I have spent almost an hour on the phone to HSBC: first listening to their interminable music and menus going round in circles, then trying to talk to two Chinese ladies neither of whom I could understand.

I recently got a HSBC Debit card: with the card came the instruction to "use the 'Credit' button" when using EFTPOS in order to "have extra security" and to have a higher daily withdrawal amount.

I just can't get my head around this: it's a DEBIT card, fgs. The money comes direct out of my account.

And what's all this about "increased security"? For whom? If *I'm* using the card, I don't need any security at all - if someone's nicked it should I ask them to make sure they use "Credit" so that *I* can have increased security?

So I tried to use it today at the Post Office to buy some Euros: it was rejected since I pressed "Credit"! Eventually I pressed "Debit" - and it was rejected because I was over my daily limit (Despite signing a form a month ago doubling that limit to twice what I wanted today.)

I am getting seriously p*ss*d off with the whole HSBC experience - the banking is fine until you need to talk to someone and then, basically, you might as well talk to a wall.

(Rant almost over...)

All debit cards work on the same principles:

1. If you want cash out - you can't press "credit". That's why you couldn't get your Euros on "credit". Same if you bought stuff in Woolworth and said you wanted $50 cash out - you must not press "credit". If you want to take cash out, press "savings".

2. If you're out shopping and want to buy something that exceeds your daily limit, you can get around that by choosing "credit". The money still comes out of your account, but for some reason you are allowed to have more of your own money when you press "credit".

Don't know what the logic behind this system is, but all debit cards work like that not just your HSBC one.

And for getting Chinese ladies in the HSBC call centre: I thought HSBC stood for Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation ... both locations are now in China

Weird: you have said what I understood to be the situation - but it still doesn't make any sense to me!

I think (but that's only my personal theory) that it has to do with insurance. If someone steals your card and uses the "debit" function, the bank's insurance has to reimburse you. So, naturally, the bank wants to keep this risk small hence you have a low limit.

If the thief uses the "credit" function, maybe it is MasterCard (or Visa - depending on what "type" of debit card it is), whose insurance has to foot the bill. They have more expensive insurance - which is why the limit on "credit" is higher (after all on "credit" the retailer usually gets charged 2.5% or theirabouts by MC/Visa for the transaction).

Might be totally wrong

Sounds logical. Just so long as the thief knows what button to press (an is keen to be as helpful as possible to the card company!) - as I said above, the issue doesn't arise when you use it yourself, legitimately!

Banks want you to hit 'Credit' as they get a bigger percentage of the transaction value than if you hit 'Debit'.

Retailers want you to hit 'debit' as they will pay a lower fee for the transaction. It's why Woolworths stopped the silly scenario of hitting 'credit' for debit card transactions earlier this year.

If you hit credit you get greater protection through consumer credit laws than a debit card transaction.

>>If you hit credit you get greater protection through consumer credit laws than a debit card transaction.<<

Do you mean the sort of "insurance" for shoddy goods or breakages/loss that there is in the UK with cards? I didn't think that applied in Oz.

I concur

I believe that when you hit "credit" they go by your full balance rather than your available balance (direct debits pending etc.) but that's a bit of a guess on my part

I don't understand their take on the security though because AFAIK, you can still sign for a credit transaction and how hard is it to forge a signature? Before the pin was introduced for credit cards here in Oz, my HSBC card was stolen and used in Myer and other shops as a credit card, presumably the thief scribbled something slightly similar to the signature on the card and got away with it. HSBC did refund me all the money and there was no trouble at all to get them to do it.

Never had my Eftpos card used by thieves though since they can't without pin.

I do agree with the call centre frustration though... I sometimes want to bang my head against a brick wall when I call them
But hey, they were the only ones that did not charge anything for using our own money all those years ago when we first landed here, so we liked them And still do most of the time...

I always use the cheque button with my hsbc debit card, then use a pin code with it. This is what I was told to do when I first got it and have never had any problems here in australia. I still think of it as a debit card but here its thought of as a cheque account, even though it doesnt involve cheques.

I have been using mine for 4 years in aus and never had a problem

Yes, this is the case. The Banks charge the retailer more for the credit facility than they do for the debit facility, for a transaction of the same value.

So, the bank would rather that you pressed 'Credit' then 'Debit' as they get to take a chunk more money.

Retailers [allegedly] know this and factor in the cost into the price they offer. If you are paying by cash, you [usually] still pay the same as if paying by Credit Card - there really ought to be a cash price and a credit price, like some of the electrical retailers have.

I must admit that I too found HSBC to be a real pain if you needed to speak to anybody. I have one of their credit cards, and a special offer was interest free purchases at Bing Lee for the month of March I think, for 12 months. I purchased a TV, thinking that the interest free price would be excellent, and low and behold, no interest free period. Trying to get to speak to anyone that understood me was painful - ages spent on hold, talking to people that didn't understand, on hold again, and repeat. I ended up just ditching the card and forgetting the whole thing.

For a similarly 'European' banking experience, but with people that actually speak English, I heartily recommend Citibank. There may be yanks on the end of the phone, but they do at least speak English.


S

The other weird thing is that you have a chipped card and have the option of signing or PINning! Once again the chip is "for your security" - but it's only used by *you* and the signing will obviously be used by the bastard who steals your card!

Yes, I agree. I have never understood the 'option' to pin or sign. It's almost like they just don't get the concept.


S

Solution:
Get a credit card with no annual fee (Wizard) or FF miles (Citibank)
Use this card to pay for everything.
Settle the account every month thereby paying no interest.

In the 4 years that we have been using credit cards here we have had:
A business class flight Perth-Johannesburg
An economy class flight on SIA Johannesburg-Perth
An economy class return Perth-Sydney
3 economy class returns Perth-NZ
And still have plenty of points left for more flights

All this for using credit cards and having paid not a cent in interest (only extra paid has been one annual $20 FF fee on the Citibank card)

Sweet as.

I always using Savings (as its an online savings account( and Pin with HSBC debit card. HSBC issue you with a separate credit card if you want it as such.
Leave HSBC for saving/cheque and get another credit card for "credit"