@haulingthescoreup wrote:
This is from their site:
the store card:
Deferred Interest Info:
Plan A: Variable Standard APR is 20.99% as of 11/01/08. Variable Default APR: 25.99% as of 11/01/08.
Plan B: Variable Standard APR: 24.34% as of 11/01/08. Variable Default APR: 29.99% as of 11/01/08.
I don't know if they have a Plan A and Plan B on the MC, and their website doesn't even seem to display the APR. (hmmm) I suppose they have to show it eventually if you apply, but since I got my store card accidentally while checking out their application, I'm not going down that road again!
Anyway, if you have the store card, go online to your account, or look at a printed statement, and see if your APR's match either of the figures above.
And since this is HSBC, I'd buy a pack of Trident every three months to keep it alive.
After reading this, I decided to dig deeper into my APR. I glanced at it yesterday when trying to determine if I was plan A or B and I thought I must have been reading something wrong. The littler insert included with my card says that I have an Introductory APR for the first nine billing cycles of my account. Then, it shows the Introductory APR at 0%!!. Well, I knew I didn't get any finance charges on my first statement, but I figured I was just still in the grace period for purchases. Well, I just looked closer at my second statement, and once again...no finance charges. This seems to good to be true, especially with my credit. They pulled EQ when I applied, which was around 660-670 at the time with multiple old CO's. When I saw the $59 AF and a $500 CL, I figured I must have gotten a pretty crappy card and never paid much more attention since I was just happy to have the card (I need my own credit account(s) to cover my travel for work until they reimburse me when I return, so I was not concerned about APR's--just getting enough available credit for a trip). My score has dropped 100 points in the 3 months since I opened this card due to a bogus judgement that I am fighting like crazy along with a whole bunch of medical bills from my ex-wife that hit my report (we were still married when the services occured). I am really worried about AA now. I guess I will stick with my "stay under the radar" plan at least until the medical bills are gone (I am dropping off a $4000 check today in exchange for a letter stating they will delete).
The way it looks, after 9 months, my Introductory APR changes to the Customary Purchase APR, which is listed as 18.99%.