HSBC Maestro upgrade

skyrider007

ShelfStacker wrote: »

I think it depends which account you have. The Right Track might be a kid's account, or at least for "young people" in which case they might only ever issue Solo. Depends, really...

Yeah, you're certainly right about Right Track being a kiddie account ~ lol. Anyway, off topic, I'm wondering why you are still keeping the lowly Vanquis card when you could have borrowed for less on your HSBC CC? Do they offer something more beneficial than HSBC?

ShelfStacker_3

skyrider007 wrote: »

Yeah, you're certainly right about Right Track being a kiddie account ~ lol. Anyway, off topic, I'm wondering why you are still keeping the lowly Vanquis card when you could have borrowed for less on your HSBC CC? Do they offer something more beneficial than HSBC?

No, I've only just recently applied for the HSBC and haven't paid the Vanquis et al off yet. When I've got the former and done the latter the Vanquis is going... it's already cut up

gt94sss2

ShelfStacker wrote: »

No, I've only just recently applied for the HSBC and haven't paid the Vanquis et al off yet.

Have to say, I particularly liked your description of HSBC where you said:

HSBC. They're either trusting, naive, insane or some ridiculous combination of all of the above.

:rotfl:

Regards
Sunil

efallai

Hi all

Your behaviuor score needs to be 40 before they will issue a Maestro card. I've written all about the HSBC internal scoring here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=8533743&postcount=19

Hope this helps

Marc

pepsi_max2k

Just asked to upgrade my Solo card in a branch today and was told I'd need ~£750 going in monthly to be issued one. Most of my savings are in other accounts now, and no regular income. No idea what my behaviour score was but I've been with them for around 10 years (started in early high school with Midland Bank before they took em over) and have never been overdrawn. Anyone have any ideas as I can't keep using parents credit cards or cash whenever Solo isn't accepted forever :rolleyes:

skyrider007

pepsi_max2k wrote: »

Just asked to upgrade my Solo card in a branch today and was told I'd need ~£750 going in monthly to be issued one. Most of my savings are in other accounts now, and no regular income. No idea what my behaviour score was but I've been with them for around 10 years (started in early high school with Midland Bank before they took em over) and have never been overdrawn. Anyone have any ideas as I can't keep using parents credit cards or cash whenever Solo isn't accepted forever :rolleyes:

Hi Pepsi

If you want a debit card that is more widely accepted, I recommend opening a Citibank account which will give you a full Visa Debit card. I used to bank with Citibank and have never had any problem with their Visa Debit card, the drawbacks being there are not so many branches and deposits take a while to clear. Bottom-line: it's a fab account when you fail to get Maestro from HSBC.

P.S. I'm now using Maestro as I have recently upgraded my kiddie account to a student account which guarantees 1000 quids O/D and a 500 quids credit card.
P.S.S. If you're looking for a first credit card, get CapitalOne. They're quite good if you use it regularly and pay it off in full every month. I started with a 500 pounds credit and now I've got over 1500. HSBC's APR is much lower tho.

ShelfStacker_3

pepsi_max2k wrote: »

Just asked to upgrade my Solo card in a branch today and was told I'd need ~£750 going in monthly to be issued one. Most of my savings are in other accounts now, and no regular income. No idea what my behaviour score was but I've been with them for around 10 years (started in early high school with Midland Bank before they took em over) and have never been overdrawn. Anyone have any ideas as I can't keep using parents credit cards or cash whenever Solo isn't accepted forever :rolleyes:

A lack of regular income will nix pretty much any application for anything which could possibly take you overdrawn; if they issued you a Maestro, you could very easily run up insane overdrafts which you have no means to repay in the slightest. I am not saying you will do this, just that banks will tend to consider it a risk.

Just out of interest, where is it that Solo isn't accepted? I find most places accept it these days, and if there's no Solo option on web forms selecting the payment method as Maestro usually works (they get processed through the same systems).

ShelfStacker_3

gt94sss2 wrote: »

Have to say, I particularly liked your description of HSBC where you said:...
Sunil

I stand by my words. But seriously, they're one of the few people to actually look at what I do with my account and say that I'm not a risk (which I'm not, clearly) rather than just see my credit file and its short history and think "no way". Service is excellent as well...

pepsi_max2k

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Just out of interest, where is it that Solo isn't accepted?

off the top of my head... my favourite online record store actionrecords.co.uk didn't accept them the last time I ordered but just checked and they do now... virtually everywhere foreign doesn't (for me that mainly means web hosting / domain name sites etc), was in WH Smith earlier and saw no mention of Solo on the national lottery "we accept xyz..." poster (whether they would accept solo or not i've no idea, and not that i've ever purchased lotto tickets, but I've always had to carry cash on me incase somewhere didn't accept solo)... anyway, I deffinately come across a few places every year that don't take it, and I'm not the kinda guy who spends much anyway.

skyrider007 wrote:

I'm now using Maestro as I have recently upgraded my kiddie account to a student account

I think I'm still on my kiddie year 7 high school account too, don't think they'd even let me have a graduate now though without a job or job offer :rolleyes: at least it's not my primary school lloyds mighty mouse one (anyone else get one of them?)

oh well... i like my anonymous cash payments anyway

ShelfStacker_3

pepsi_max2k wrote: »

off the top of my head... my favourite online record store actionrecords.co.uk didn't accept them the last time I ordered but just checked and they do now... virtually everywhere foreign doesn't (for me that mainly means web hosting / domain name sites etc), was in WH Smith earlier and saw no mention of Solo on the national lottery "we accept xyz..." poster (whether they would accept solo or not i've no idea, and not that i've ever purchased lotto tickets, but I've always had to carry cash on me incase somewhere didn't accept solo)... anyway, I deffinately come across a few places every year that don't take it, and I'm not the kinda guy who spends much anyway.

Foreign sites I know don't generally take Solo (PayPal may be a solution here), but generally if somewhere takes Maestro then they should also accept Solo without much of an issue. And, to be fair, foreign sites also generally don't take Maestro...

You could also get a prepaid credit card, these won't cost you the earth, usually act as MasterCards but they won't let you spend any more than you put on them at any one time. Could be handy