MPDennis says:

I have experienced the same problems as others have noted in their comments. I find HSBC (household international) an unrelenting predatory lender. This applies not only to their credit card services (or schemes would be a better description) but to their mortgage services as well. Unfortunately, HSBC has been allowed to buy out mortgages without the customer’s knowledge and consent as well as many of the companies who formerly issued credit cards. HSBC willfully and knowingly pads consumers’ monthly credit card statements with additional transaction fees, placing them over their credit limit such that it becomes nearly impossible for the consumer to break free of ‘being over the credit limit’. In addition, HSBC’s customer service is pitiful. It is nearly impossible to get through to a customer service person on the phone. Upon the rare occasion when one can, it is usually someone who barely speaks English or ‘can’t access the account’. I want to know what it takes for the U.S. federal trade commission to do something effective about this company and its exploitative practices. Other counties around the world have barred them from doing business within their boundaries.

Walter says:

I have been unable to pay a Costo Wholesale bill online through my hrsaccount.com/costco because when I use the usual website address on Google I receive reference information not relevant to paying my bill. I tried repeated searches to find the regular website I have been using for the past 12 months, which is mentioned above, but to no avail. I finally found a website, HSBC Watch Consumer Advocates, a watchdog service. which had a link in the text of their website which I clicked on to get to the hrsaccount.com/costco and thus was able to pay this months bill online as I have done, as I said, for the past 12 months.

I have received no notice of a website address change from HRS and I fault them for the problem I was having which would have compelled me to make the payment by mail without assurance that it would not be considered a late payment with the subsequent consequences. I believe some action should be taken by the proper government agencies to see that this practice by HRS or HSBC does not happen again. I can completely understand and sympathize with other persons who have been trapped and victimized by the actions of HBSC/HRS. I am certain that statistically the number of accounts penalized for “late payments” by HSBC/HRS is grossly exagerated because the fault lies with their system and not the account holders, who I am certain intended to pay their bills on time. A nasty consequence of such actions on the part of HSBC/HRS is to harm the credit ratings of the so called “late paying” account holders, so their credit raings are irreperably down graded, so as to cause them difficulty in getting credit at a better rate than before they were reported late in their payments.

A proper and fitting consequence of HSBC/HRS practices would be to have them fined heavily, refrained from doing business, and having them have the credit rating agencies expunge the “late payments” they caused their account holders to have. All that would still not atone for the distress and problems they caused. They should be required to take ads in major newspapers through out the country apologizing for their actions, and write letters of apology to account holders affected by their actions. They should also be required to reimburse late payment fees, with interest, to those whose payments were made within at least a period of 3 wks from the time they were due.

I sincerely hope some or all of the above actions are taken against HSBC/HRS which I hope will stop other credit card companies from doing the same.

MICHAEL CLARK says:

i pay this card off monthly and sometimes many times a month. They place a hold on my payment every time. I send money orders. a ,money order is cash, what do they want me to do? send cash??? if they have a problem thinking the money order is fake then just call the number on the money order to verify it! dont hold my money! I use the card and pay it off quite often. I have credit “issues” (ok my credit sucks) and they were nice enough to give me a card but dont treat me like a liability when i use and pay the card off constantly!

Lindsay says:

The only thing worse than having to call Orchard Bank’s customer service is having to do it from overseas and pay for it. I applied for this card for emergencies and after paying all my balances on time did not use it for sixteen months. When I needed to use it, I was declined, knowing that all my credit should have been available. When I called them, I was told that my card had been put on “inactive” status and that caused the decline. I was a little annoyed that no effort was made to contact me and I had been stuck without credit, but they said it was fixed.

Knowing that my credit score improved and that my card was due to expire, I asked for a credit increase and if I could get a better rate. This question is still unanswered by email and they ask that I call again knowing that I am still overseas.

They sent another card, same limit, same rate along with a bill for the exorbitant annual fee. I replied that since I was unable to use the card while it was deemed to be inactive by them, the annual fee should be pro-rated to reflect that. I also explained that I had asked for a better rate and a credit increase with no response for 45 days.

They refused to change the date of the annual fee, did not address my question about changing my account and blamed the magnetic strip for the decline. I replied that I wanted my card canceled. They did cancel the card and now still want the entire annual fee for the six days that I had the new card.

Victor Allison says:

I thought that I was one of the few who has been experiencing problems with HSBC until I read all of the horror stories involving HSBC.

After getting my card, I immediately started to receive all kinds of charges on my monthly statement, for this and that, without any authorization on my part. I had to call the bank each and every time, and they would remove the charge, only to have it re-appear on the next month’s statement.
I told HSBC that their practices were very unethical, and in April, cancelled my card. The following month, they sent me a statement with a new charge for “annual renewal fee” of $59.95. I called them once again, and asked them, “how can you charge me for an annual fee when I cancelled the card.” Their answer was that the annual fee was due 2 days before I cancelled the card, and therefore, I was liable to pay that fee. I refused to do that, telling them that this was nothing but a scam on their part, to get me to pay more charges. Then, the next month statement was sent to me, whereas I was being charged a late fee, and a credit card cancellation fee. Once again, I was told that this had to be paid, and that there was a charge of $39.95 for a purchase that appeared late, and that if I paid that, then they would remove the annual fee and the late charge.
Guess what? I received another statement, this time, with another late charge, and the amount keeps growing and growing. When I called their customer service, the rep said, yes, you paid the $39.95, but there is nothing in your file that you were told that if you paid that amount and be current on payment on your charges, then the account would be closed. The final note was that I had to pay the original annual renewal fee, the two $30 late fees ($60.00 plus $59.95) and other fees, now totalling over $141.00.
Now I am getting threatening calls from HSBC collection, 3 - 4 times per day, attempting to collect.
Without a doubt, this is one of the most predatory credit card banking companies and the most unethical company I have ever encountered.
They use the threat of reporting the person to credit agencies saying if we do that, it will screw up your credit rating, so pay up.
Is there a consumer agency where I can file a complaint against HSBC?

V. W. Allison

Ronald Alan Gillotti says:

I have had the misfortune to do business with HSBC. If I( get enough responses to this reply and a little support [Donations} a lot of people may think this is a scam but if you follow up and e-mail me at ronwingillotti@netzero.com I think you may change your mind? I plan on filing a “Federal Class Action Law Suit against HSBC”. My mailing address is: Ronald Gillotti, P.O. Box 212, Cassadaga, Florida 32706-0212. give me your e-mail etc. and I will make my best effort to answer all I get. If I get any that is. I get tired of being ripped off. I am sure other people are in the same boat. I will be glad to give out the “Federal Case Number” after I file it, if I get enough support to cover filing fees and costs such as ink, paper, and gas money to travel to Orlando, Florida, at the Federal District Court there. If I get any donations I will be glad to send a receipt for same.