topic Re: HSBC Experience in Credit Card Applications

HSBC Experience

dbatl14 — Mon, 14 May 2018 22:00:19 GMT

I received an invitation to the HSBC Gold Card with a 18 month 0% APR BT. So I thought I try it but I never experienced an app process like that. I got a notice saying that they are reviewing the application and will contact me if they need something else.

About 5 days later I got an email and phone call (went to v/m) from their Security department to call them. I tried calling them but getting through was almost impossible it took me a few days and it asked for some pin number that I didn't have. Finally spoke to someone but it appears that none of them are in the US and they told me that they need my drivers license and copy of utility bill.

They sent that in a secure message and I submitted the docs but now still haven't heard anything. This was really odd and don't know what to expect and if this was even worth it but figured since I have gone this far might as well got through with it and not waste an inquiry.

Does anyone have any experience with them or the card?

Re: HSBC Experience

Anonymous — Tue, 15 May 2018 02:11:28 GMT

I have the Gold card since Dec 17 with an initial CL of 1750 and have since received an add'l 1500 CLI. No spending bonus/points or extras on this particular product. The web portal is a bit clunky (meaning the payments appear to be handled by a third party), but payments post pretty quickly though. I applied with FICO scores in the 670's. No AF, so all in all, I'd say it makes a pretty good secondary/supplementary/sock drawer card. - I wouldn't (and don't) use it as a "daily driver".

Re: HSBC Experience

FinStar — Tue, 15 May 2018 15:37:24 GMT

When it comes to their application review > approval, it tends to be a fairly slow process. Just be patient and wait things out. If it's been longer than 2 weeks and you haven't heard anything then you can contact them to see where things are.

I have 2 of their cards and one of them was instantly approved after verification while the 2nd one took about a week or so.

Re: HSBC Experience

bizarrocreditworld — Tue, 15 May 2018 17:20:10 GMT

What you describe is normal for the course. I had the security people ask for the ID and utility bill with my first card as well. Finstar described the process for both the first and second cards perfectly.

Re: HSBC Experience

dbatl14 — Wed, 30 May 2018 20:09:02 GMT

Just to update

I just got an email from HSBC that I was approved but before I saw and inquiry done. I applied 5/5 didn't hear anything from them until 5/10/2018 where I got an email and phone call. Couldn't get in contact with anyone until 5/14 and they requested DL and Utility Bill.

Haven't heard anything and haven't received any confirmation of receipt of my docs, etc. I sent a follow email but nothing. Today is 5/30. I have been trying to call them the last 4 days only with being on hold for a very long time and just to hang up.

So it took almost a month. I hope this isn't an indicator what it will be like dealing with their CC's

Re: HSBC Experience

dwayne4607 — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 01:47:39 GMT

FinStar, if you don't mind me asking, what were the credit limits like on each card and in what range is your score? How many inquiries did you have?

Thanks!

Re: HSBC Experience

FinStar — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 18:32:38 GMT

Hi @dwayne4607

Each card was approved as $5,000 (Platinum Rewards), eventually increased to $15K and the 2nd one @$15,250 (Cash Rewards).

They pulled EQ for both applications and my FICO scores hovered around ~795.

Inquiries? LOL. Actually, around 8 with the 1st application in September of last year and 14 during the last one in April.

Re: HSBC Experience

dwayne4607 — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 20:52:21 GMT

Thanks for the info, @FinStar. I applied for the Cash Rewards and got it with $5,500. It had a $150/500 sign-up bonus, and I kinda like free money. Afterward, I saw they had a Gold Mastercard with a lower range of APRs but an 18 month 0% intro APR on balance transfers AND purchases, which is pretty appealing, so I went ahead and gave it a shot last Sunday. Haven't heard anything yet. My scores aren't as high as yours, but not bad--depending on who they pull, I'm between 735 and 765. I also have a few more inquiries than you, though, so I guess we'll see. Did you request your CLIs or were they automatic? If you requested them, did they cost another hard pull? Thanks again!

Re: HSBC Experience

FinStar — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 23:32:28 GMT

@dwayne4607 wrote:
@Anonymous for the info, @FinStar. I applied for the Cash Rewards and got it with $5,500. It had a $150/500 sign-up bonus, and I kinda like free money. Afterward, I saw they had a Gold Mastercard with a lower range of APRs but an 18 month 0% intro APR on balance transfers AND purchases, which is pretty appealing, so I went ahead and gave it a shot last Sunday. Haven't heard anything yet. My scores aren't as high as yours, but not bad--depending on who they pull, I'm between 735 and 765. I also have a few more inquiries than you, though, so I guess we'll see. Did you request your CLIs or were they automatic? If you requested them, did they cost another hard pull? Thanks again!

Awesome and congratulations @dwayne4607!

I kinda did the same thing for the SUBs. When did you get approved for the Cash Rewards? And, trust me, your scores are pretty good plus you did well -- I had a slew of new accounts + inquiries to boot. I wasn't certain of the UW criteria at the time since I didn't even think the first CC had a chance to be approved last year. But, it did, and tried them again this year .

As far as CLIs, if your account is initially approved for a "lowish" CL or need more flexibility, you can contact the CS department to submit a reconsideration request for the SL, they will use the same HP as long as it's within or less than 30 days. If approved, you'll see it reflect online within a few days. Otherwise, CLI requests are HP.

Re: HSBC Experience

bodyboy1 — Fri, 20 Jul 2018 06:57:52 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
When it comes to their application review > approval, it tends to be a fairly slow process. Just be patient and wait things out. If it's been longer than 2 weeks and you haven't heard anything then you can contact them to see where things are.

I have 2 of their cards and one of them was instantly approved after verification while the 2nd one took about a week or so.

>Same as Finstar.. exactly the same.. no fee, no frills ...never had a problem (Balance transfers every now & then)

Re: HSBC Experience

Anonymous — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:03:27 GMT

HSBC Experience?

Question to All:

Aside from your Fico Score begin good at the time of the HSBC approval, what number of cards did you have that were older than five years?

I made the mistake of closing all of my cards down about 10 years ago and just going debit cards. Then I got two American Express Cards five years ago because the previous closed cards were still showing good info. Now that I am at ten years, all of my previous closed cards have fallen off my report and I am being considered "thin" because I just have the two oldest cards at five years. Today I have the two five-year cards and three 1-2 year cards (five total), and my score is around 800 on Fico . . . but is 50 points less on TransUnion and Experien because the original ten cards I had ten years ag o no longer show up.

So for HSBC, how many and how seasoned were your exisiting cards at the time when approved for 5k or 15k?

Re: HSBC Experience

FinStar — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 17:23:32 GMT

IME, my CR dates back to the mid-90s. My CLs range anywhere from $3K to >$100K.

Generally, and from what I've seen, for any high SLs with HSBC, an excellent, well-established and unblemished profile does the trick.

Re: HSBC Experience

DaveInAZ — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 18:31:00 GMT

Bumping this thread as it has some very good data points for HSBC.

First thing to know is that HSBC is very stringent on security, verifying your ID. When you app for anything it first goes through Security who verifies your identity. They SP EX to verify ID, and they usually want you to send them photo ID and a utility bill to verify address. Once security "approves" you your app is then sent to Underwriting who will HP EQ and approve or deny you for credit.

I applied for the Cash Rewards MC in Nov. 2017, I had all 3 CRAs locked after the EQ data breach. After hearing nothing after a couple days I called in and the rep reviewed my app and said I needed to talk to security and transferred me. That rep said my EX was "frozen" and I needed to call back after unfreezing. I told him it was locked and I would unlock it for him while on the phone, and did. As he reviewed my report I made the comment "I would think that my being able to unlock EX while on the phone with you should be pretty good identity verification", he agreed and I was never asked to send ID. He told me he was approving my app to be sent to underwriting for a decision, and told me to unlock EQ for them to pull. I was approved, but only for a $2500CL, at that time my Fico scores were in the low 700s but I had Cap One w/$10k, Discover w/$9k and Amex BCE $15k, so I thought the HSBC CL was pretty low. But I also had a BK7 discharged Jan. 2011, so not quite 7 years post discharge. The Cash Rewards offer then was $150 SUB for $500 spend and 2% rewards first 6 months then 1.5%. I did a pretty good spend on it, got the SUB and app'd for a CLI at for 4 months: Instant denial, HP on EQ, and when the letter arrived it only cited my BK. So I decided the card was not a keeper and closed it.

Well, now HSBC has some pretty good new bank account bonuses going on and I'm opening up checking and savings accounts, so I decided to app for another of their cards and went for the Gold Mastercard - no SUB offer but 0% for 18 months on purchases and BTs made within 60 days. My HSBC online account is still active and I app'd while logged in, and that's the way to go - brings up all your info they have, you just review it and hit Submit. I got to the point where it said "decision in 30 seconds" and . . . . the power went out! It was only off for a few minutes but by the time the PC booted up and I tried to reload the page I got the "page expired". So I call in, the rep gave me a number for a Credit Analyst, and it's a good one: 866-355-6041. The rep was very knowledgeable and friendly. He told me I had been approved, this time for a whopping $3k CL. I asked if that could be reconsidered and pointed out the CLs on CCs on my report of $15k. He said No, but that I could request a CLI after 6 months, and that's another good data point: they want at least 6 months usage on the card before they'll consider a CLI, if you request one before then they'll most likely just HP EQ and deny you.

Well, I won't be doing any BTs on the card with only $3k CL, but the 18 months 0% will come in handy and I'll put some good spend & payments on it and try for a CLI after the 7th statement, and by then I will also have bank accounts with them for that amount of time.

The list of HSBC CCs is here: https://www.us.hsbc.com/credit-cards/

Good luck, MYFico'ers!

EDIT: Forgot to mention an item that may of interest: HSBC credit is a "hidden tradeline" on TU, HSBC apparently has issues with TU and won't use or report to them. They do report to EX & EQ.

Re: HSBC Experience

CGeorge — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 23:21:35 GMT

I went through the exact same process. It seems to be a part of the norm for them.

Re: HSBC Experience

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 23:22:14 GMT

So TL;DR is don’t waste your time with HSBC if you want a decent limit?

Re: HSBC Experience

DaveInAZ — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 13:29:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
So TL;DR is don’t waste your time with HSBC if you want a decent limit?

Well, see FinStar's last comment before I bumped the thread with my post: "for any high SLs with HSBC, an excellent, well-established and unblemished profile does the trick.". My BK is now 8 year post discharge but still likely considered a "blemish".

Re: HSBC Experience

Anonymous — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 01:59:46 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
So TL;DR is don’t waste your time with HSBC if you want a decent limit?
Well, see FinStar's last comment before I bumped the thread with my post: "for any high SLs with HSBC, an excellent, well-established and unblemished profile does the trick.". My BK is now 8 year post discharge but still might be an issue for them. Also I have moderate income, just over $50k and now have over $140k in CC limits with 15 open CCs , that might also concern them. I have some old accounts from my rebuild I should probably close.

All of those hoops and a number of $3K and less approvals with solid good scores makes the rest of the hassle involved with getting the card not worth it. At this point if I have to go through that many hoops, I better be looking at a guaranteed $5K minimum. And honestly since only one of my cards put me through any kind of verification, my SSFCU, I would have to get something truly unique in order to go through all that hassle (this is especially true with address verification since I neither have a lease nor utility bill in my name).

Re: HSBC Experience

dwayne4607 — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 04:33:06 GMT

I recently applied for the HSBC Platinum Rewards card, which would have been my 3rd card. It was declined, and the reason stated was that I had reached the maximum number of cards they allowed.

Re: HSBC Experience

UncleB — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 00:47:20 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
Bumping this thread as it has some very good data points for HSBC.
First thing to know is that HSBC is very stringent on security, verifying your ID. When you app for anything it first goes through Security who verifies your identity. They SP EX to verify ID, and they usually want you to send them photo ID and a utility bill to verify address. Once security "approves" you your app is then sent to Underwriting who will HP EQ and approve or deny you for credit.

I applied for the Cash Rewards MC in Nov. 2017, I had all 3 CRAs locked after the EQ data breach. After hearing nothing after a couple days I called in and the rep reviewed my app and said I needed to talk to security and transferred me. That rep said my EX was "frozen" and I needed to call back after unfreezing. I told him it was locked and I would unlock it for him while on the phone, and did. As he reviewed my report I made the comment "I would think that my being able to unlock EX while on the phone with you should be pretty good identity verification", he agreed and I was never asked to send ID. He told me he was approving my app to be sent to underwriting for a decision, and told me to unlock EQ for them to pull. I was approved, but only for a $2500CL, at that time my Fico scores were in the low 700s but I had Cap One w/$10k, Discover w/$9k and Amex BCE $15k, so I thought the HSBC CL was pretty low. But I also had a BK7 discharged Jan. 2011, so not quite 7 years post discharge. The Cash Rewards offer then was $150 SUB for $500 spend and 2% rewards first 6 months then 1.5%. I did a pretty good spend on it, got the SUB and app'd for a CLI at for 4 months: Instant denial, HP on EQ, and when the letter arrived it only cited my BK. So I decided the card was not a keeper and closed it.

Well, now HSBC has some pretty good new bank account bonuses going on and I'm opening up checking and savings accounts, so I decided to app for another of their cards and went for the Gold Mastercard - no SUB offer but 0% for 18 months on purchases and BTs made within 60 days. My HSBC online account is still active and I app'd while logged in, and that's the way to go - brings up all your info they have, you just review it and hit Submit. I got to the point where it said "decision in 30 seconds" and . . . . the power went out! It was only off for a few minutes but by the time the PC booted up and I tried to reload the page I got the "page expired". So I call in, the rep gave me a number for a Credit Analyst, and it's a good one: 866-355-6041. The rep was very knowledgeable and friendly. He told me I had been approved, this time for a whopping $3k CL. I asked if that could be reconsidered and pointed out the CLs on CCs on my report of $15k. He said No, but that I could request a CLI after 6 months, and that's another good data point: they want at least 6 months usage on the card before they'll consider a CLI, if you request one before then they'll most likely just HP EQ and deny you.
Well, I won't be doing any BTs on the card with only $3k CL, but the 18 months 0% will come in handy and I'll put some good spend & payments on it and try for a CLI after the 7th statement, and by then I will also have bank accounts with them for that amount of time.
The list of HSBC CCs is here: https://www.us.hsbc.com/credit-cards/
Good luck, MYFico'ers!

EDIT: Forgot to mention an item that may of interest: HSBC credit is a "hidden tradeline" on TU, HSBC apparently has issues with TU and won't use or report to them. They do report to EX & EQ.

Thanks for the heads-up on the credit analyst contact number... I"ve added it to the sticky post.

Re: HSBC Experience

kxkxkxx — Fri, 31 May 2019 18:23:24 GMT

New HSBC Gold Mastercard member here...just chiming in as well.

I got it because it came with 15mos 0% for balance transfers and purchases...nice! However, the card agreement and the one that came with my card were different. They each had different 0% mos as well as different rates after the promo period....

I hopped on chat to have them explain....after chatting with them, I got yet another (3rd)rate...the highest....

So, I will use the 15mos 0%..then shred it ...no use after that.