[aby.sam]

I'm using HSBC card for almost 3 yrs.. They used to charge me Rs. 2000 + taxes as annual fees. But once u call helpdesk, they 'll revert back ur charges. Call 25589696. It 'll be quick if u have ur credit card no + phone banking pin ready with u.

[spadival]

Hmmm.. lemme check whats the deal with my newly acquired Barclays card. I have been using ICICI and Citibank card for more than a year, without annual fee being charged.

[subscrive]

go to their site and get hold of the nodel officer mail id.
this info would also be present on the statement.

mail them the details about your issue.
generally the issue gets resolved within a week.

[Proxima]

Its actually very simple. Use a CC from a bank where you have your salary account from.

You get a lot of freebies from time to time plus in most banks, you can pay your CC bill online, saves you from the trouble of dropping cheques month after month.

I use an ICICI gold CC. My salary account is also with ICICI. Last week, I got a box of chocolates free.

[sushrutha]

Thanks for your valued suggestions.
I'm thinking of speaking to customer care & get my card cancelled or break my card into 4 pieces n send a registered post n forget about it.

[amtak]

My experience with HSBC has been the best. Call up the customer care and tell them that you were promised that it was free and now you have been charged. Further, tell them that you have got A lot of other cards which are free for life and provide "better" service than your HSBC card and the customer care lady/gentlemen would try their best to resolve the issue there and then.

Just a quick question here, how many of us have actually read the terms and conditions while applying for a credit card? The common answer would be not me! Please note that the credit card is free "only" if your annual purchase is more than 5,000 INR else they charge you the annual fees.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Thanks for your valued suggestions.
I'm thinking of speaking to customer care & get my card cancelled or break my card into 4 pieces n send a registered post n forget about it.

If you cut it into 4 pieces, please be assured that you would soon get a new card with increased credit limit. This is a vicious circle of cutting the cards and getting new ones from the bank.

[gbpscars]

Originally Posted by Rtech

heck, i've been using my HSBC Gold for 5 years now and paid up the annual charges like a nice guy each time! Now I'm going to tell them to make it free as well! What the heck, no harm trying!

this is the best of the lot. LOL.

just let them know there are lot others out there giving a life-time free card. yelling may not work always and could be sounding stupid on oneself sometimes.

what i did was,... i did not pay up. i had nothing else to pay when this annual 'something' bill came up. i had repeated calls mostly from 011 (delhi) asking me to pay. each time i told them that i was promised a life-time free card and i will not pay for this. this continued for 3-4 times and then i got a letter saying i can continue using the card and that my annual fee has been waived.

this time they made it a point to mention that the waiver is for one year only.

but i stopped using HSBC after that. cut the card and dropped in with a mailer in their ATM box. its been more than a year since then. no calls. no statements too since 7 months.

i have been using Citi and Manhattan by Standard Chartered for 4 years now without an annual fee and no troubles

[RishiSuri]

Why so much pains to be taken first cancelling it then getting another card..

Just follow the simple process

Call them up say cancel my credit card and i am not paying the annual fees as i have other credit cards which are life time free(they dont verify just say it got gold cards of citibank,standard chartered etc).
And only in one condition i will keep this card that is it should be life time free.
The customer care will put u on hold for sometime Then she will say i have waived off your annual fees. Please call up after 4 days to check if the card has been made life time free or not.

Call after 7 days and you will get the good news its life time free.

[crazydiablo]

Got HSBC card two months back, just so that I can fill petrol without surcharge. This is putting me off. Damn i will have to create a hungama next year.

No other card offers 0% fuel surcharge at all petrol pump. Only reason to go for HSBC. maybe i should opt for ICICI platinuim.

[tsk1979]

Many cards offer 0% at petrol pumps. For example HDFC titanium.
I use 2 cards now. Stanchard GOLD for normal usage, and Titanium for petrol pumps

[amtak]

Originally Posted by crazydiablo

Got HSBC card two months back, just so that I can fill petrol without surcharge. This is putting me off. Damn i will have to create a hungama next year.

No other card offers 0% fuel surcharge at all petrol pump. Only reason to go for HSBC. maybe i should opt for ICICI platinuim.

The surcharge is 0% only if we refuel for more than 400 INR.

[kphilip]

My deals with HSBC credit cards was very nice actually.Havent got any annual fees yet.i've been using it for the past 2years.Once my date was due and late payment thing came.. i called up the customer care and asked them how'll rs 400 come as late payment fees when the bill is just 100..I told them am going to cancel the card.They waivered the full amount twice and am profitted. ;-)

[dadu]

HSBC never quotes as their cards being free.

I closed my 8-9 years of credit card relationship with them recently due to a dispute which went upto their V.P. through the redressal forum wherein all charges were instructed to be reversed, but then they were back at it.

Had to spend 6 months fighting it out but Its their loss.

Say NO To HSBC Credit Cards.

[abhilash_iv]

Hi,

I have used credit cards of HDFC, citibank and SBI for the last 3-4 years. To be honest, never faced any issue from any of the banks.
My HDFC card was a silver one which they called me and suggested to upgrade after 1 year of good usage, which I accepted. They end me a flip form, I filled and send it and in next 3 weeks got the new card. It was not a free card initially and they made it free after 2 years of usage. I never asked it, they send me letter stating the same. (In fact only then I knew that they come free also).
Later I got a citibank IOC gold card, for the purpose of fuelling. It was mentioned as a life time free card, by the DSA person. But when I received it and read through the terms and conditions, it was clearly mentioned that, it will be free only if I use it initially within 2 months and at least 5000 Rs is spend per year. That was not a bad thing to ask, they are maintaining our accounts and are ready to give money in any emergency whole year and at least for name sake, we should do some transactions, isn't it?
SBI card also is not bad, even though not satisfied with their customer support staff.

What I am trying to say here is, even though the DSAs for adding counts may bluff anything they want, please read through carefully on all written documents they send you and if you don't like or object on any condition, please deny the card then itself. You will cost nothing. Most of the cards which say free, will have some minimum amount to be spend per year. Otherwise why do they want to keep your account?

Thanks