Consumer complaint received 2017-01-13
Product: Bank account or service — Other bank product/service
Issue: Problems caused by my funds being low — 
Company: HSBC NORTH AMERICA HOLDINGS INC. (CA)

I am a current HSBC client. I was recently was charged an overdraft on an overdraft account that was opened without my full knowledge and consent. They reported it to my credit report and lost 70 points from it. Here are the details : 1. I opened an HSBC bank account on XX/XX/2016. It was a very basic account where I have to pay 3 dollars every month for it. 

2. The lady who opened the account for me told me to apply for a credit card because it had no international fees as I was travelling abroad. I told her that I am not sure I needed it because I already have XXXX. However she pressed and I agreed to apply. She brought me papers to sign for the credit card. 

3. I received in about a week or two that my credit was not approved. 

4. I then went into the branch and told her that I did not get approved. She said that it is okay that I can apply at another time. This was all in the months of XXXX. 

5. XXXX in XXXX warned me about my credit score being low so I then went to check it with XXXX and XXXX. 

6. XXXX and XXXX showed that I had a line of credit opened to my name. I did not recognize the transaction which I then filed a Fraud claim as I thought someone was using my identity. 

7. I called HSBC to their fraud department and explained the situation. A man from the fraud department told me that I did open the account at that I owe XXXX dollars. I did n't know what he was talking about so he dispatched me to the HSBC branch in XXXX NY. 

8. The HSBC branch in XXXX told me that I did sign for a credit line and for a credit card and that I made payments to the credit line on the phone XXXX for XXXX dollars. I had never received a call or a warning over this unauthorized payment nor had I seen a warning about it. The lady also said that the payment was made by phone which I never had a phone call. I requested to hear the phone payment conversation as they record everything. She said that she can not provide that and then I request for the credit line to be closed and she said that they will close the credit line. 

9. After several attempts and being transferred to many departments for a month I tried to write them a letter but they refused to provide any email or any one person that can deal with my call. I spoke to one of their representatives in the online HSBC and they informed me there was already an investigation by a special department on it. I had not yet placed an investigation which I clarified and then questioned how will they investigate if they do not have the details. 

10. On XX/XX/XXXX after 2 hours of waiting a person informed me that the initial payment for the overdraft was done automatically by the collection department and that there is nothing I can do for that. Apparently it is in the terms and condition which I was never aware of as I mislead and did not give my full consent. She told me that it went overdraft when I bought a plane ticket which then told them that it should 've been declined and I could 've paid with something else. She told me that she will dispatch to the collection department as they handle my case and that there is n't any more investigation. The payment was done, they can not refund it and that I just have to pay XXXX. She also told me that they can close my credit line which it is still opened. 

This case involves not only misleading information by one of HSBC 's employees and presenting papers that were for a credit card along with overdraft papers which was label 'line of credit ' and not fully explaining them. Unauthorized payments and not making the customer aware of the charges and just reporting to the credit. I was unemployed for a whole year due to my XXXX. I had just graduated from college and still have a lot of debt to pay. What they are doing is illegal and violates my consumer rights.