Consumer complaint received 2021-10-13
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.
State: FL
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Trouble using your card
Sub-issue: Can't use card to make purchases

Complaint:
HSBC Bank USA, NA Gold Master Credit Card customer made a {$1000.00} payment on XX/XX/XXXX electronically through a bank to bank payment ; the minimum payment requirement had been met previously ; the outstanding balance posted at the online website for the HSBC bank USA gold master credit card showed a reduction of the current balance by the {$1000.00} ; however, the available credit did not reflect the payment several days even after having cleared the customer 's own bank account that made the electronic payment. The customer called and spoke to representatives both in the XXXX XXXX location and the XXXX XXXX location and was told that the payments made would not be reflected in availability for at least 10 business days and that that was due to " afloat. '' Customer flummoxed by this policy with regard to an electronic payment also was advised that in the written terms of the agreement this policy was stated ; however, the customer checked the written documents and couldn't find an applicable section of the agreement and requested that a copy be mailed to him. More egregious was that the sequence of steps that were necessary to make an online did not reflect this policy and only referred to " payment submitted after a particular evening Eastern time will process of the next business day '' " payment can be scheduled after 30 days in advance. '' " Terms and conditions " did not reflect any hold or reminder caveat, as a consequence even though I had made sufficient payment to cover recurring payments that would've been covered by the {$1000.00} payments and would be within the province of the online current balance, since the {$1000.00} payment was on hold and not actually available, new transactions would be rejected and render the MasterCard unusable for the duration of the hold. When this customer called and spoke with the various locations for the credit card department, no remedy or recourse was provided nor was there a sense by this customer that the bank would follow-up and contact me. I advised the HSBC bank representative in my most recent call on XX/XX/XXXX with a Ms. XXXX in the XXXX XXXX location that the website needed to be corrected and that the payment transaction protocol online was deceptive and misleading. 
HSBC Bank USA, N.A.MasterCard 's online communication is also problematic : calls that I placed to the XXXX location often dropped out ; the website surprisingly is unstable : this customer while processing an online transaction got an error message and an apology that the website couldn't process the payment during the afternoon of XX/XX/XXXX ( error reference # XXXX XXXX XXXX ) Also the " terms and conditions '' rectangle on the make -a -payment section of the website has confusing authorized recipients, for example a recent trial payment using the website has the following terms and conditions : " by clicking the submit payment below you authorize XXXX XXXX  card services to debit your account in the amount listed above on the indicated date. '' When I asked the credit card that : " who is or what is XXXX XXXX  card services? '' the HSBC credit card rep had no idea ; I queried whether there were a technical support division and was told that " No, '' simply with whomever I spoke that person would create a ticket. ( Providing the customer with no sense of having a meaningful recourse to reporting a problem. ) Furthermore, when this customer wanted to make a " trial {$1.00} payment '' online so that the customer could print out what is seen, the terms and conditions section reflected a different authorizer surprisingly XXXX -- - which is indicated as the company that would be authorized to debit the account. In fin, the holder float policies employed by HSBC bank MasterCard are deceptive and misleading -- - both the written orally stated terms as provided by the bank representative when one calls -- - but more egregiously by the format provided to the customer when making a payment online. 
This customer plans to discontinue using HSBC Bank USA MasterCard services. Customer found communication options quite limited : the 800 number only defaults to the department located in either the XXXX or XXXX ; there is no fax or direct telephone number or email to the USA division located in XXXX New York and one is provided only with a po box address. ( Customer noted a chat function available at the web page ; however customer preferred to speak with someone rather than getting caught up in typing text, etc. '' ) please note that based on the cautionary advice provided by the service, this customer did not upload the payment section of his MasterCard account.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation