Stay away from this credit card company! They are full of money making schemes. This company has raised interest rates on both of my cards for no apparent reason, I always make my payments on time, and always pay more than the minimum. The raised the rate on one of my cards to 29.99% because they couldn't track down an electronic payment that I had made, I even gave them the confirmation number, but still they argued that I never made a payment. They also canceled one of my cards without telling me(when they cancel your card they lower your credit limit to $5.00) two days after making a $500.00 dollar purchase, therefore putting me over my credit limit, they charged me a $35.00 over the limit fee and sent me 4 nasty letters demanding payment to bring me back down to my new credit limit of $5.00, yes five dollars is correct, this is not a typo. The reason for closing my account was based on derogatory information that they supposedly found on my credit report, I checked my credit report and no such information was listed on it. My credit score is in the mid 700's with no derogatory information on it, I figured this would be more than adequate to meet HSBC's credit terms, but apparently they have a credit manager in training that makes rash biased inappropriate decisions. The kicker is, I called them to pay off the balance on this account and they wanted to charge me a $15.00 check fee for taking my payment over the phone, I couldn't make my payment online because you are not allowed to pay more than twice your credit limit at one time(which would be a whopping $10.00 in my case). I have rotted on hold many times with this company for up to 30 minutes while being passed around from manager to manager, nobody gives a crap what you have to say or how long you have been a customer, they read their responses off of a dialog sheet and apologize over and over to try to get you to give up and hang up. There is no way this company will continue to stay in business if they continue to treat their customers like dirt, this is absolutely the worst credit card company I have ever dealt with. Again, stay away at all costs, pay higher interest rates with another company that values your business, HSBC is absolutely pathetic! I am also pulling my monies out of my online saving account with HSBC , as I can no longer stand to give my hard earned money to these misanthropes. I could go on, but please heed my warning and stay away from these jokers! Stay away!
I am in the exact same situation with HSBC! I am a recent college graduate, and I have lost my job 3 TIMES in 6 months due to being in sales and the state of consumerism right now. HSBC IS THE ONLY CREDIT COMPANY THAT REFUSES TO WORK WITH ME! These people want you to default, they want to RUIN YOUR LIFE. Not to mention I never use this card unless I absolutely had to (food, gas, etc) when I had no income coming in. Now because of the fees, etc. every payment I make barely covers all of them. I CANNOT pay down this balance to safe my soul! And I have tried repeatedly to negotiate terms to get on top of things- to absolutely no avail! This company is disgusting and deserves to implode for all of its greed! BAILOUTS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN! There are no bailouts for working people, so these CFO's and VP's should struggle to feed themselves JUST LIKE THE REST OF US! I am rationing Chef Boyardee cans to feed myself right now! Stupid me for using credit cards instead of actual cash, but this devil company's policies are BEYOND ANY PRACTICALITY. OUTRAGEOUS!
Household Bank is an awful company and people should stay clear of them even if your trying to build your credit. I paid $59.00 annual fee because I was in need of building my credit. A year later I have good credit & several other cards with other companies that I don't have to pay an annual fee or interest for the first 6 months and no outstanding balances & Household refuses to waive my annual fee. The card I have with them has a 0.00 balance and I was never late, but if I close my account with them my credit gets dinged. That sucks, I'm damned if I close my account and damned if I keep it open. STAY CLEAR OF THEM!