Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Todd Mason Column.

Byline: Todd Mason

Dec. 12--CREDIT OFFERS MAY SEEM LIKE JEKYLL: The customers always write:

For a brief moment, Providian National Bank seemed like Santa Claus to Kathy Jones. Her family relocated to Texas after General Motors laid off her husband in Delaware. He found work at the Arlington GM plant, but Christmas looked bleak until Providian mailed Jones a Visa card.

You can imagine her surprise last week when she tried to use the card for the first time. The bank declined it, mortifying Jones in the checkout lane. Providian canceled the card just days after activating it.

"I was buying Christmas presents for my children," she said. "I would have put them on layaway if I hadn't have been approved for this card."

Providian changed its mind again after I asked the bank to explain the cancellation. There's a lesson here worth repeating.

Misjudge your earning power next year and you could be paying off Christmas debt at 29.9 percent interest. No matter how much the card issuer seems like that nice Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde is never far away, as Jones can attest.