HSBC Watch News Release Forum Index
Forum Name: - Best Buy
Topic Title: Best Buy Lies about credit reporting
Wed Feb 23, 2005 2:50 pm
The reason for this e-mail is to complain. I want to complain about the use you make of credit agencies, and the subsequent treatment they ultimately gave to my husband and myself, who have had a Best Buy account for more than 2 years now.
It is not a secret that people struggle with money these days and for the month of January 2005 I could not make the payment for Best Buy credit. I paid on February the amount of $177.3 to cover January and February and yet we were reported to a credit agency. We received a letter stating so
Do you people realize the damage that a bad report to a credit agency does to a young couple that is trying to get into a house by the end of the year? Did you know that for every bad report the credit agencies receive we, as potential homeowners, are stripped of from $20K and even $50K potential money to buy a house at the time? What at some point was the ability to buy a house for $300.000 could very well now be $250.000 because of you reporting us.
I know that is not your problem, and I know all you care about is to have people who buy your products to pay on time, and I am sorry if I could not pay in January and if I was late in February, but I paid, and I always pay. How is it that credit agencies hear from Best Buy when one does not make ONE payment, but do not hear from Best Buy when one is on-time, or pays more than should? It is very disappointing.
Because of this situation I have decided that as soon as we pay off the amount we owe to Best Buy credit we will cancel the account and will never use it again. Probably you are laughing now because you have many more customers that will continuously keep you growing as a company, but you have just lost not one, but two customers.
I am angry right now because on February 15, 2005 some person from a credit agency called asking me to pay over the phone. I told the person that I would go online and make the payment online as I usually do and she told me that she would make a notation in our account so that we are not reported to a credit agency. That did not matter because you reported us anyway.
That is a damage to our credit that cannot be done and all that is left to do now is to continue paying until this account is paid off, never again to buy at Best Buy, and make sure people, the public is aware of Best Buy’s tactics to make people pay. Humiliation and shame is what I feel right now, and regret the moment when we opened the accounts with Best Buy. Good lesson I have learned.
Wed Feb 23, 2005 3:55 pm
First of all, we at www.householdwatch.com DO NOT report anyone to the credit reporting agencies.
I've struggled, too. If it is a matter of juggling bills, make a partial payment on your utility bill. Their late fees are less than $29.00, they are slower to report to the CRU's, and your utilities generally won't be cut off in the dead of winter if they perceive an honest effort on your part.
All creditors will report when the payment is over 30 days late to the credit reporting agencies. Of course Household/HSBC as well as any other creditor knows what it does to your credit report. The odd thing is, that Household/HSBC will report your lates, but still grant you credit when no other lender will. I think they disregard their own reports then lend more money at a much higer interest rate.
I had my problems with a Best Buy account when it was serviced by Household Retail Services, now HSBC Retail Services. I did as you said. Paid the account off then closed the account, and stopped shopping at Best Buy. I furnished three rental properties with new appliances to the tune of roughly $4000.00 purchsed from Best Buy. Chump change in today's world, but I told everyone I knew and helped start and research the website www.householdwatch.com Since then, I purchased twice that amount from Lowe's,. Lowe's price matches, I can make payments at the stores, and I like their credit card processing much better.
Request a copy of your credit reports, if the payment was not over 30 days late, it may not have been reported. Hopefully it was an empty threat. If it was reported, call HSBC back, and appeal to the late report on your credit report based on what their customer service rep told you. They may remove it if you had a good payment history. A lender did that for me after confusion on a payment, in which I paid the wrong amount and they could not credit the reduced amount as a payment. I called the creditor explained and requested correction. It doesn't hurt to try. Just remember to stay calm and polite on the phone, the CSR's at HSBC Retail services seem to be looking for any excuse to be contrary to the customers making the call.
Yes, it was a good lesson, I make jokes about the School of Hard Knocks. I'm still enrolled. To graduate means you stopped learning from your mistakes and refuse to recover, or have died.
I don't know when you plan on buying your house, but using a local mortgage broker or bank lets you explain a situation such as you describe. If it only happened once, then the problem is not insurmountable and will not harm you as much as you may think. I know in my aplications for mortgages, I've had to explain why I (supposedly) had 3 accounts with Household Retail Services for a total of $13,000. Each credit reporting agency had a variation of the account number and creditor name, so that it appeared to be 3 open accounts, not one.
This website has an internal search. Use it. Search for the telephone numbers for HSBC, suggestions for how to prove payments were mailed and received by HSBC, how to file a proper complaint with the regulating agencies, and how to request copies of your credit report in order to verify account information and make corrections. One of the snap words used while I was still in the military was, "You need to be more proactive." You can not wait and be passive, you must anticipate and plan, then act.
Best wishes,
Drew
We monitor customer trends for possible violations of Regulation Z and other possible illegal actions.