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HSBC Experience

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: HSBC Experience

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?

Message 11 of 20
FinStar
Moderator Emeritus

Re: HSBC Experience

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.
Message 12 of 20
DaveInAZ
Senior Contributor

Re: HSBC Experience

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!  Smiley Mad  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.

Message 13 of 20
CGeorge
Frequent Contributor

Re: HSBC Experience

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

Message 14 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: HSBC Experience

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

Message 15 of 20
DaveInAZ
Senior Contributor

Re: HSBC Experience


@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".

Message 16 of 20
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: HSBC Experience


@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). 

Message 17 of 20
dwayne4607
Valued Member

Re: HSBC Experience

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.  

Message 18 of 20
UncleB
Credit Mentor

Re: HSBC Experience


@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!  Smiley Mad  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. Smiley Happy

Message 19 of 20
kxkxkxx
Regular Contributor

Re: HSBC Experience

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.

Current FICO 8 Scores
EQ 759
TU 748
EX 744
Message 20 of 20
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