If you have an HSBC-issued Officemax card, you will no longer be able to use it as of today May 13, 2009.

Dear Valued Customer,

We are sorry to inform you that after May 13, 2009, you will not be able to use your HSBC-issued Officemax credit card for purchases in-store, online or through our catalogs

Please note that your account will continue to be serviced by HSBC. Therefore if you have a balance on your account, you will continue to receive HSBC billing statements until the balance is paid in full*

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and have enclosed a coupon for 10% off your next Officemax in-store purchase. We will continue to accept all major forms of payment for future purchases.

As always, you'll continue to receive all the benefits of your Maxperks Rewards for Business membership.

All is not lost though because with this letter, I got a 10% off coupon to be used in-store. Yeah. That'll work.

@PLATTWORX: I have to agree with that. I had a BB card because they were offering 1 year at 0% so I figured I could earn six bucks by keeping my money in the bank rather than giving it to them. I set up monthly minimum payments for 11 months on their site and then ~15 days before the year was up I paid the balance online. It was pain free and I was happy to use their money for a year.

That said if the OP had mailed a check last week there would be no cause to kvetch.

Although it doesn't help you right now this moment, this practice of "charging you a charge to pay your bill" is being prohibited by the current credit card reform bill now before Congress. Unfortunately, I don't think this takes effect for another year.

I have nothing bad at all to say about HSBC. i have checking and credit accounts with them. I just went through an identity theft issue with them over the holidays and they took much better care of me than a friend that does their banking with Chase.

Someone else said it in this thread, don't carry a balance, and pay your statements on time.

@econobiker: It's a savings account, and the debit card they gave me doesn't have a cc logo on it, so I've had issues with it getting accepted. They're cutting me a check and closing my account, but it's taking too long.

I have had fun with "Better off Dead" references, though:
I want my two dollars. Two dollars!

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.

@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.

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.

@babyruthless:

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

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.

"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.

@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.)

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.

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

@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.

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

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.

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.

@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.

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

@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.

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...

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

@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!

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.

@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:

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.

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. :)

Yay, experience.

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.

@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.

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.

@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.

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.

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.

There are alternatives to the $15 fee.