Consumer complaint received 2019-03-22
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.
State: CA
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Their investigation did not fix an error on your report

Complaint:
This is the letter I faxed to the bank with various attachments, not included here. 

Hello, I am faxing these materials to you to dispute what is on my credit report. I applied for a credit card from HSBC in XX/XX/2018. They approved my request immediately and sent me the card in the mail promptly. I was going to use it for the holidays. 

Thats when the trouble started. I set up the online access, installed the app on my phone and found that I couldnt use the card because there was some sort of hold that required me to speak to security. I started calling to speak to security and couldnt get through after being on hold for more than an hour. I repeated. And repeated. And repeated. I spoke to the chat person multiple times asking for numbers to get through to security. The hold times extended to multiple hours and went on day after day. 

I started calling on my one hour commute to work and kept myself on hold the entire time, then I brought my phone charger to work and stayed on hold for at least 3-4 hours and kept my phone plugged in. I carefully tracked the security open and closed hours and tried to call right at opening or right before closing. Nothing. Always on hold.

I was probably on hold for more than 50 hours before I gave up. This went on for at least two weeks. I looked up new numbers on the Internet. I begged the customer service people in the other departments to connect me to security. No matter how I tried to get to security I ended up in the black hole of background hold music. My hopes to use this card for the holidays disappeared.

Then, I got annoyed. It occurred to me that even if I could actually use this card, if it were stolen or lost, I could never reach security. I looked up consumer reviews for your customer service and found they were dismal. I was not alone. This was happening to scores of people. I decided I didnt want this annoyance in my life. I called a customer service person and requested that they cancel my card. That took a while but it was eventually accomplished. The account is closed.

I am calling because the process of applying for your credit card caused an inquiry on my credit report. And now there is a new account listed as well, albeit closed. This is absolutely unreasonable and improper when you advertise a card that someone applies for and then you make it impossible for them to use the card.

I did everything I was supposed to do. I allowed the credit inquiry assuming I would have something to show for it. All I had to show for it was aggravation. No ability to use a credit card. I never got through to security to unblock my card. I have no idea why it was blocked from the start regardless. My credit is excellent. There are no issues.

I request that you contact the credit agencies and that the credit inquiry and the HSBC account be deleted from my credit reports. I made a dispute with Equifax, they referred me back to you. I called the number they supplied on their response and that person referred me to a supervisor in the customer service area. I spoke to her and she referred me to your department and asked me to fax this information. 

HSBC Account : I was approved by letter on XX/XX/2018. I received a letter affirming the account was closed on XX/XX/2018. 

If you would like me to supply my cell phone logs to support how many times I called your organization, I am happy to do that. If you would like copies of multiple review sites about credit cards that state that this is a well-known issue affecting many people, I am happy to send copies of those as well. 

Please get the credit inquiry and any evidence of your account off my credit reports. 

Thank you,

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation