@Anonymous wrote:
There is a lot of criticism of so-called sub prime banks. Some think any bank which has any CC for customers with bad credit is a sub prime bank. I don't see what is wrong will servicing customers with sub prime credit. There are a lot of us out there. I think the only banks that should be considered sub prime are those that charge extremely excessive fees for the service (like First Premiere). I think my HSBC secured card is an excellent card.
Too many suffer from "Groucho Marx" syndrome. Paraphrased quote: "I would not want to be associated with any bank that woud have me as a customer."
Great line. I agree, there is a need for consumers at all stages to be able to access credit.
I'm just always surprised that there aren't more banks that offer CC's to a continuum of customers and that allow customers to move up (or down, lol) their range of cards as their credit changes over time. I would think that they could market themselves in this fashion and gain a lot of loyal customers. As it is, many of the rebuilder-type cards tend to be dead ends, with nowhere else to go with that particular bank once they've served their purposes.
I've called these CC's "training wheel cards", because they're meant to get new or rebuilding consumers through a beginning stage with credit. But they typically don't ever get a significant CL or more palatable terms, resulting in the eternal debate about whether and when to close them. I can see why the banks might not allow a rebuilder card to grow with the customer --they need that credit limit for the next customer. But it's nice when they have a better card to offer when it's time. I really hate having to set up new online banking pages. 
I'd rather be able to stay with the same bank (as long as it's halfway decent) over time.
@Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of criticism of so-called sub prime banks. Some think any bank which has any CC for customers with bad credit is a sub prime bank. I don't see what is wrong will servicing customers with sub prime credit. There are a lot of us out there. I think the only banks that should be considered sub prime are those that charge extremely excessive fees for the service (like First Premiere). I think my HSBC secured card is an excellent card.
Too many suffer from "Groucho Marx" syndrome. Paraphrased quote: "I would not want to be associated with any bank that woud have me as a customer."
While there's definitely some core of truth in what you said, HSBC tends to end up dead last among the big lenders (so no First Premier 
) in customer satisfaction surveys. Of course, I cannot tell whether this has anything to do with the structure of their customer base. but at least it's worth noting that their bad reputation in the US is not only based on perceptions from the outside.
