What an unexpected mail! Providian is saying my card now earns a cash reward of 1% on every net new purchases. The cash reward program is actually the one I blogged a month back: Providian Real Rewards. (Now this answers my question in that post: the reward program is not publicly available on web because Providian is focusing on upgrading its existing members.) The accompanying fine prints do not seem to include a catch. With no enrollment or annual fee, this reward program is a good added benefit anyway.

On the other hand, with a 25.99% APR attached to the card, I don't have much appetite for using the card except for about once a month just to improve my credit profile. The Providian mail also includes three cash advance checks with no cash advance fee and 1% cash rebate on the amounts of the check. It is still a no-go for me because cash advance will start to incur interest immediately when posted.

I did, however, try out the free FICO score feature associated with the Real Rewards program. It reported that my FICO score from TransUnion is 695 as of February 15. I am not sure how frequently the score will update, but if it will update more frequently than quarterly, I can stop subscribing to Eloan Credit Monitoring Service which supplies me with monthly credit score update for an annual fee of $29.95.

I noticed the free credit score is associated with lots of marketing links to TransUnion services. The services are very similar to those offered by FreeCreditProfile.com, TransUnion's own credit service site. Apparently there is a marketing deal between Providian and TransUnion: Providian customers get a free ride of credit score while TransUnion wins a great channel to market to millions of credit card owners (a good part of them are subprime customers).

(As for background, Providian is my second credit card after the one with my credit union. The rate is high because I got that when my credit history was very limited.)