I thought I would share some of my recent experiences with the lovely HSBC credit department. I have done AoR's for mom and dad with them and here are some of their screwy results.
Dad (Credit Score = 795 ; HHI = 202,000 ; Has big existing credit lines else ware) HSBC Platinum - Instant approval, CL =$600. Yes, you read this correctly. In a single swoop, HSBC has allocated multiple hundreds of dollars to be used at will. I called the next day to speak with a CSR. Was first told that there is nothing they can do, but if we use our card responsibly, they could give us a CLI in 6 months. I told her I've had dinners that cost more than $600 and this line was completely unreasonable. She then said I can put in a CLI request now, but it will be another hard pull. I retorted, you have my credit report from exactly 20 hours ago, there is no reason for another hard pull. I told her this is ridiculous and I wanted to speak to the credit issuing department. Transferred to them (during business hours only). They said that the given CL was correct. I told them to take another look at my application. They put me on hold for two minutes, came back and said:
“I appoligize sir, we have reevaluated your application without another hard pull (they say that credit reports are valid for 60 days after pulling), and can immediately increase your credit line to $12,500.” I tried for 15k, but this was close enough so I took it. Morons.
Round two…
Mom: (Credit Score = 749; HHI = $202,000 ; Has big existing credit lines else ware) HSBC Platinum - Instant approval no CL given. Then checked status online and it said denied. Got a letter saying "Could not verify information" (this is despite the instant approval I was given) Will call about this today.
HSBC GM Flex - Instant approval, CL = $700.WTF round 2? Called in on this before my dad’s CLI request, and wasn’t as successful over the phone with instant results, but they are mailing me a CLI notice that did not require a new hard pull. I did not speak directly to the credit department (wish I would have now after doing my dad’s CLI request with them). Hopefully they’ll up it to at least 7k, otherwise there will be another phone call to the credit department.
I have seen this issue with others too (see markkundinger’s) thread. Anyway, for those doing an AoR, you may want to drop HSBC to the bottom of your priorities unless you will be happy with a sub 1k line. Anyone else experiencing these recent results?
EDIT O ya, and for myself, I originally got a 2k HSBC GM Flex card a couple months ago. I called right after getting it and was able to CLI to a massive 3k right then (with a fair amount of hassel and being transferred 4 times).
UPDATE: So I called them back about my mom:
HSBC Platinum - Yes, I was approved, but apparantly one of the "fraud questions" to verify my identity was not answered correctly and now I am denied. Spoke to three people including a supervisor, there is nothing they can do to get me this card without applying again (sure, I'll suffer another hard inquiry for another $300 CL!).
HSBC GM Flex - My CLI was denied b/c I haven't activated this card yet. The supervisor also said my mom is NOT going to get a CLI. I asked why and stated our household info and BELIEVE ME THIS IS WHAT THE HSBC SUPERVISOR SAID:
WE DO NOT CONSIDER HER FICO SCORE WHEN APPROVING FOR CREDIT WE DO NOT CONSIDER HER HOUSEHOLD INCOME WHEN APPROVING FOR CREDIT WE DO NOT CONSIDER HER CURRENT BALANCES ON OTHER CARDS WHEN APPROVING FOR CREDIT
"Your mom has too much credit already and we don't care about her household income, therefore, that is why we gave such a small line".
I am dead serious on these exact comments. I wrote down her name and employee number and told her I'm writing a letter to their corporate offices about what she told me (which I'm not, and I've already shredded this statement with her info). At least I've squeezed a total of 15.5k (between me and my dad) out of them that will produce a little return for my efforts. Now I am going to let the monkeys eat their banannas.
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Oddly enough I had the opposite, with relatively short credit history and not even that high of an income, HSBC gave me a $10.5K line right away! I also have a $2k household bank card, and another $2k discover card issued by them... I was totally expecting for few hundred buck lines, don't know what happened, lol.
Of course Capital One denied for for applying for an "average" credit card, then I applied again when I got a pre approval in the mail, only $500! And I only wanted the cap one for 0% forex, so I guess I'm not crying over this one.
i know exactly what you're talking about, MikeR397. in my case, an additional $1000 was always what the system would offer when i asked for an increase. the only way to try getting the limit you want is to speak to a manual reviewer, and getting to one is an ordeal too.
with hsbc and discover too, you will have far greater success getting the limit you want by having your credit report reviewed over the phone.
I don't know why anybody applies for the HSBC GM card. The highest CL I've seen is $2k and nobody's able to increase it.
I had a similar experience to wiredspider, hsbc gave me a $5k card with a short history and a pretty average HHI. Mine is the "Cash or Fly" card, I don't know if it makes a difference (I've thought about going through the recent AOR threads and checking for specific types of hsbc cards but been too lazy). I applied for it after submitting a bunch of applications since I knew they'd do a soft pull first; I figured if an alright offer popped up I'd take it and see what happened.
opmnxtc said:wiredspider, what is the discover card you have issued by hsbc? If you're turned down for a regular discover card they sometimes offer an hsbc discover card. Seems to be for folks with good but short histories. Of course the deadly combination of Discover + HSBC = a $2k card useless for BTs.
The wierd thing is that I personally received a $2,500 line from HSBC GM flex (which is still low, but decent for me personally). My primary credit history is only 1.5 years old, and while my score is 759, my dads was almost 800 and we reported the same household income. He has about 35 years of perfect credit history. As you can see, they thought he was only orignally eligible for a $600 CL, but then instantly upped it to 12.5k after I harassed them.
Again, like my title, I think HSBC is really just a team of space monkeys who have no idea what they are doing.
BankofGreed said:Why bother even applying for any of their cards? Unless they are offering 2% on all purchases, its not worth the hassle.I just did it b/c it was another bank with a 0% BT offer to add to my AoR. Next time I would definately move them to the very end of the list so that thier inquiry doesn't hurt my chance with a better offer somewhere else.
HSBC customer services are really a bunch of alien monkeys! For last 6 months, I have been trying to get the checking account $50 bonus and they keep putting on hold. One branch after another also said "I don't know about this promotion". I think they move the service lines to Monaco, Turkey, or India... They all speak strange monkey language. So good luck! I still got few dollars left in HSBC. I wonder they will allow me to close or they will charge me monthly monkey service.
opmnxtc said:wiredspider, what is the discover card you have issued by hsbc?
It says Direct Rewards on it, I did get turn down for a regular Discover Miles type card and this was sent instead. I probably wouldn't have applied for this card, heck I still don't even know what the "rewards" are. However, apparently Discover is networked with UnionPay in China so hopefully I'll be able to get some use out of this card over there once I reach the limit on my $500 cap one.
I used to work for HSBC a few years back (when it was called Marine Midland bank) and an HSBC customer for more than 10 years and I have to say that they are kind of backwarded. I recall that a few years back I cancelled my HSBC credit card because they offer very little incentives to keep it and they charge $50/year for using their credit card while citibank offers 5% back on everyday purchases and no annual fee. They no longer offer the $50/year fee cards, but if you didn't cancel the credit card, you will still have to pay $50/year for your card.
Another stupid thing they offer is the kind of checking and savings account. Their low end checking accounts is free checking and basic banking account. Both are the same except the basic banking account requires a monthly maintainace fee of $3. Now what of moron would get a basic banking account?
Take a look at their savings account and they have HSBC Premier Investor and Premium Money Market plus account which requires a large minimum deposit and offers little interest compared to online savings.
kittenmittens said:I don't know why anybody applies for the HSBC GM card. The highest CL I've seen is $2k and nobody's able to increase it.
My credit line for HSBC GM card is much higher (7K). When it was about 5.5K, I asked for a CLI (due to a juicy BT offer), but they didn't provide it. A few months into the BT, they raised the CL. It is the lowest CL I have -- excluding CL on cards that were I did allocations from.
MikeR397 said:As you can see, they thought he was only orignally eligible for a $600 CL, but then instantly upped it to 12.5k after I harassed them.
This is actually can be another method of instant CLI - if you just call them up right after you got approved and complain about the low CL. By the way, how did you "harass" them? What specificly did you say that made them raise CL from 6K to 12.5K?
MikeR397 said:I thought I would share some of my recent experiences with the lovely HSBC credit department. I have done AoR's for mom and dad with them and here are some of their screwy results.
Dad (Credit Score = 795 ; HHI = 202,000 ; Has big existing credit lines else ware) HSBC Platinum - Instant approval, CL =$600. Yes, you read this correctly. In a single swoop, HSBC has allocated multiple hundreds of dollars to be used at will. I called the next day to speak with a CSR. Was first told that there is nothing they can do, but if we use our card responsibly, they could give us a CLI in 6 months. I told her I've had dinners that cost more than $600 and this line was completely unreasonable. She then said I can put in a CLI request now, but it will be another hard pull. I retorted, you have my credit report from exactly 20 hours ago, there is no reason for another hard pull. I told her this is ridiculous and I wanted to speak to the credit issuing department. Transferred to them (during business hours only). They said that the given CL was correct. I told them to take another look at my application. They put me on hold for two minutes, came back and said:
“I appoligize sir, we have reevaluated your application without another hard pull (they say that credit reports are valid for 60 days after pulling), and can immediately increase your credit line to $12,500.” I tried for 15k, but this was close enough so I took it. Morons.
Round two…
Mom: (Credit Score = 749; HHI = $202,000 ; Has big existing credit lines else ware) HSBC Platinum - Instant approval no CL given. Then checked status online and it said denied. Got a letter saying "Could not verify information" (this is despite the instant approval I was given) Will call about this today.
HSBC GM Flex - Instant approval, CL = $700.WTF round 2? Called in on this before my dad’s CLI request, and wasn’t as successful over the phone with instant results, but they are mailing me a CLI notice that did not require a new hard pull. I did not speak directly to the credit department (wish I would have now after doing my dad’s CLI request with them). Hopefully they’ll up it to at least 7k, otherwise there will be another phone call to the credit department.
I have seen this issue with others too (see markkundinger’s) thread. Anyway, for those doing an AoR, you may want to drop HSBC to the bottom of your priorities unless you will be happy with a sub 1k line. Anyone else experiencing these recent results?
i'm just curious, but when u call customer service, do u just impersonate your mom and dad?
I thought I was going to find a thread complimenting HSBC's well run operation, but instead this? OP don't you know that only the most intelligent, physically fit monkeys get to go into space? Great work if you can get it.
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