HSBC Credit Cards

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Thu, 24 Dec 2009 9:05 am

No. Why would you, having no credit is different than having bad credit. Two different kettles of fish.

revhappy · Post by **revhappy** » Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:16 pm

I was with Citibank in India and applied for Citibank the moment I landed here. No hassles.

I applied for stan chart also coz they came to my office and had a promotion of 100$ cash credited to my card for free. They wanted a letter from my employer. I gave them a letter. They got back to me stating that they need a recent letter and not one that is 6 months old. I have also provided them my recent payslip. Yet the want a recent letter.

I told them never mind. Citibank works for me.

kiwi73 · Post by **kiwi73** » Sat, 26 Dec 2009 1:18 pm

Citi has some very strange policies which to me at the time seem extremely frustrating. I have been HSBC in SG for last 3.5 years, no issues. However it seems everywhere you eat in SG there are signs for discounts when paying by Citi Credit Card. So in the end after having swearing to myself I would never use Citibank again after the worst possible time of my life with this bank in my previous country, that I would apply for a local CC.

Met up with the bank manager (Bugis MRT) applied via the usual method and got a call from manager a couple of days later asking about my contact email address I had used on my application form. He was stating this was not a public address and could not use it. He asked me to provide a public email address for all correspondence. I told the stupid idiot that the address I had given him was the same address I had used for the last 12 years (work address) and that using public email addresses was just crazy due to the high risk of security breaches. I do not and will never use a public email address.

This plonker of a bank manager was going to refuse my application for not using a public address until I asked to speak to his manager and explained the security concerns. Even this guy told me they cannot accept private work email addresses. What is this bank all about? Obviously they don't have a strong internal security policy for their customers.

So after explaining this security concern many times and the fact my work address is 1000% more secure and has been the same for 12 years they finally accepted my application form.

Banks......sigh.....they seem to provide me with the most amount of stress. A necessary evil I say.

ilovemexmany · Post by **ilovemexmany** » Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:50 am

I recently relocated to SG and applied for a credit card with Citi. It's been 3 weeks, and I have not heard any news from them regarding the card. So I went online to check out the requirements again, and noted the fine line regarding the minimum income requirement. So in my case, I am unable to meet the requirement for foreigners. I also went to the other banks to check and saw the same requirement for most banks or credit card.

Do this mean I don't have any chance of getting a credit card in SG?

This is really frustrating, as I cannot keep on using my overseas CC, because of the unfavorable FX rates.

revhappy · Post by **revhappy** » Mon, 28 Dec 2009 2:11 pm

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Mon, 28 Dec 2009 5:22 pm

revhappy, you would be surprised at the number of Yank, Ozzies & Brits and especially europeans that are here on less than optimum salary packages. Quite a few are recent grads looking to get that leg up on the corporate ladder which in the west often translates to having some international exposure "in situ". If you are young enough and quick enough, you can often play on the "western" aspect amongst local SME's to get hired, if for no other reason that the novelty of having a westerner on a local payroll. I daresay there are more here under 7K/mo than there are above 7k/mo.

Maybe he should yell reverse discrimination?

sms

ilovemexmany · Post by **ilovemexmany** » Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:26 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:revhappy, you would be surprised at the number of Yank, Ozzies & Brits and especially europeans that are here on less than optimum salary packages. Quite a few are recent grads looking to get that leg up on the corporate ladder which in the west often translates to having some international exposure "in situ". If you are young enough and quick enough, you can often play on the "western" aspect amongst local SME's to get hired, if for no other reason that the novelty of having a westerner on a local payroll. I daresay there are more here under 7K/mo than there are above 7k/mo.

Maybe he should yell reverse discrimination?

sms

Just to elaborate on your response, sms, is that I think people often mistake the term expat. Most people just equate the term expat with luxury. An expat is just someone living in a country outside his/her legal residence temporarily or permanently. An expat can be a worker or student. Nothing in the term equates it to luxurious high paying jobs with all taken care expenses.

Also, there is a thing called a recession that is still impacting most of the West. And a lot of crazy stuff is happening there, including layoffs, mandatory no-pay leaves, no raises/bonuses, pay-cuts, etc. I even know of 2 expats with my company in the US whose home office do not want to take them at the end of their secondment term. They are therefore in the process of renegotiating with the US office for a local package in hopes of keeping their jobs.

So the point is, many companies are no longer willing to pay out the so-called "expat packages." My company is one of those. This includes sending single employees to countries like Brazil, India, and China on more localized secondment packages. The most my company is willing to pay in addition to the "local salary" is relocation expense and housing allowance.

In my opinion, this is still a good deal. It's international experience for 2 years, greater promotion opportunity in the APAC region, and also an opportunity to weather the storm in the US. Anyways, I digress off the topic of this string.[/u]

napalm · Post by **napalm** » Fri, 01 Jan 2010 12:52 pm

they only cater for SCs and PRs mostly and if you are an EP holder you have to have a minimum annual income, but they also require you to have at least 6mos valid pass (one time the agent told me i have to have at least 1 year valid pass...). otherwise you will be denied.

i have been declined by HSBC 3 times also. funny thing is 2 of that 3 times they were the ones who called me to offer a card. never bothered with them ever since

citibank, dbs or uob are better alternatives

Post by **sundaymorningstaple** » Fri, 01 Jan 2010 1:49 pm

ilovemexmany,

Obviously, you have not bothered to do much research on this board as of yet. Had you done so, you would have already known that what you have just said, I've been saying for sometime here........

Nevermine, it's a new year and some of us are still shaking off the cobwebs of last night I suppose.

chiroy · Post by **chiroy** » Fri, 01 Jan 2010 5:19 pm

Happy new year everyone.

I too have only recently relocated to SG for work.
I am interested in HSBC Credit Card, however I'm still in probation. Should I wait until I "passed" the probation period? Or it doesnt matter (as long as the income requirements are met)?

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