HSBC Credit card declined transaction - up to 5 days to process BACs payments

fox82

A word of warning about HSBC:

On Saturday (16th) I tried to use my HSBC card in a bar for about £12. The transaction was declined , I was quite surprised by this as I knew I was significantly under my credit limit (~£100). So I phoned them up fearing the worst that my card had been used without my authority.

However on the phone it turns out the reason for the decline was they considered me over my credit limit and here is why:

I sent my monthly payment to HSBC using BACs from another bank. The support person confirmed this arrived on Monday 11th. This transaction also appeared on my on line banking on Tuesday 12th. Despite this the support person said it can take up to 5 working days to actually be processed after HSBC receive the money and therefore it wasn't taken into account and I was over my credit limit. Somewhat suprising considering they didn't have any trouble showing it on my statement! I've just phoned up and made an official complaint, having a card declined when over your limit is fair enough but not when under it. To top it all off in my fluster I used a Halifax card that has now gone over the limit, so I've spent all weekend trying to pay money onto my Halifax card in the quickest way possible to avoid a charge.

Anyway a word of warning to you all. To be honest I've had nothing but trouble with HSBC, I find them un-helpful, impossible to talk to the right person and their on line banking is poor. I've used a lot of banks and my HSBC experience is by far the worst and I've only been a customer since May.