What Is Providian on a Credit Report?

Providian Financial was a credit card company that existed until it was bought out by Washington Mutual in 2005. The credit card issuer was one of the largest in the country with more than 9.4 million customers. If you had a Providian Financial credit card, the account information might still appear on your credit report.

Credit Report

Your credit report contains a history of your past uses of credit. Whenever you apply for a credit card, pay a credit card bill or get a new loan, the information goes on you credit report. There are three companies that maintain these reports: Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Each reports the same basic information, such as the name of a creditor, your history of payments and other issues, but in different formats.

Report Details

Your credit report details your past and current credit accounts in sections known as "trade lines." Each trade line contains information about a specific line of credit. If you had a credit card from Providian Financial, the word "Providian" might appear on the trade line associated with this account. This simply identifies the creditor and doesn't itself affect your credit score.

Providian

Credit report information generally stays on your report for seven years, though a bankruptcy can stay for as long as 10 years, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Because Providian was sold in 2005, the Providian entries should generally no longer appear on your report after 2012. If the entries continue to appear after this time, contact the credit reporting agency upon whose report the entry appear and ask them to remove the entry.

Warning

While Providian no longer exists as a separate credit card company, the use of the Providian name appears to be a part of various scams involving credit card users. For example, according to the law office of Thomas Green, one scam involves an email sent to card users claiming to be from Washington Mutual Bank. The scam email redirects the recipient to an official-looking website that asks for personal information. There also appear to be scams involving letters from "Providian Bank" or other such companies claiming the consumer owes money. If you are the subject of such attempts, you should never provide your personal information or credit card number. Keep a record of all communications, and contact your state attorney general's office if you believe you are the victim of an attempted scam.