topic Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans in Credit Cards

HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:32:42 GMT

I have an HSBC (Household Bank) CC that I rarely use. It's a piece of junk card, IMO; it has a $950 CL and 18.99% interest. There's no AF so I just keep it open for the history. I used it 2 weeks ago just to keep it active and paid it on Friday.

I got the ScoreWatch alert yesterday that a card shows a balance increase. Sure enough - HSBC reported my $23.38 balance. My statement date is the 20th, so I thought by paying it last week I'd have plenty of time to make sure the balance was 0 before it reported. Apparently they decided to report the balance before my next statement date. I wonder if I were to keep using it, if they would have reported after every purchase?

Fortunately it didn't ding my score (unlike the $156 balance on a 7k CL I accidentally let report last month, that cost me 8 points ). I just thought I'd let y'all know so if you're in the same boat, you're not surprised if/when they report between statement cycles.

~sigh~

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:13:44 GMT

They are the strangest when it comes to this kind of stuff. This has happened to me as well. Ironically, I let a $200 balance report on a $3k card and lost about 12 points myself. I was shocked by this actually. TU seems the hardest on me for stuff like that. They seem to only want 1 cart to report a balance and it needs to be very low. I just did the score simulator on myFico and it says if I paid down the whopping balance to zero I'd gain between 20-40. Wow. Just for that? I will try it and see what happenes. Seems like a lot of points just for a tiny balance. I'll never understand all this stuff.

desifink wrote:
I have an HSBC (Household Bank) CC that I rarely use. It's a piece of junk card, IMO; it has a $950 CL and 18.99% interest. There's no AF so I just keep it open for the history. I used it 2 weeks ago just to keep it active and paid it on Friday.

I got the ScoreWatch alert yesterday that a card shows a balance increase. Sure enough - HSBC reported my $23.38 balance. My statement date is the 20th, so I thought by paying it last week I'd have plenty of time to make sure the balance was 0 before it reported. Apparently they decided to report the balance before my next statement date. I wonder if I were to keep using it, if they would have reported after every purchase?

Fortunately it didn't ding my score (unlike the $156 balance on a 7k CL I accidentally let report last month, that cost me 8 points ). I just thought I'd let y'all know so if you're in the same boat, you're not surprised if/when they report between statement cycles.

~sigh~

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:15:36 GMT

desifink wrote:
I have an HSBC (Household Bank) CC that I rarely use. It's a piece of junk card, IMO; it has a $950 CL and 18.99% interest. There's no AF so I just keep it open for the history. I used it 2 weeks ago just to keep it active and paid it on Friday.

I got the ScoreWatch alert yesterday that a card shows a balance increase. Sure enough - HSBC reported my $23.38 balance. My statement date is the 20th, so I thought by paying it last week I'd have plenty of time to make sure the balance was 0 before it reported. Apparently they decided to report the balance before my next statement date. I wonder if I were to keep using it, if they would have reported after every purchase?

Fortunately it didn't ding my score (unlike the $156 balance on a 7k CL I accidentally let report last month, that cost me 8 points ). I just thought I'd let y'all know so if you're in the same boat, you're not surprised if/when they report between statement cycles.

~sigh~

They did the same thing to me last month. Between us, hubby and I have 5 different HSBC accounts that we acquired during our "rebuilding" period. We rarely use the cards, but now and then, just to keep them happy, we do, and then we pay them off.

We used the card for I-don't-even-remember-what, but I didn't want a balance to drop on our credit reports, so I paid the card in full a week before the statement was even due to drop. I checked online (as I always do) to verify that the payment was received and it was.

STILL, on the statement drop date, they reported a balance on the card in the amount of the purchase we'd made. Unbelievable! The account had a zero balance a full four days before the statement dropped, but they STILL reported a balance. That's just not right.

So, back to the sock drawer they go. ;-)

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:22:39 GMT

Has anyone called up to ask what the hey? I'm asking because Discover once updated twice, at the regular time and then again about 2 weeks later. I called, and they were incredibly apologetic, didn't know why it happened, and they'd check it out. About a week later, they updated AGAIN to the $0 balance. (Never did hear what happened.)

Of course, Discover is light-years away from HSBC, but you never know.

HSBC/ Orchard bank cards are *supposed* to report on the last business day of the month, reporting the balance that's on there then. They do not go by statement date or statement balance. And then somehow, magically, it's always they who seem to have trouble getting the CRA's to report, hmmmm.

You might want to backtrack and see what your balance was on 8/29, and see if that's what was reported. That was the last business day of August.

Truly a PITA to PIF and have report that way. They deserve to lose a lot of customers.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:27:01 GMT

I have not called yet, but thinking of doing so soon. Only because my account is looking like this:

CURRENT STATUS

Credit Limit $1,100.00

Current Balance - $0.00 - $0.00

Available Credit = $1,100.00

Cash Limit $1,100.00

Cash Available $1,100.00

Last Statement Balance 07/26/2008 $0.00

Last Payment Received 09/12/2008 $38.28

Current Payment Due 08/21/2008 $0.00

Last statement in July? My current payment is due on 8/21? Hasn't that long since past? Yet, card still works, I've used it and PIF on 9/12 with payment posting on site. STRANGE!

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:28:12 GMT

No, I haven't called to find out what's up, and really I don't think I will - the few times I have had to call that CC they have been less than helpful and unwilling to deviate from their call center script. So since it didn't cost me any points (this time) I think I'll just let it ride and sockdrawer it again. If they close it, so be it - with a $950 cl (which they won't raise w/o a hard pull, which I don't want) it's not much use to me anyway.

I'd love to hear if anyone else is able to get anywhere with them on this, though...

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:29:50 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Last Statement Balance 07/26/2008 $0.00
Last Payment Received 09/12/2008 $38.28
Current Payment Due 08/21/2008 $0.00

Last statement in July? My current payment is due on 8/21? Hasn't that long since past? Yet, card still works, I've used it and PIF on 9/12 with payment posting on site. STRANGE!

That's how my online account summaries for all my cards look, too. The due date is for that previous statement, which was $0, so nothing was due. Makes me jump, though. I always have to go back and confirm that I haven't shot my foot off in credit terms again.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:30:57 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:
Has anyone called up to ask what the hey? I'm asking because Discover once updated twice, at the regular time and then again about 2 weeks later. I called, and they were incredibly apologetic, didn't know why it happened, and they'd check it out. About a week later, they updated AGAIN to the $0 balance. (Never did hear what happened.)

Of course, Discover is light-years away from HSBC, but you never know.

HSBC/ Orchard bank cards are *supposed* to report on the last business day of the month, reporting the balance that's on there then. They do not go by statement date or statement balance. And then somehow, magically, it's always they who seem to have trouble getting the CRA's to report, hmmmm.

You might want to backtrack and see what your balance was on 8/29, and see if that's what was reported. That was the last business day of August.

Truly a PITA to PIF and have report that way. They deserve to lose a lot of customers.

No. I figured, why bother? By the time they get around to correcting it, the new statement drops anyway. Besides, it didn't effect my score---I just thought it was a dirty pool, as my grandmother would say.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:32:11 GMT

That is exactly why I don't want to call. That and the fact that the last time I called them was to see if I could be upgraded in card status. Got the script from the CSR saying it was approved to be upgraded from Classic to Platinum. Never got new card, called again, was told they accidentally downgraded me from Classic to gold. I asked them to switch it back, they said they couldn't. Asked for supervisor, spoke to a woman that said she had to call me back. Which, shockingly, she did. But when she called back she said that the system would not let her fix the error and she gave me an address to write to and make sure I used to the term that it was an "operator error". Which made me chuckle a little bit, but I did just as told and never heard back. Maybe they are in the process of doing some type of switcheroo on my account and that's why it didn't generate a new statement. I wouldn't be surprised if they closed it - they are not the sharpest tool in the shed over there.

desifink wrote:
No, I haven't called to find out what's up, and really I don't think I will - the few times I have had to call that CC they have been less than helpful and unwilling to deviate from their call center script. So since it didn't cost me any points (this time) I think I'll just let it ride and sockdrawer it again. If they close it, so be it - with a $950 cl (which they won't raise w/o a hard pull, which I don't want) it's not much use to me anyway.

I'd love to hear if anyone else is able to get anywhere with them on this, though...

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:33:20 GMT

That's very strange. But did you actually have a statement generated for August? I did not. Never got one in the mail and when I look at my statements online it shows the last one was in July. They are so strange.

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Last Statement Balance 07/26/2008 $0.00
Last Payment Received 09/12/2008 $38.28
Current Payment Due 08/21/2008 $0.00

Last statement in July? My current payment is due on 8/21? Hasn't that long since past? Yet, card still works, I've used it and PIF on 9/12 with payment posting on site. STRANGE!

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Logical — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:39:08 GMT

haulingthescoreup wrote:

HSBC/ Orchard bank cards are *supposed* to report on the last business day of the month, reporting the balance that's on there then. They do not go by statement date or statement balance.

This is what I recently discovered on my HB card. Best Buy MC also works that way. HSBC-Discover card does not. I do like it because if util is high I can make one payment after the bill cuts instead of one payment before and one after. As long as the rules are known, it works for me.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:58:11 GMT

HSBC Direct Merchant also reports on statement date, fwiw...

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:46:58 GMT

@Logical wrote:

@haulingthescoreup wrote:

HSBC/ Orchard bank cards are *supposed* to report on the last business day of the month, reporting the balance that's on there then. They do not go by statement date or statement balance.
This is what I recently discovered on my HB card. Best Buy MC also works that way. HSBC-Discover card does not. I do like it because if util is high I can make one payment after the bill cuts instead of one payment before and one after. As long as the rules are known, it works for me.

And to make it special, my Best Buy store card reports on its statement date, and reports the statement.

Doubtless this makes sense to someone in HSBC land.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

jmbfl — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:52:13 GMT

Wow! I thought i was the only one on here with an HSBC Direct Merchants card. (And I mean a non-Discover one. Mine is a MC.)

We are talking about HSBC and they are idiots, so is anyone surprised?

Discover updated mid-cycle on me. It happened after I asked for another card design and before my first cycle closed.

Trying to micromanage your FICO - for probably no purpose - will make you crazy.

Message Edited by jmbfl on 09-15-2008 01:52 PM

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

jaysdad2k — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:33:02 GMT

I think I posted about this a few months ago.

My Orchard Gold vintage 2006 has been easy to show zero balance.

One thing I really like is that I can overpay, and have it show a credit which reports as 0. BUT, if you carry a credit for more than 90 days they will send you a check! So, don’t let that happen.

It reports the balance on the last business day, although it is usually a month behind. I rarely actually use it, but when a purchase posts on my online summary I just PIF it in a day or two so the usage never gets reported.

I have Creditkeeper on it for $9.95 a month, so I PIF that a few days before the statement cuts, it cancels out to 0 when it cuts.

My 2 year anniversary was August, and AF should post when the statement cuts on the 20th. They told me last month to call when it hits to ask them to waive it. We’ll see how that goes.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:34:32 GMT

For what it's worth, I have not had any trouble getting them to waive my AF. The last few times I called they offered to waive things for me that I didn't even ask for including my AF and a $20 charge I received a few months prior for a CLI.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:15:44 GMT

They sometimes report the day you make the purchase. Nuts!!! I disputed a few months ago through EX. I used the card only to keep it active and pif immediately. They reported bal due and no payment. EX got it straightened out. If you call HSBC they do not know what you are talking about.

And it takes them two months to report sometimes.

Re: HSBC inter-cycle update shenanigans

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:50:23 GMT

Same here. Annoying, but the only way to go in my opinion!

casinoannie97 wrote:
They sometimes report the day you make the purchase. Nuts!!! I disputed a few months ago through EX. I used the card only to keep it active and pif immediately. They reported bal due and no payment. EX got it straightened out. If you call HSBC they do not know what you are talking about.

And it takes them two months to report sometimes.