<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Credit limit slashed due to inactivity of card account
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->RECENTLY, I received a letter from HSBC informing me that, due to inactivity of my credit card account over the past six months, it had 'permanently reduced' my credit limit from $45,100 to $5,000.
I have held on to my HSBC card for many years. I have not used it recently because my other cards have more promotions and rewards.
Is HSBC, in these trying financial times, keeping only revolving, defaulting and delinquent card users, while at the same time getting other cardholders to cancel their cards?
The bank's officer told me it was routine practice to review the credit limits of customers who do not use their cards. However, there is no reason to slash my limit by such a hefty amount.
The officer then offered to e-mail me a credit limit review form so I could submit my latest payslip for review. But I have yet to receive this form, which in any case should have accompanied the letter informing me of the limit reduction.
While it is a bank's right to regularly review credit limits, I find the reason given for reducing my limit inexcusable.
A simple promotion to get me to spend on my card would have sufficed, or if it was the case of a limit review, a request for my latest payslip to reassess my situation.
Gabriel Tang
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->RECENTLY, I received a letter from HSBC informing me that, due to inactivity of my credit card account over the past six months, it had 'permanently reduced' my credit limit from $45,100 to $5,000.
I have held on to my HSBC card for many years. I have not used it recently because my other cards have more promotions and rewards.
Is HSBC, in these trying financial times, keeping only revolving, defaulting and delinquent card users, while at the same time getting other cardholders to cancel their cards?
The bank's officer told me it was routine practice to review the credit limits of customers who do not use their cards. However, there is no reason to slash my limit by such a hefty amount.
The officer then offered to e-mail me a credit limit review form so I could submit my latest payslip for review. But I have yet to receive this form, which in any case should have accompanied the letter informing me of the limit reduction.
While it is a bank's right to regularly review credit limits, I find the reason given for reducing my limit inexcusable.
A simple promotion to get me to spend on my card would have sufficed, or if it was the case of a limit review, a request for my latest payslip to reassess my situation.
Gabriel Tang
