Consumer complaint received 2015-12-10
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC.
State: TX
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
I began using HSBC in XXXX when I opened a credit card and debit account. I had a great experience with them while I was a XXXX customer. Once I changed my account to a standard level ( because I was n't meeting the minimum dollar amount in the account ), many things began to go wrong. I was n't very happy with their services, their representatives were often giving me incorrect information, I would get different answers from different representatives etc. Nevertheless, I decided to only close my checking account but keep my credit card open and not use it since I did n't want it affecting my score by closing it. The last time I had used the card was around XXXX XXXX. It was n't until I received a statement in the mail for XXXX XXXX XXXX - XXXX XXXX XXXX ( see attached ) for {$22.00} for a purchase at " XXXX Web XXXX XXXX '', that I decided to close my final HSBC credit card account. I called HSBC asking first, why this charge was n't blocked ( I do not live in XXXX nor have I been there in the past year ), why it was n't detected as fraud, and why I was n't notified. While speaking on the phone, the representative proceeded to tell me she saw there were several attempted charges in the past two weeks in XXXX, and some at XXXX here in the XXXX. She asked me if any of them were me. I said no, I do not live there and I never shop at XXXX. I was concerned because no one had contacted me about the attempted use of the card in different locations. I asked her to please close to card for me over the phone. She told me it could n't be done because they had to investigate the {$22.00} charge first. Unhappily I agreed to wait. Instead of closing the account ( ending in XXXX ) permanently like I had asked her to, the representative decided to send me a new card with a new account ( ending in XXXX, opened end of XXXX XXXX ). One week later, they sent me some papers to fill out and send back to them regarding the fraud claim form ( see attached ) which I did. When I realized she had opened a new account for me I called and asked her to close it, again and instructed her not to reopen another card. After being hung up on, and transferred to different departments several times, I finally got someone on the line who was willing to close the account for me. I received a letter confirming that the account XXXX was closed permanently with no new accounts to be opened ( see attached ). While checking my account profile online, their website shows that I have XXXX accounts open : XXXX ending in XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. After asking several representatives why they were showing online, no one could give me a straight answer, but they confirmed they were all closed. Just in case, I called different HSBC local branches to confirm that I had no existing accounts with the bank. All of this happened around the beginning of XXXX XXXX. Today I received a letter ( see attached ) in the mail stating that the investigation of the fraud is now complete, and the activity has been confirmed as unauthorized. The letter also says that a credit will be applied for {$22.00} to my NEW account ending in XXXX. At this point, I do n't know what else to do. I have been trying to close my HSBC credit card account for the past 3 months. I am concerned they are messing up my credit score and information. I want them delete all of my information from their databases and remove all accounts that are showing online. I want to know what is going on.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation