Can't you just pay online without fees? How about just mailing a check?

There are alternatives to the $15 fee.

Just run down to the branch and make the payment at the counter. It should post the same day. This is an advantage of getting a credit card from a bank with local branches. Something I prefer over getting a card from say Capital One.

Why does HSBC need to charge 15 bucks to process a payment?

Because they can. It's as simple as that. I know. It sucks. I have the same gripe. The alternative is to pay late, incur a $29 late fee, any associated finance charges, and the risk of credit damage.

Fortunately, many store cards that have the same terms and conditions can also be paid in-person. Several times, I found myself driving out to a store late at night paying my credit card bill to avoid these charges.

That fee usually applies when talking to a human to make the payment. My American Express card has a pay-by-phone hotline which is completely automated, but free to use.

@jdsmn:

They don't accept any debit or credit cards either.

...

I'm mailing in a check at this point, but the notification says that this late payment could be listed on my credit report so I'm hoping they get it and clear it soon.

Yay, reading.

I'd consider it a lesson learned about not doing business with banks that don't care about their customers. We've all been victimized once or twice by unexpectedly punitive practices. Optimistically, we expect that our bank actually CARES about us and our money. It's sad to find out that they don't. But illuminating as well.

Our credit card is through our credit union. Almost everyone qualifies for some credit union. Our military-based credit union (husband is federal employee) requires only that you LIVE in the area. Our card has no fee penalties of any kind. I've warned both of my kids when headed off to college -- DO NOT get a credit card of any kind. If you feel you need one, talk to me and we'll get it through the credit union.

@ZoeSchizzel: I've thought about moving to a Credit Union, but honestly, I've only had good luck with BofA. I know I'm rare, but they've been good to me over the many years I've been with them (starting with a savings account when I was 11).

Recently, I was dumb and didn't keep decent enough track of my account, and due to getting paid weekly I'm always cutting it short by Friday, and on Thursday I went to Denny's...YAY overdraft! Two $35 fees.

They refunded BOTH.

I was eccstatic, since it was 100% my fault.

Any chance we're talking the "paying over the phone by talking to a person" charge, and there's a free or cheap version that's just for paying through the voice-mail system? That's how Comcast does it--they want to dissuade you from taking up human time, but there's an automated option.

HSBC Can lick my ass shiny.

@haoshufu: Could he pay it off at Best Buy? He said it was a BB account through HSBC. I know Express lets me pay the balance in store.

@nakedscience:

As an HSBC credit card holder, I can assure you that they do indeed process payments online for no fee, so, uhhh, your smart-alec comment notwithstanding, JDMSN is absolutely right--there ARE alternatives that don't involve sending a check (I never have) or paying a fee (ditto.)

If you're going to be nasty, at least try to be accurate.

I defaulted on a Shell Card because of this. I always paid online, but for some reason I couldn't log in for awhile. They didn't know why so I tried to pay over the phone and they wanted to charge me $8. I had recently moved and hadn't been getting my shell bill since moving, despite changing my address with them. So I told them to send another bill so I could pay it. I never got one and they still wouldn't waive the fee; now they're out $200 in gas. Fuck them and my credit.

@nakedscience: Actually @jdsmn still has a valid point - with my credit card company, cell phone company, insurance company, etc. I can pay online by giving them my checking account info (like you would do to sign up for direct deposit from work). It doesn't take any longer than paying with a card, and you can usually pay with it right away (that is, once you enter your checking info you don't have to wait a week for it to verify or anything).

Yay, experience.

@haoshufu: That really helps solve the problem of the OP.

HSBC called me 9 times last Saturday from "Unknown" or "Blocked" numbers. Nine times. For a $15.00 bill that was 2 days late.

I have had consistently bad customer service with HSBC. A couple of years ago, I got married, and it took several (4?) calls and many hours of hold music to change my name on the account. At one point, I was advised to drive to my nearest branch. 13 hours away. Recently, I attempted to buy a CD with the cash in my savings account--something I do whenever I get $X. I got an email from a CSR noting that my occupation is "Student," and where did I get my money. I'm not sure it was any of her beeswax, as we used to say, but I told her, and then...nothing. My CD never got processed, I sent an email, they told me to call. I called, they told me to send an email. So then I opened a new account elsewhere, waited for my direct deposit to change, and transferred my balance from HSBC to another bank. Now I've got $1.92 (interest accrued during the period until I transferred my balance) in my HSBC account that they won't let me transfer because the minimum amount to transfer is $10. :)

@floraposte: Comcast probably doesn't want you to use human time not only because it costs them money to pay people to talk on the phone, but also because while you're talking to someone on the phone, you're more likely to complain about something which might cost them even more money. Oh, Comcast.

BoA does this too. Sometimes the due date falls on or near payday, and I have to call in my payment. No charge if the payment is coming out of a BoA account, but since my divorce I know use Wells Fargo and get nailed w/a $15 charge. Total ripoff.

@WolfeBabalas:

That's correct.

In fact, HSBC's online credit card payment system for BB is pretty good. It tells you exactly when the payment will be made and offers "rush payments" if you're up against it. The system's fairly robust and I'd recommend everyone do all of this stuff online.

@Scoobatz: When I worked at Victoria's Secret, we would have a run on the registers the day that credit cards were due. The only problem was we could only take cash or check--no debit cards (the system would not let you run plastic to pay for a credit card bill). I cannot tell you how many people would yell at me that a debit card is JUST LIKE A CHECK!!! and that I should take it. I always agreed with them in principle, but that did not change the fact that the register disagreed. So if you are going to pay at a store at the last minute, bring a backup checkbook, or call ahead to ask if they can process debit cards. Or be willing to swallow the ATM fees that you'll be charged for using an out-of-network ATM.

@WolfeBabalas: Yeah, I bought a washer and dryer on a BB HSBC card and had free automatic payments set up through their website. I wonder why they wouldn't take debit payments for this.

I ran into this when trying to pay my banana republic card on the phone. She told me there will be a charge but i don't remember how much now. i couldn't understand it. I posed to the question to her..."so you're charging me because i want to give you money. One what planet does that make sense?" she answered that it was because the stores use a 3rd party to process payments over the phone and the charge was i guess paid to that 3rd party. it still seems incredibly stupid.

@WolfeBabalas: I was nasty, how? All I did was copy-paste. If you think that's nasty, you must get offended very, very easily. I fear for your heart!

@me and the sysop: They use ACH to get your money, not debit, that's why.

@calquist: No, you can't. I tried that myself one time, and ended up having to pay the "rush fee" to get it processed in time.. for an online payment.

@ZoeSchizzel: Since my postings tend to have me all oven South-America or sometimes in the US, I use my cards with almost no issues. That is because the two banks I deal with have associate offices all over the latinamerican regions. Most of them centered in Argentina and Mexico (Santander and BBVA), so even if I'm out of the country I can pay in a local branch. If I'm anywhere else in the world the first card to come out is my amex.

@floraposte: From what I read, that seems to be the case.
Most likely the problem is that it might be a fixed fee due to using time and a real live person to man the phones. It is excessive due to the low amount.

@qwickone: Yep. This is how my electric bill is paid. It's not debit.

@WolfeBabalas: Nasty would have been telling jdsmn to read and then not giving him the answer.

Also, anyone without an HSBC card would not know about the online payment availability, and it is not mentioned at all in the article. If you're going to be nasty, make sure there's a reason...

@katstermonster: Apparently, my copy-pasting is nasty, but his assuming I should know how HSBC works even though I dont' have account is not...

PEOPLE ARE WEIRD.

That said, if there is online payment, then he should just use that, right? I'm confoosled.

It doesn't hurt your credit until it is past 30 days late. What I have done is not pay the fee and pay it the fastest free way possible. Then if they charge a late fee call and complain. You may have to threaten to cancel the account, but it worked for me. I know it depends.

We really need MORE outrage at them trying to play this gotcha game.

@ADismalScience:

Rush payments have a $15 dollar charge according to the website.

And the regular online payment system requires that you give them access to your checking account, which many people are loath to do.

Also from experience if you're not already setup for online payments it can take a few days to get your banking information verified, not good if you're already late. In this case mailing a check was probably the best answer if he didn't want to pay a service fee.

@nakedscience:

It wasn't the copy and pasting that was nasty, it was the sacrcastic little "yay" that implied that the answer to jdsmn's query was "no," when in fact, it wasn't. And that's the point: you pretended to know how HSBC worked by implying that the article gave the answer, when it didn't.

Pay by phone is usually the last option of someone who is nearly late paying their bill.

So, yes, they are going to gouge you.

The last time I screwed up and found myself in this situation, I cheerfully agreed to the charge, as it was far cheaper than allowing them to ding me for a late payment and crank my rate through the roof.

If this bothers you, I would suggest following my new policy ... never carry a balance, and pay on time. CC companies hate customers like me.

A significant portion of credit cards charge $15 to pay via phone- as others said- because they can.

@frank64: That "refund the fee call" only works once in a blue moon. Try it more than one time and you lose. Plus most automatically jack your rates upon paying late.

They charge $15 because they don't WANT you to pay over the phone. They want you to pay via the Internet, which minimizes their costs.

FYI, late payments don't affect your credit score until they're 30 days late.

I have an HSBC card. To pay online for free you have to schedule the payment the day prior (unlike with Chase, Citi, etc. where the cutoff is early afternoon on the same day. I think HSBC has a similar cutoff, the day before it it will take 2 days) To pay the same day is a $15 fee, and all that does is change the post date.

We had a few large purchases and had our HSBC card near its limit (it was still paid in full by the due date). My wife used the wrong credit card and the pending charge showed we were going to be over the limit. I called customer service to find out my options. Turns out that paying the $15 express payment choice would do no good, as the post would still happen later, and the over limit fee would already have been charged. She said that after I was charged the over limit fee there was chance it could be credited.

I paid for the next day for free (online), and it posted before the purchase, so I was in the clear.

I have to say their customer service was the best I have had from a credit card issuer in a very long time, and it shouldn't be that hard to schedule a payment a full day in advance.

@babyruthless: Looks like a debit card funded couple of packs of gum at the food store are in order. Or maybe one pack of gum and then take out the remaining balance via debit (if stores can give out that low amount.)

"Can't you just pay online without fees? How about just mailing a check?"

EXACTLY!

You got a statement saying you did not pay off your entire balance (somehow) and still owned $13 but you waited until the last moment to call and try and pay via phone so your check payment may be late??

If you can write this note to the Consumerist, you can log into HSBC's web site and pay your bill online well before that $13 is due for FREE.

Who on Earth pays their bill BY PHONE?? If I were HSBC I'd charge $15 too for silly stuff like that with so many other free payment options available.

color me stupid but if you paying by phone you are also giving them access to your checking account.

Go to Guest Services at Best Buy, You can make a payment at the counter there also. bestbuy.com has a link to manage your credit card account online. I know this because I have a best buy card.

@babyruthless:

They don't take debit b/c there's a processing fee (less than credit, but non-zero).

BTW, I have a couple of times with Citibank. One day past the due date and I called to ask them to postpone the due date and they did it. No late charge, no finance charge. Be nice on the phone with them though.

@mgy: Ugh. I just closed my account yesterday. I only opened it because they had a 0% transfer AND 0% purchase offer for a year that I put all my textbooks on but their service is so lackluster that I finally jumped ship.

The truly disgusting thing is what it costs a bank that size to process a paperless payment. It is so cheap that banks routinely scan checks and then do a paperless transaction to save money. I have been told an ACH transaction is less than 10 cents.

I have a mortgage loan with HSBC (they bought a Buffalo bank that had originated it). For over ten years, I mail a check on the first of the month. The payment is not considered late and does not involve a penalty until after the 15th. The check always clears around the 5th or 6th. Since the bailouts (and HSBC was bailed out by the British Government) I get phone calls from an unidentified or blocked number starting on the 3rd and continuing until a day or two after the check cleared. These calls start at 8 in the morning and continue all day. I answered it once and told them to stop calling. Now, when I see an unidentified or blocked phone number, I just don't answer. They never leave a message. It's really annoying. To answer the obvious question, to pay by wire or phone involves a charge of $20. Ain't worth it, unless they pick up the cost.

@Bramble73: The HSBC online system also doesn't verify the payment until several days subsequent to the submission. If the payment is before the deadline but still within about a week of payment, particularly depending on holidays and weekends, it may still count as "late".

I have a Best Buy card and my first bill came too late to pay online - by the time I got the account set up, the payment would not have been considered submitted until after the due date, despite my having five days to submit the payment. I had to pay over the phone, and could only argue them into a half-price rush fee for their error.

For whatever reason, the system places a rather large buffer of days before any advance payment and then quite often generates late notices. It's likely that if he was paying close enough to be worried about a check, the online system was beyond useless.

That's not as bad as Wells Fargo. When I last checked you could pay online for free. But you could ONLY pay from a Wells Fargo checking account. And they also charged $15 to pay by phone. I realize that the idea was to convince customers to open a WF checking account as well as their credit card, but seems kind of idiotic when there are large swaths of the country where there are no WF branches.