Consumer complaint received 2019-09-29
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
To : The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau CFPB office Re : An unauthorized / fraudulent transaction on my HSBC credit card XXXX Dear Respected Madam/Sir, I am writing this letter to complain about HSBC reapplying the charge amount of {$6900.00} on my credit card XXXX on XX/XX/2019. I request HSBC refund the charge of {$6900.00} to my account. ( Attached 1 ) In the past few months I have been contacting HSBC regarding an unauthorized transaction on my credit card XXXX with the amount of {$7000.00} ( HKD XXXX )  by merchant XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/2019. ( Attached 2 ) First of all, this is a fraudulent transaction not a dispute transaction. The strongest evidence to prove this is fraudulent is the letter from the dispute department on dated XX/XX/XXXX attached the FORGED document ( Attached 3 ) presented by the unlawful merchant XXXX XXXX XXXX. The signature on the attached invoice # XXXX and sale slip copies is obviously NOT from the same person. I responded and sent my drive license, US passport and credit card application for HSBC to review on XXXX XXXX. My signature consists of the first two letters of my first name, which is XXXX, unlike the single letter XXXX shown on the invoice. However, HSBC dispute department considered that transaction {$7000.00} as valid because of the signatures are similar. The conclusion HSBC made is totally unfair, even a layman can see the signatures are from different person. HSBC asking a cardholder to pay unauthorized transaction based on a forged document is NOT acceptable for ANY credit card holders.

Second, I notified HSBC this fraudulent transaction and HSBC has RECEIVED my confirmation on the same day. HSBC should not made this fraudulent transaction {$7000.00} approved and paid to unlawful merchant in the first place.

My credit limit is {$6500.00} ( attached 1 ) the unauthorized transaction amount exceeded my credit limit. Also, I notified HSBC that this is a fraudulent transaction by email, but the website did not allow me to submit. ( attached 4 ) I called the service number XXXX XXXX on the card back but the service number does NOT work 24 hours and 7 days as it claims. ( attached 5 ) The fraud department was closed at that time. ( attached 6 ) I logged on online banking the live chat representative received my confirmation of this fraudulent transaction but recommended me to visit the local branch. ( attached 7.8.9 ) I visited a local branch in XXXX XXXX but it was closed due to the long XXXX holiday. As a card holder, I tried all the communication tools I could master at that time to notify HSBC and HSBC did receive my notice.

HSBC stated that they received my confirmation but their live chat agents were unable to assist with any security concerns. However, the HSBC website shows the live chat is a representative not an agent. ( attached 10 ) More important, HSBC can not shirk its responsibilities by requiring a cardholder to pay this charge simply because of its own malfunction security system lacking communication between departments or no one answering the 24-hour-service line. This is NOT acceptable for any credit card holders. 

Thirdly, I reviewed all of my travel receipts in XXXX XXXX and checked my bank statements again in XXXX. I found that a transaction I authorized did not appear on my bank statement, but I saw this transaction as " pending '' while I logged online to report a fraudulent transaction on XX/XX/XXXX. I called the HSBC fraud department to report this transaction with the merchant named XXXX ( XXXX ) is the amount of XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) ( attached 11 ) disappeared on my statement but I am not sure if XXXX ( XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX XXXX are the same store. Then, HSBC transferred my case from the fraud department to the dispute department. I believe if HSBC had denied unauthorized transaction {$7000.00} in the first place, the right amount {$160.00} would have been recorded on my statement. In fact, although it was a face to face transaction, it could be a fraudulent charge, especially among the notorious scam-ridden XXXX XXXX pharmacy store as I later learned from the XXXX   consumer council. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX This fraudlent transaction happened in XXXX XXXX. I learned from the local websites that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX is one of the pharmacies on the black list. Many consumers complain that XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX uses various tricks and schemes to cheat consumers, one of the schemes is to change the amount after the consumer paid via credit card. Their store name bears some resemblance with the XXXX XXXX famous store, thus consumer often mistook it as the famous store which has great credibility. The invesigation team from HSBC did not try to collect relevant information from XXXX in XXXX and ignore my explanation. Simply said they never heard that case before which is totally an irresponsible and unfair investigation.

HSBC require its cardholder to pay this charge and ask cardholder to work with the merchant to resolve this matter directly because of this fraudulent transaction not handle by fraud department but dispute department. That is unacceptable for any credit card holders.

Fourthly, I had an extremely upsetting experience with this case investigation because of language barrier. Each call was handled by different people, and in my numurous calls to HSBC, the same thing just repeated on and on. I was often cut off during the long wait for the XXXX interpreter. When I tried to communicate in English, the investigator either just hanged up, or the line was just cut off, or they just keep me waiting for long periods of time. I even had to wait one hour, and was not able to talk to the person who handled my case. In XXXX, HSBC dispute department accepted my claim to pay {$160.00} and agreed to refund {$6900.00} to my account. ( attached 12 ) English is not my first language, HSBC representative confirmed in XXXX that HSBC accepted my claim on XX/XX/XXXX. However, HSBC sent me a letter saying that was a TEMPORARY credit on XX/XX/XXXX. ( attached 3 ) HSBC did not honor their commitment to their customer. HSBC did not treat non-English customer fairly and I believe commitment is commitment no matter in what language they use. Otherwise, this is considered language discrimination for the non-English speakers. Language discrimination is illegal under Federal and California laws. 

In fact, the following investigation could have been avoided if HSBC had denied unauthorized transaction {$7000.00} on time in the first place. HSBC told me that they made transaction approved excess cardholder credit limit because of customer who with excellent credit history. Ironically, the explanation from the same customer they did not believe and accept. I feel deeply insulted with the case investigation. As a cardholder with excellent FICO score ( over 800 before this incident ), I use my credit card regularly, upon realizing the suspicious transaction, I immediately followed all the procedures to report the fraudulent transaction. In fact, the fraudulent transaction was approved by HSBC, but not cardholder. I do not accept HSBC 's investigation results. The cardholder should not responsible for the charge. However, for my own personal credit 's concern, I still paid the minimum amount of {$70.00} by XX/XX/2019. 

Also, I have reported this fraudulent transaction to XXXX XXXX Police Force # XXXX XXXX XXXX, Customs & Excise Department #  XXXX and Consumer Council # XXXX XXXX. 

Thank you for your precious time with my case, your response and advice would be highly appreciated. 


Enclosures : 1. New credit card XXXX XXXX screenshot 2. Old credit card XXXX XX/XX/XXXX screenshot 3. Letter from HSBC dispute team dated on XX/XX/2019 4. Alert email unable summited to HSBC XX/XX/XXXX screenshot 5. The XXXX XXXX invoice phone callout XXXX 24/7 record 6. The XXXX 24/7 number nobody answer recording 7. Live chat XX/XX/XXXX screenshot 1 8. Live chat XX/XX/XXXX screenshot 2 9. Live chat XX/XX/XXXX screenshot 3 10. The live chat representative not agents screenshot 11. XXXX ( XXXX ) receipt 12. Phone recording XXXX talk with HSBC dispute team

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation