HSBC Credit Card — ANNUAL FEE CHARGED ON FREE FOR LIFE CREDIT CARD

HSBC CREDIT CARD – FRAUD AND CHEATING

I was holding a silver credit card of HSBC bank for many years. This card was issued to me stating that it is ‘FREE FOR LIFE’ and there are no joining fee or Annual fee or any other hidden fee at any point of time.

True to that, I was not charged any fees for the past many years UNTIL on 13th April 2010, they charged Rs. 700/- plus service charges towards annual fee plus Rs. 350 plus service charges towards annual fee of one add on card.

I sent an email requesting them to waive off the annual fees to customer care department in their email id [protected]@hsbc.co.in on 14th April and I got a reply mentioning that there is no FREE FOR LIFE credit card and that there was some promotional campaign going on at that time, which is not there currently and I should pay the annual fees as above.

I wrote again saying that I was not informed of any promotional campaign earlier and also I was not informed of closing of any promotional campaign. I requested them to cancel the card immediately. They responded saying I have to pay the annual fee as above and then can take up request for cancellation through different channel, by writing to their office address or talking to phone banking.

I do not intend to make the above payment as I feel cheated by HSBC by giving false information and their deliberate intention was to cheat.

My questions are

1. Why the annual fee all of a sudden on a card promised to be FREE FOR LIFE?
2. Why the annual fee or joining fee were not charged in the past many years?
3. Why was I not informed of the promotional campaign to waive annual or joining fee at the time of taking the card? What are the details of the campaign?
4. Why was I not informed of the closing of the so called promotional campaign, if at all it were there?
5. Why was I not given an option to cancel the card before levying annual fees?
6. Why was I not informed prior to charging Annual fee.
7. My calendar cycle was from 14th to 13th of any calendar month. Why was the annual fee charged on 13th of April, which prevented me to cancel the card prior to charging the annual fee, as it was charged on the last day of the cycle.
8. Why was there no mention of the period for which annual fees are charged?
9. I know of one instance of such levy of annual charges and on request, the same was waived off on 15th April 2010, stating that the fee is waived due to some promotional campaign going on now. That means there is some promotional campaign going on now. Why was that promotional campaign benefits not extended to my card. Why this double standards of HSBC offering promotional benefits only to a few. In what way am I different from those?
10. Where can I take legal recourse and what are the legal remedial courses available to me from this daylight robbery.