The HSBC Premier Mastercards thread

[JDB]

rahaney wrote:

JosephH wrote:

Does anyone have recent experience, are HSBC back to charging the £195 annual card fee? Last year’s got waived I believe (due to covid/lack of travel?), with my renewal coming up in early November I’m seriously thinking about cancelling before it hits…

Yep it’s back to normal now. Mine was charged in April…

Going to drop to the free Premier before next time myself

If you decide to downgrade, you need to plan this well in advance if the experience of others reported on this thread is anything to go by. As with Virgin, there is no process for downgrading per se, you need to cancel and reapply and may need to visit a branch to do so. You need to do this early so as to avoid the fee being charged and then going round in circles to get it refunded.

[Mick S]

JDB wrote:

Mick S wrote:

probably not worth the aggravation if you’re not already a customer.

The renewal bonus isn’t getting paid, genuine transactions don’t attract points. That’s on a good day.
recently they’ve made changes. Some transactions now don’t qualify for points, and you’ll also get slugged with cash fees.

For the amount of points for the annual fee involved, plus the aggravation and all the messing about I wouldn’t bother. When my 2nd year is up I’m closing all my HSBC accounts – not just downgrading, I’m out.

I think that’s quite a negative perspective. I opened a Premier account relatively recently after Tesco stopped giving Avios and the WE was at that time the best earning non Amex. The (free) Premier bank account gives you insurance that is better in most respects than Amex Plat (but no car hire excess). Also got WE at the same time for total 40k Avios SUB and have been charged no annual fee for main card or supp for two years in line with many others. No issues with lounge acccess. They have just paid a large foreign s75 claim – a bit slow but no fuss. I got the extra 40k points recently and not removed, now transferred with bonus to Avios. Not seeing non points earning transactions. The app is no better or worse than others and I would say service is also about the same. I will use the WE less now with Barclaycard in town but I’m not going to get rid of as it still has considerable value to me at least.

you’ve clearly got very lucky, i wasn’t so fortunate. Have you got some lottery tips? 🙂

Fee charged last August when I upgraded from the free to world elite.
Fee charged recently for 2nd year, no bonus points awarded.
the mistaken bonus of 40k has been removed.
no points awarded for what appears to be any curve transactions now

[JDB]

@Mick S HSBC has always been a strange organisation. Someone reported here she had three years of no fees and many have reported two, but no apparent pattern or logic. Also they have found this middle way of giving no points on some transactions but not also charging cash advance fees that would appear to go hand in hand with no points. If anyone tried to challenge, HSBC can probably make a reasonable argument. I think that some merchants give out different MCC codes depending on how you transact with them or the device you use.

[Luca M]

Just to add some data point and clear the confusion:

Curve transactions may no track any longer, as they may have well closed the Curve loop altogether, but for users that were not playing the Curve game,transactions are still tracking as normal (from F&D, School Meals top up, corner shops, barbers, etc…)

[SamG]

I haven’t had any points Curve (normal spend) or otherwise since the errogenous 40k was reversed on the 3rd

[Mick S]

Luca M wrote:

Just to add some data point and clear the confusion:

Curve transactions may no track any longer, as they may have well closed the Curve loop altogether, but for users that were not playing the Curve game,transactions are still tracking as normal (from F&D, School Meals top up, corner shops, barbers, etc…)

yep, that seems to be the case for. A transaction using the card directly seems to have posted points, whereas anything curve a few days earlier (several transactions) are pointless, literally

[Mick S]

given my annual 40k points bonus has not been awarded I’m now going to push for a refund of the fee – there is an official complaint in process just now.

The card is pretty much pointless now. My small amount of non-Amex spend can just go onto Barclaycard

[Carlos]

Mick S wrote:

given my annual 40k points bonus has not been awarded I’m now going to push for a refund of the fee – there is an official complaint in process just now.

The card is pretty much pointless now. My small amount of non-Amex spend can just go onto Barclaycard

I thought the annual fee was non-refundable?

[Mick S]

I’ve raised a complaint about the no show of the anniversary points. I’m going to propose I forfeit these in return for the fee, worth a shot.

[rams]

I’ve had direct transactions made on 6th October not come through with any points. HSBC are a mess right now

[The Urbanite]

rams wrote:

I’ve had direct transactions made on 6th October not come through with any points. HSBC are a mess right now

Mine have only posted up until the 1st October, usually seems to be a few days behind!

[Reney]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me when does the year 2 bonus come in? I think previously people said with the 2nd statement in the 2nd year. Is that on the statement day or days later? Can anyone confirm post the IT changes too?

Thx

[Mick S]

I called them last week, they told me 60 days from anniversary date. Although they have made up a nonsense date IMO.
I paid my first annual fee in August 2021, and the second in August 2022. However, they claim it’s September and told me they have until November to sort the points.

I can only assume they have got the September month as this is when I signed up for the Premier account and free card. This should have no bearing on the bonus, as the annual fees for WE card were taken in August.

Utter shambles and complaint lodged.

[johnwillis1986]

Also had no points posted for transactions from the 1st….
Originally assumed it was due to them being Curve transactions but seems to be similar to others who have reported nothing since the 1st even for direct transactions.
Did manage to get the bonus 25% for conversion to Avios though which was nice.

[SamG]

I think my points balance is going up though just the detail isn’t publishing. I’ll check again tomorrow

[Mick S]

Curve transactions now drip feeding into the reward portal, albeit almost two weeks behind.

Still no sign on the 2nd year bonus though.

[rams]

points coming through now

[bobthebuilder]

Has anybody been able to see when their points are coming up for expiry? This used to be shown on the card statement each month, but now doesn’t seem to be included. And clicking through to the Rewards portal only shows my total points, points earned (various) and points spent (none). Nothing about points which are due to expire.

[Luca M]

bobthebuilder wrote:

Has anybody been able to see when their points are coming up for expiry? This used to be shown on the card statement each month, but now doesn’t seem to be included. And clicking through to the Rewards portal only shows my total points, points earned (various) and points spent (none). Nothing about points which are due to expire.

Not sure I have ever noticed as I normally transfer the points once a year when the 25% bonus to Avios comes around (there is one right now, may be worth doing a transfer if you collect Avios and/or are not sure of the expiration date)

[memesweeper]

JDB wrote:

You need to do this early so as to avoid the fee being charged and then going round in circles to get it refunded.

+1

with any card that has a non-refundable annual charge, set a calendar alert for 10 or 11 months to kick off cancellation. Leaving it to the final week is just asking for trouble — if the bank charge you erroneously / too early, even if you do eventually get your money back, it won’t be worth the bun-fight for the final month of rewards. Make your profit in the first nine months then cancel early.

[colinc57]

Cancelled WE card on a fairly painless call. Didn’t try and offer anything to keep , and I didn’t ask ( sounded like a cs that would not have ability to do that).

Had for nearly three years ( paid first 2 fees, then got 1 waived ) but £255 for card + supp is now not worth it for me ( cheaper to pay lounge entry)

I see it mentioned here intro bonus can be got again (6m) but can’t see any mentioned on website / TF.

[Ash]

Normal curve transaction no longer earn points?

Do fronted transaction go through? Uncharged?

The fee is not pro-rata refundable?

[JDB]

Ash wrote:

Normal curve transaction no longer earn points?

Do fronted transaction go through? Uncharged?

The fee is not pro-rata refundable?

Fee is not refundable. For the rest, you need to try it out for yourself; different experiences reported.

[Ash]

Thanks JDB.

To maximise SUBs is it recommended to open the basic card, earn SUB, close it, wait 6 months and open the WE? Or vice versa

[JDB]

Ash wrote:

Thanks JDB.

To maximise SUBs is it recommended to open the basic card, earn SUB, close it, wait 6 months and open the WE? Or vice versa

No idea, but bear in mind the world of credit has dramatically changed in recent months. It would be rash to assume you will get whatever card you apply for anyway, let alone welcome you back after cancelling. Is there a sub on the basic card?