ckpeter said:I opened up a HSBC credit card with a 12-months 0% offer in May of this year. I have been making perfect/minimum payments on this account. I found out that my rate has been hacked to 20+% for November, and was charged $150 in finance charge.


Opened in May (5), rate-jacked in November (11).... Maybe you were just given a 6-month 0% offer in the first place (at least in their computer)?

ckpeter said:djca said:
Opened in May (5), rate-jacked in November (11).... Maybe you were just given a 6-month 0% offer in the first place (at least in their computer)?

The timing looks that way, but I know I applied for the 12-months 0% offer, and the CSR kept referring to "change of terms," so this isn't a case of 6-months 0% offer expiring.

A month or two before my Chase 6-month 0% APR offer expired, Chase sent me a notice about a change in Terms and Conditions of the card, saying what new rate wilil take effect after the offer expires. So, "change of terms" might also imply "offer expiry" with HSBC.

ckpeter said:Just talk to someone from HSBC on the phone - apparently I managed to get the President's Office. The lady on the phone confirm that I do (or did) have a 12-months 0% on my account. She was very apologetic and said that she will research into it. She also gave me her direct line for getting in touch with her.

I should hear back from her later on today or tomorrow.

Will keep FWF posted.

Hopefully it all works out well. As far as net debt to income ratios, at 45% this is getting on the high side than normal and could lead to issues like rate jacking potentially as you get further away from that 30-35% mark which the banks consider the "sweet spot." When I meant red flag, I meant that this was getting up their so this could have been what the bank picked up on for the rate jacking. Just don't know exactly what happened. Hopefully this woman you spoke with will be able to resolve the issue for you.

People with other CC issuers have been rate jacked as well but I never heard of it on the BT side before with any issuer for that matter. May have been mistakes that happened before, just wasn't aware of them offhand. Most of the banks adhere to universal default though some don't and they are the exception.

ProfitKing said:ckpeter said:

ProfitKing: Did you receive a change of terms notice too? (or supposedly did?)

I did not receive any change of notice or terms and I read through my statements. The only thing I have received is a Privacy Policy notice and I don't recall reading anything that my 0% APR would be canceled 5 months early.

The rep (Pam) I spoke to in November told me that the ONLY thing that would have triggered a 22% APR was a default; she reviewed my account and said I had made regular payments on time and that it wasn't in default. She apologized and said she would fix the problem with "accounting" but so far it hasn't been fixed. I only have a couple of other credit cards which are either paid off in full or carrying 0% APRs. My current FICO is 725. I have about 110k in credit lines and about 40% utilization all at 0%.

I am now in the process of recording all my phone conversations with HSBC. If I can figure out a way to post them here I'll do it.

As you can see people have reported the representatives saying different things. I said earlier that banks do indeed honor BTs from what I have seen. So if the rep here did indeed say that only a default would have triggered a 22% APR, then it looks to me like HSBC just made accounting errors along the way. Its happened with all banks where they make mistakes along the way. In another forum I was looking for information pertaining to Amtrust, which was a bank others and myself had issues with. I found absolutely no evidence of fraud but I did find out that bank is really clueless and was indeed doing things that would make me not want to use that bank.

It looks like we clarified what happened here and I bet this is the most likely senario. I do KNOW that utilization ratios do indeed bring rate jackings for purchase rates. So IF HSBC WAS RATE JACKING for BT's then the same methods would have applied.

Let's not be too personal in our assessment. The forum posts are public, and everyone can make their own judgements on the quality of information.

I don't agree with some of the analysis fdicenforcer made, but he/she is still contributing to this post. Can whoever is rating all of fdicenforcer's post negative not do that? We come to FWF to learn, and let's be open to different opinions.

ckpeter said:Let's not be too personal in our assessment. The forum posts are public, and everyone can make their own judgements on the quality of information.

I don't agree with some of the analysis fdicenforcer made, but he/she is still contributing to this post. Can whoever is rating all of fdicenforcer's post negative not do that? We come to FWF to learn, and let's be open to different opinions.

I dont have a problem with his comments at all. This guy was on this forum before as another user. I think people should be aware of it so they can decided if his statements are baised or not. I belive in full discloser. When I make a post about anything I disclose if I bank with bank or have any other conflits. This guy is an HSBC employee who used to come on here and bash all other banks etc and say HSBC is best bank in the world.

This guy claimed their was a FW conspiracy against him. Just want people to know who they are taking advise from. People are free to listen and do what they choose with any and all information posted on this board.

dolmar said:
I dont have a problem with his comments at all. This guy was on this forum before as another user. I think people should be aware of it so they can decided if his statements are baised or not. I belive in full discloser. When I make a post about anything I disclose if I bank with bank or have any other conflits. This guy is an HSBC employee who used to come on here and bash all other banks etc and say HSBC is best bank in the world.

This guy claimed their was a FW conspiracy against him. Just want people to know who they are taking advise from. People are free to listen and do what they choose with any and all information posted on this board.

Thank you, dolmar, I appreciate you bringing up fdicenforcer's probable motives. However, I also want this thread to be informative. If you see something that fdicenforcer (or anyone else) posted that is not factual, please point it out as you see it. This way, we can all learn.

Dolmar, excellent call on fdicenforcer=ajulius. Now ajulius has gone and rated every one of fdicenforcer's posts green and every one of yours red. Too bad his vote doesn't count!

amalpani said:I work for a credit card company. If you are on intro and have never missed a payment then they can't jack your rat. Something is wrong on your account. You must have missed two payments or gone overlimit twice for them to charge you the default rate. By definition you intro rate can't be changed unless you miss more than one payment or are over limit more than once

sure it can. the intro can be ratejacked per the T&Cs of the card agreemnent. Issuers using universal default can ratejack and kick you off promo if they find any negative info on you, even completeley unrelated to the promo account.

a 5 year old telephone bill gone to collections could cause a ratejack.

a missed payment to another creditor could cause a ratejack.

theoretically, even a drop in someones credit score/riskier credit profile could cause a ratejack. its possible that happened here, though its very rare for an issuer to do this...

there also could have been a system glitch at HSBC that erroneously jacked rates on accounts entitled to promo terms.

without far more info, there is no way to tell exactly whats happening here

For the op

I was told to write to:

HSBC card services
Po Box 81622
salina CA 93912

attn: correspondence team

If the OP or anyone else in this situation has a better address or a PERSON to send the certified letter to please indicate

Thanks in advance