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.

I called customer service, and was told that a "change of term" was sent to me in my August statement. I don't remember reading such term. The rep said she had no access to the actual letter, just that it was send to "many members" and that it had something to do with the "behavior of the account." She made specific reference about how I didn't use the account after the balance transfer.

So, if you have an HSBC account and have been taking advantage of the 0%, watch your account.

Also, I was always under the impression that CC companies can change your terms, but not the intro APR, unless you default on any accounts (which I haven't). It doesn't look like HSBC is following this.

Should I pay off my balance now to avoid further finance charge, or should I complain to higher up and see if I can get my 0% reinstated?

Balance transfer away, switch to paper billing, and shred the card.

Not only Rate Jacking, they will also charge you $xx annual fee at your card's anniversary date. The CSR didn't tell you??

HSBC credit card sucks.

OP said:She made specific reference about how I didn't use the account after the balance transfer.

This is new news to me. I didn't know that they could do that. So what's to prevent Chase, Citi, Discover from doing the same thing and rate jacking you when they find out you haven't made purchases on top of your balance transfer?

highmktgoods said:See my post from a few days ago on The adverse action thread. HSBC sent me a letter and it read, (as I typed it on that thread) that the rate jack would go into effect in January for all "existing balances." I called and they said it doesn't have affect on intro rate. But I think I may still pay them off.

I read what you posted. However, I seem to be in a worse situation than you are. I actually elevated and talked to an account manager, but to no avail (he was either as helpless, or as unwilling to help, as the frontline CSR). I got a number for "upper management" with an extesion, but this is after I pressed him for the address to the President's Office.

Also, unlike in your case, I have already been charged with the default rate on my existing balance.

ckpeter said:Also, unlike in your case, I have already been charged with the default rate on my existing balance.if you are being charged the default rate, you better check all 3 bureau credit reports...

Im betting you have some negative info on there from some OTHER place, and HSBC invoked UNIVERSAL DEFAULT.

Check your reports. I seriously doubt HSBC is ratejacking you for no reason.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they just want to close my account.

Oh, no they don't want that. Only open account can generate fee income. They'll reduce your credit line to 300 bucks, but they won't close it.

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.

I called customer service, and was told that a "change of term" was sent to me in my August statement. I don't remember reading such term. The rep said she had no access to the actual letter, just that it was send to "many members" and that it had something to do with the "behavior of the account." She made specific reference about how I didn't use the account after the balance transfer.

So, if you have an HSBC account and have been taking advantage of the 0%, watch your account.

Also, I was always under the impression that CC companies can change your terms, but not the intro APR, unless you default on any accounts (which I haven't). It doesn't look like HSBC is following this.

Should I pay off my balance now to avoid further finance charge, or should I complain to higher up and see if I can get my 0% reinstated?

Banks do NOT raise introduction BT rate transfers without specific cause (late payment, income to credit utilization ratio, and so on). Alot of people have applied for the HSBC Direct Rewards Credit card and I have NOT heard of one complaint. In fact, to the contrary, cardholders were finding that they were getting REWARDS points for their balance transfer fees to boot.

You are obviously leaving something out, such as a recent late payment to HSBC or another credit card or issuer that you have or something inbetween if this senario really did happen or you are a subprime customer. Which specific HSBC Card was this, and do you have a perfect credit history? One late payment will jack the rate on ANY CC ISSUER.

If HSBC did something wrong I would be the first one to recommend filing a formal complaint, but so far you have not posted enough information to determine exactly what happened.

I have had cards with all the major issuers and have NEVER EVER received a rate jacking on a BT rate. Banks CAN raise rates on non promo rates at their discretion, in fact Chase applications even mention this can happen if you read the fine print for instance. As for HSBC the same thing would apply here.

I agree with you. This is not the usual with any of the credit card issuers including HSBC.

The rep saying many accounts were affected is bogus. The complaint here is the only complaint I have seen so far. People have been VERY happy with the Direct Rewards cards for instance, the only problem is that they are VERY hard to get and alot of people with top credit scores were getting denied for them. The people I know with HSBC Direct Rewards have not seen any such rate jacking for BT transfers. EVERY bank will have rate jacking but I havent heard of one on a BT transfer rate before without the accountholder having serious issues (including failing to pay on time)

HSBC is a British bank but is now offering one of the BEST Rewards program in the industry for heavy spenders, in fact it was top rated by Money magazine apparently.

HSBC is just as reputable as a bank as any of the other players in the industry.

I would take the advice of SUCKISSTAPLES as something is red flagging you and you haven't posted enough information to determine what had happened.

g10ny took a balance transfer from HSBC. In that thread there have been 0 complaints of rate jacking.

It's clear that either the OP is intentionally not telling us about some negative info on his credit reports, or he is not aware of it yet.

He's probably wasted a lot of CSR time at HSBC.