TT reported: After my promotional rate ran out HSBC/GM card raised my interest rate to 34.24 %. I called them and was told there were no other options for me at this time and to call back later. I called a few months later and was told the same thing but also that I was not making more than my minimum payment and because a credit report indicated that I was a high risk (this was an internal decision not from a bad credit report). I have had and used my card for over 5 years and have never missed a payment although I have been late a few times. I think this is unfair and I am being taken advantage of by HSBC. I e-mailed everyone that I could find that had an e-mail address listed on line. I sent the following message:
“Due to you treating me as a high risk card member I am informing you that I will never use your card again, and will treat you like I have been told that you are assuming I am, a high risk, so I can and will be one. I’m informing you that I will no longer make any payments on my balance. All I have asked is if my interest rate could be lowered to a more reasonable rate. Yes I can afford to pay you but I will not so I can hold true to the high risk you have labeled me as.”
Only a couple responded and said that they were not in a department that could help me. Then at last, the office of the president for HSBC called me and I explained the situation to her and she said that she would call back in a couple of days. She did and thankfully the rate was reduced to 13.99%.
To get through to someone that would listen to what I had to say and try to help me was difficult. Instead all I got was a hard nose ‘tough luck it’s your problem not ours’ attitude. It took considerable doing and talking to the Philippines was totally useless. Now, as before, I will continue to make my payments and the problem was resolved before a payment was due.
Related posts:
This is so disturbing. I have excellent credit but today, I received a bill from HSBC stating that my payment was late and they’re assessing a late fee of $39 and jacking up my 0% interest rate to over 24%. I have excellent credit and did a balance transfer of $25,000 to them 2 months ago. I received a bill and paid TWICE the minimum due WELL in advance of the due date. They claim they never received the payment. All checks I sent at the same time were processed. I have NEVER been late with a payment in my life, and now they are assessing $500 in finance charges. I am so worried that this is going to hit my perfect credit rating. This has never happened to me, and now I am reading all the horror stories everyone else has about HSBC. I was on the phone with them for nearly an hour today, and a manager said she would put in a request that my interest rate be returned to 0% but there are no guarantees. I am furious. I don’t want to wait 14 days only to find more charges tacked on. I am going to follow the advice of others and file a complaint with my state’s Dept. of Financial Services. Any other suggestions are more than welcome.
I JUST WANTED TO ADD TO THE COMMENTS, I HAD PURCHASED A BOWFLEX 2 YEARS AGO, THINKING IN COULD USE IT TO LOOSE POST PREGNANCY WEIGHT, WELL I WAS SO BUSY WITH THE BABY AND ALSO WAS MOVING FAR SO I RETURNED IT WITHIN 30 DAYS AND HAD PAYED THE RETURN FEE AND ALL THAT. WELL BOWFLEX TOLD ME IT WAS ALL TAKEN CARE OF AND THAT I DID NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYMORE PAYMENTS. WELL THE HSBC COMPANY CAME BACK AT ME LIKE 5 MONTHS LATER SAYING THAT I NEEDED TO PAY 100% OF THE INTEREST RATE THAT WAS SET FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD, WHICH ENDED UP BEING LIKE $500+, KEEP IN MIND THAT I HAD ALREADY PAID LIKE $300+ TO RETURN IT (SHIPPING). IN THE MEAN TIME I HAD NOT RECEIVED ANY BILL OR PAPERWORK FROM HSBC STATING THIS AND THEY HAD ALSO IN THE MEANTIME REPORTED ME TO A COLLECTION AGENCY. I FOUGHT WITH THEM SAYING THAT I WAS TOLD BY THEM AND BOWFLEX CO. THAT EVERYTHING WAS SETTLED AND THAT I DID NOT NEED TO PAY ANYTHING MORE. THEY REFUSED TO REMOVE THE CREDIT DAMAGE AND MY CREDIT SCORE SINCE THEN HAS DROPPED SIGNIFICANTLY, WITH THE HSBC BEING THE ONLY DELIQUENT ACCOUNT. I JUST HOPE THAT NO ONE ELSE GETS STUCK IN THE SAME MISTAKE AS I DID.
this may help anyone that has / is being hit with the 32.25% intrest rate
it’s the one that helped me
1-800-753-6529 x6449
be nice and she may be able to help you out she seemes to be the only one that cares at hsbs and she helped me out
got my rate down to 13.99
I too just received a change in rate from 15.9% to 32.24% on my GM Card. I have had the card since 1995 and have used it as my primary card for business/personel use. I was one day late with my payment (paid it by 10:00 am the next day), and received the rate increase. I immediately paid the card off and will not use it again, which I am convinced is what they want! I have had no satisfactory results in reducing the rate. My credit score is 763 (out of a possible 830) which is considered excellent. A representative of the GM Card (HSBC Bank) called my account relationship “stellar”, with no missed payments in the past two years, and probably only one or two late payments in over 10 years. In fact, I have probably used the card to purchase $150,000 worth of goods and services over the past 12 years. They have increased my credit limit time after time, indicating I should use it even more - I did - now this..
As a side note -they let my banking information (along with their other customers) get into the wrong hands and had to issue us new cards. So funny, we can’t be one day late, but they can attempt to screw up our credit through their mismanagement.
I am pursuing this to the highest level I can, with letters already witten to the Attorney General of New York State and most importantly to Senator Charles E. Schumer who is on the Senate Banking Committee and an advocate for consumers. If the Mafia used these rates, they would go to jail.
I am also becoming convinced (as mentioned above) that there is more to this than meets the eye. I suspect that General Motors is trying to give up the GM Card and this is a way of terminating customers. Note HSBC’s new notation on their web-site about payments being made to HSBC in the future….
If this is the case, it is no wonder that people are switching to import cars. Already in the past GM lowered their annual earning from $1000 a year to only $500 on the card. Now this. GM doesn’t care about their customers, nor does HSBC.
It is critical that people associate the GM Card with HSBC Bank and let word of mouth spread that HSBC is abusing their customers and to think twice about a relationship with this bank.
Please be vocal and write your congressmen and senators. This is a federal problem and must be addressed at that level in an effort to set a limit on interest rates at the federal level.
After watching a show on Debt and the scamming that’s going on in the credit card industry and within the banking industry, I decided this morning to investigate my options on lowering my newly increased interest rate (was 13.99, now 32.24! Talk about scamming!) I came across this website and felt relief reading other’s stories on what is going on. I will definitely call the 800# that Ted gave in his note. A word about the ridiculous fees that are being charged to some of you: I think this is a profit making scheme - if no one complains about it the credit card company gets away with it.