Does converting my HSBC bank account and HSBC credit card affect my credit score?

AndyDufresne

I am a former university student that has just dropped out, and I am about to notify HSBC, whom I currently hold a student account and a student credit card with. I have been advised that I can keep the same overdraft and credit limit, and only the T&Cs will change when they are converted to their respective 'standard' products.

1) Will this change the account age in my credit report?

2) Will this affect my credit score in any way?

I have been informed that there will be no credit search (hard check) when converting both of the products. I was told that the account number and sort code will stay the same.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

1) possibly, if they report as a new account.

2) yes, but it doesn't matter. No one but you sees the score and a change of account is not a significant risk factor.

Daliah

Deleted_User said:

2) yes, but it doesn't matter. No one but you sees the score and a change of account is not a significant risk factor.

If not hard search is carried out, as OP says it isn't,  it doesn't affect the credit score in the CRA files. In any case, the CRA credit scores are pretty meaningless indicators as they are made up by the CRAs and no lender would look at them. Not even the CRAs use the same scoring, and lenders will definitely not use any of the CRA scoring.

[Deleted User]

That's the whole point. The scores are pointless and have no relevance, so even if the CRAs decide to drop the score because the account is reported as changed in any way (eg different reporting cycle date, it doesn't even need to be a search to impact the scores), it doesn't matter.

AndyDufresne

Will a lender likely see any changes as a bad sign? E.g. if there is a different cycle date, would this impact a lender's decision, for say, a mortgage application? If I were to apply for a credit, would the lender understand that I have simply converted the account?

Daliah

AndyDufresne said:

Will a lender likely see any changes as a bad sign? E.g. if there is a different cycle date, would this impact a lender's decision, for say, a mortgage application? If I were to apply for a credit, would the lender understand that I have simply converted the account?

Very much doubt it, as your account / card numbers seem to remain the same.

Marchitiello

AndyDufresne said:

I am a former university student that has just dropped out, and I am about to notify HSBC, whom I currently hold a student account and a student credit card with. I have been advised that I can keep the same overdraft and credit limit, and only the T&Cs will change when they are converted to their respective 'standard' products.

1) Will this change the account age in my credit report?

2) Will this affect my credit score in any way?

I have been informed that there will be no credit search (hard check) when converting both of the products. I was told that the account number and sort code will stay the same.

Thanks

I have done this with Barclays and NatWest at the time, with the Barclays account pre-existing and then been converted to student, then a Graduate and finally reverted back to a normal account. It is just a product swap and not a new account. Your sort code and account number will remain the same. It is the same then upgrading a standard account to advance  or premier.

what some times changes are the overdraft limits and/or the conditions of the overdraft (interest and repayment).

AndyDufresne

Marchitiello said:

AndyDufresne said:

I am a former university student that has just dropped out, and I am about to notify HSBC, whom I currently hold a student account and a student credit card with. I have been advised that I can keep the same overdraft and credit limit, and only the T&Cs will change when they are converted to their respective 'standard' products.

1) Will this change the account age in my credit report?

2) Will this affect my credit score in any way?

I have been informed that there will be no credit search (hard check) when converting both of the products. I was told that the account number and sort code will stay the same.

Thanks

I have done this with Barclays and NatWest at the time, with the Barclays account pre-existing and then been converted to student, then a Graduate and finally reverted back to a normal account. It is just a product swap and not a new account. Your sort code and account number will remain the same. It is the same then upgrading a standard account to advance  or premier.

what some times changes are the overdraft limits and/or the conditions of the overdraft (interest and repayment).

That makes sense. If you had a student credit card (or any credit card at all that you converted), do you know if the card number changed? I was told that I will get a new credit card in the post, but I don't know if that means that it will be a different number (and therefore a different account).

[Deleted User]

You're worrying about this far too much. Lenders worry about negative changes that indicate higher risk - not just any change, which is the CRA approach. 

You'll be fine - relax.

[Deleted User]

If you've got any 0% borrowing that you can't repay immediately, I would personally delay updating them until you've paid that off.

The standard APR is something like 39% on the overdraft and around 20% on the credit card. 

Marchitiello

AndyDufresne said:

Marchitiello said:

AndyDufresne said:

I am a former university student that has just dropped out, and I am about to notify HSBC, whom I currently hold a student account and a student credit card with. I have been advised that I can keep the same overdraft and credit limit, and only the T&Cs will change when they are converted to their respective 'standard' products.

1) Will this change the account age in my credit report?

2) Will this affect my credit score in any way?

I have been informed that there will be no credit search (hard check) when converting both of the products. I was told that the account number and sort code will stay the same.

Thanks

I have done this with Barclays and NatWest at the time, with the Barclays account pre-existing and then been converted to student, then a Graduate and finally reverted back to a normal account. It is just a product swap and not a new account. Your sort code and account number will remain the same. It is the same then upgrading a standard account to advance  or premier.

what some times changes are the overdraft limits and/or the conditions of the overdraft (interest and repayment).

That makes sense. If you had a student credit card (or any credit card at all that you converted), do you know if the card number changed? I was told that I will get a new credit card in the post, but I don't know if that means that it will be a different number (and therefore a different account).

When a card issuer send you a new card before the expiration of the previous one, often it will have a new card number, but the underlining Credit Account stays the same. This is generally the case with MBNA and Barclaycard for example, however I am not to sure about HSBC as I understand, they have a complicated way to do downgrade/upgrades from/to their Premier World Elite card for example, which I may experience next year when I downgrade to the free card but have only read about it so far.

Amex however, when changing product within the same family, tend to keep the same card number as well, only changing it if you specifically report the card as lost or stolen. Again, the underlining account is the same.

i think what you need to understand is that the card or product name is only a means and/or attribute of the “Credit Account” you have with HSBC. They should not have reason to change your account but may well have to change cards or attributes of said account.