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Should I let HSBC Card go?

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Red1Blue
Super Contributor

Should I let HSBC Card go?

I am pruning my cards. I have HSBC MC turning 2 years old this month and they are going to charge me AF to renew the card. It has no rewards and CL $1500. I am not sure if I should pay the AF and renew the card or just close it and kick to the curb. It served its purpose in rebuilding my credit. I am not sure if it makes sense to pay AF and keep the card especially when I am not going to use the card much.
Message 1 of 7
6 REPLIES 6
Established Contributor

Re: Should I let HSBC Card go?


concorduser wrote:
I have HSBC MC turning 2 years old this month and they are going to charge me AF to renew the card. It has no rewards and CL $1500.

 

I am not sure if I should pay the AF and renew the card or just close it and kick to the curb.

 

 I am not sure if it makes sense to pay AF and keep the card especially when I am not going to use the card much.


Ask customer service to waive the AF. That way you can make a statement by canceling the card if they refuse to accommodate the request of a good customer.   Smiley Wink  


  
Message 2 of 7
Guardian
Valued Contributor

Re: Should I let HSBC Card go?


@Red1Blue wrote:
I am pruning my cards. I have HSBC MC turning 2 years old this month and they are going to charge me AF to renew the card. It has no rewards and CL $1500. I am not sure if I should pay the AF and renew the card or just close it and kick to the curb. It served its purpose in rebuilding my credit. I am not sure if it makes sense to pay AF and keep the card especially when I am not going to use the card much.

My friend, IMHO, dump it and move on. Not worth keeping it, you know it and if you want to hear it from a friend, dump it. You can do much better and with someone who is not going to jerk you around every other week with some new bull !@#$%, you know what I mean.

 

That's being said, I agree with CreditAble, call and ask for the waiver but make sure its permanent and not just this year, so you don't have to do this again next year. And if they don't tell them you will cancel and see if customer retention will  do something, if not then dump it.

Message Edited by Guardian on 03-14-2009 07:21 PM

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Take the FICO Fitness ChallengeStarting Score: TU:695 - EQ:719 - EX:630
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Message 3 of 7
nicemann
Established Contributor

Re: Should I let HSBC Card go?

I had my Best Buy MC (HSBC) hit it's eleventh month so I called up and asked them to cancel it.  Only card I have with a AF and it's a $59 fee.  So I wanted to cancel it before I was charged again.  Well they credited me back the AF for the first year and said they are unable to put a stop on the AF but once I get charged for this year's AF to just call back and they would refund it.  Sounds like BS to me.  Plus it's my lowest CL with $400, they gave me an additional $100 (with on fee) when I called to cancel. 

 

I already paid for the INQ on my report and it is an open positive TL but not sure if I want to keep calling back each year to get the AF reversed.  Especially when I have cards with 15k CLs.

Message 4 of 7
Guardian
Valued Contributor

Re: Should I let HSBC Card go?


@nicemann wrote:

I had my Best Buy MC (HSBC) hit it's eleventh month so I called up and asked them to cancel it.  Only card I have with a AF and it's a $59 fee.  So I wanted to cancel it before I was charged again.  Well they credited me back the AF for the first year and said they are unable to put a stop on the AF but once I get charged for this year's AF to just call back and they would refund it.  Sounds like BS to me.  Plus it's my lowest CL with $400, they gave me an additional $100 (with on fee) when I called to cancel. 

 

I already paid for the INQ on my report and it is an open positive TL but not sure if I want to keep calling back each year to get the AF reversed.  Especially when I have cards with 15k CLs.


It is BS and I found out many years ago with the Orchard card, they waived the first year but second year they said no and I just dumped them. Never looked back and never been happier, and that had a 3500 CL and only a $39 AF. I refuse to get any card that has an AF and at that time I didn't realize the AF was waived for the first year only (the special offer on that card) so total I was with them just shy of 3 years.


Common Abbreviations|FDCPA|FCRA
Take the FICO Fitness ChallengeStarting Score: TU:695 - EQ:719 - EX:630
Current Score: TU:712 - EQ:755 - EX:712
Goal Score: TU:800 - EQ:800 - EX:800


Message 5 of 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Should I let HSBC Card go?

If you can replace the CL i say dump it.
Message 6 of 7
haulingthescoreup
Moderator Emerita

Re: Should I let HSBC Card go?

Concorduser, with all your accounts, the thing that you might want to be considering first when looking at cards to close is your AAoA. It would be useful to know it in years and months, instead of just years as displayed on myFICO reports.

Equifax will display it in years and months on their full report, but that doesn't tell you about TU and EX. I'm allergic to Excel, so I always work it out on the back of an old envelope, cussing away, but I'd say you can pull off a more high-tech approach. Smiley Wink

At any rate, once you know your AAoA, you might want to start targeting cards that are younger. There won't be any affect as long as they keep reporting, of course, but when they do fall off, your AAoA will be helped, rather than hurt.

I would think that you've opened so many accounts in the last few years that you'll have a huge "mass" of young accounts that will heavily weight your AAoA to low figures. Lightening that end up might help over time.

Hope that makes sense --it does to me, but I'm having a hard time explaining it! Smiley Very Happy
* Credit is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master. * Who's the boss --you or your credit?
FICO's: EQ 781 - TU 793 - EX 779 (from PSECU) - Done credit hunting; having fun with credit gardening. - EQ 590 on 5/14/2007
Message 7 of 7
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