too early to determine what happened yet

only way to tell is if more complaints come through

The HSBC Direct rewards card isnt the best for balance transfers for instance, but it is one of the best for rewards for high dollar amounts so HSBC is still a card company in the running.

Best for BT's in my own experience: AMEX, Chase, Citibank AND BoA.

ProfitKing: Which HSBC Credit card was this?

Interesting.............. Haven't had this happen to me before. Guess I will steer clear of HSBC 0%s till we figure out what is going on here.

Maybe some knows, was the HSBC card you had one that was issued by Household or HSBC proper? Wonder what is happening here.

At any rate, the banks always win on CC's so the best is to pay in full and use cash rebate cards IMHO especially if a new trend is emerging where BT's can turn into high interest rate fees.

The OCC is in fact the appropriate department for complaints here, but the odds are it will not be taken seriously.

These situations happen with ALL the credit card companies and banks and its very rare for their to be exceptions, but I was unaware that HSBC was not abiding by Balance Transfer agreements when it is the norm with other issuers that they are honored.

Let us know what happens in your situation as I would be interested in knowing the resolution and outcome. If this is a new trend, then it makes those low BT rates a thing of the past. A 22% APR will eat away those rewards.

The first step is to file a proper billing dispute to the address stated on the bill for filling billing disputes.

Dispute that the finance charge is incorrect and attach a copy of the promotional materials that indicate what the finance charge should have been.

Send the dispute via certified mail.

This does not preclude other actions such as complaining to the Federal Reserve, but a properly filed dispute is required to preserve OP's rights. Once the dispute is filed, they are required to respond in writing with an exact reason for their adverse action along with the notice that you are entitled to a free copy of the consumer report they based their decision on.

fdicenforcer said:Interesting.............. Haven't had this happen to me before. Guess I will steer clear of HSBC 0%s till we figure out what is going on here.

Maybe some knows, was the HSBC card you had one that was issued by Household or HSBC proper?


HSBC proper.

I haven't heard of any problems with the hard to get Direct Rewards card so far. The problems seem to be coming on the regular stock HSBC credit cards as far as I can tell. If anyone has the Direct Rewards card and has had problems, I think alot of people would want to know considering this card is very well liked amongst high spenders due to the high rewards rate. The approval rate seems to be very low since people with top ficos and perfect credit have been denied.

Even though some people ARE getting ratejacked, I still think they are likely to be the exception and not the rule. You said you took out 10k of a 12k balance transfer. Was your credit perfect with no lates and a high FICO score with large paybacks?

HSBC is not a card people usually use for BTs because of higher fees.

Seems like at the moment till we find out what is going on, one needs to steer clear of HSBC for BT's especially since one can do BETTER with most other issuers at this time.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=17619 is an article which is very fitting in this situation. If after you play the game and they treat you bad, then switch to another issuer for BTs.

Are you sure you didn't receive notice of changes to the terms and conditions that maybe you overlooked? If I would have received such, I would have PIF, cancelled the card and moved on to another issuer but the fact is they noticed you as a greater risk so I bet you could have seen this issue with others as well.

HSBC does NOT in my experience give out rates that are as favorable to BT's so generally for the BT game, HSBC is NOT a leader.

Fellows, let's keep the thread on topic. I started the topic so that we can all benefits, let's keep it that way.

For those wondering about my credit: there is nothing negative on my reports, from all three bureaus. I appreciate your investigative spirit, but defaulting was not the reason for this rate jack.

A few more details:

- Originally approved for 7K CL, requested CLI to 8.5K.
- Made two BT in the beginning, and have been paying $90 since (perfectly, thanks to MBNA bill pay)
- I do have sizable AOR balances on two other accounts (Discover and ATT), but the payment history is perfect on those as well (thanks to MBNA bill pay again)
- Supposedly, the notice for rate jack is from August, and was going to take effect in November (as I said, I don't remember seeing such notice).
- This is the HSBC CashBack Platinum card (I applied on HSBC's site, not household)

ckpeter said:Fellows, let's keep the thread on topic. I started the topic so that we can all benefits, let's keep it that way.

For those wondering about my credit: there is nothing negative on my reports, from all three bureaus. I appreciate your investigative spirit, but defaulting was not the reason for this rate jack.

A few more details:

- Originally approved for 7K CL, requested CLI to 8.5K.
- Made two BT in the beginning, and have been paying $90 since (perfectly, thanks to MBNA bill pay)
- I do have sizable AOR balances on two other accounts (Discover and ATT), but the payment history is perfect on those as well (thanks to MBNA bill pay again)
- Supposedly, the notice for rate jack is from August, and was going to take effect in November (as I said, I don't remember seeing such notice).
- This is the HSBC CashBack Platinum card (I applied on HSBC's site, not household)

What is your income to utilization ratio as well as CLs on other cards and do you have large paybacks in full?

It must have been the risk profile which triggered it.

Lets say one has an income of 150k a year and has outstanding debt of 38k and normal utilizations on the cards (approx 50% across the board), and have paid off large balances (25k+) in full then your risk profile would be fine.

On the other hand, if you have 50% of your income in CC debt, and/or large utilizations and low paybacks (you've never paid off balances in full before) then you would be looked at as a risk.

You said they said they noticed you haven't used the card in awhile. Did you have the BT transfer on it the entire time?

fdicenforcer said:
What is your income to utilization ratio as well as CLs on other cards and do you have large paybacks in full?

It must have been the risk profile which triggered it.

Lets say one has an income of 150k a year and has outstanding debt of 38k and normal utilizations on the cards (approx 50% across the board), and have paid off large balances (25k+) in full then your risk profile would be fine.

On the other hand, if you have 50% of your income in CC debt, and/or large utilizations and low paybacks (you've never paid off balances in full before) then you would be looked at as a risk.

Good question.

Going back to August, here were a samples of my CL:

AMEX: 17K
MBNA: 17K
ATT: 20K
Chase: 23K
Discover: 16K
(and a few other accounts with minor credit lines)

As of August, the CC debt-to-income was about 45%, and the total utilization was about 35%. I have paid off large balances in the past, but not on this HSBC account (yet, as I was still in promotional period).

This may or may not have been a risk profile factor. As I said, the CSR alluded to "behavior of the account."

I made two BT from the beginning, and have been paying monthly since.

fdicenforcer said:45% is quite high......... Red flag right there. Total utilization of 35% is fine though.Oh please. Unless you're qualified HSBC account rep - then let's not post info that is not factual. As long as he's not exceeding 50% overall util then there is pretty much no factual evidence that I have seen posted here at FW btw adverse creditor reactions to 35% or 45% overall util. Let's not get too excited here.

I also have HSBC card with a 0% BT - it is a Cash Back Platinum card that I got during my AOR in May straight from HSBC's website. $5k CL, $4.75k BT, paid down to $2.45k in the first month - since then I've been making monthly payments of $25. My overall total util was/is howering around 49% with a month or so when it actually exceeded 50%. No adverse reactions from any creditors (besides one chase card closed for 2yr inactivity).

OP - you'd do best if you follow the instructions on proper filing of a billing dispute and make sure that you have the paperwork that outlines the introductory terms. As has been stated a number of times - while creditors might get nervous and raise regular account rates - they do not touch the intro rates unless universal default comes into effect - and that's when creditors from multiple companies start raising hell.

If you're 100% positive that nothing negative shows on your credit report (and since they claim that they changed the terms in August, then whatever triggered their reaction must have occurred at that time) - then taking steps for properly filing a dispute with all the paperwork to cover your bases should be enough to get the ball moving.