purchase the heat pump pushed my credit score down several points for about 3 months. WaMu pounced on that and jacked my interest rate up from 14.5% to 28.99%. No, that is NOT for cash advances which I never take out anyway--that is just ROBBERY! So I transferred the paid them off in full.

I then called WaMu and told them they needed to drop my interest rate immediately or they could cancel my account. The rep kept refusing saying accounts are reevaluated periodically and the interest rate may change when it is evaluated next. I told him, that I refuse to pay even one more annual fee for a card with an interest rate that is nothing short of loan sharking and that he needs to just close out my accounts. I get, "We can't close your accounts because you still owe $39.00" I told him he needed to check his computer records and that he would see a payment of $39.00 had just been mad the previous day. He checked. Hasta la vista WaMu and good riddance to bad rubbish!

Providian was a good company to do business with, but WaMu... I will stick to my USAA card 10% and my Discovercard 5%.