In case the print's not legible, here's what the email says:
"You asked... We listened." says the big red header.
"Now make online payments to your HSBC Credit Card on weekends and holidays at no cost, plus no same day payment fees when you use Online Bill Pay!"
At first glance, this sounds like confirmation that HSBC is in the business of putting its customers first. We the customers asked for better online payment methods and HSBC, being the practically-home-town-Main-Street lenders that they are, have gone the extra mile for us, because they value our business. Right?
No. The changes in bill payment, as much as HSBC wants to pretend otherwise, are actually due to the implementation of the Credit CARD Act of 2009, a bill signed into law last May, and which took effect February 22. One of the provisions of the new law? No more bullshit fees tied in to making a payment, and no more bullshit late fees (which were previously subject to double-cycle intrest) tacked on if the payment's made during an undesignated window of time. This is just one of many changes the bill introduces, introduced to prevent credit card companies from screwing customers out of every cent they have. It should be noted that credit card companies fought the passage of this bill tooth and nail. It passed right through the U.S. House with 357-70 support (69 of the nays were Republicans) and in the Senate, 90-5 (4 nays from Republicans). President Obama signed it into law May 22, 2009. Since passage, credit card companies have scrambled to jack up rates and generally put the screws to their customers while they were still legally allowed to.
Don't let the ads fool you. Credit card companies don't like you. They don't want to help you out. They want to make as much money off of you as they possibly can. Since the president and Congress took away some of their ability to screw us over, they've settled with rewriting history a little, to make it seem like they're really the good guys, going the extra mile for the customer. But really, they're the soulless exploitive fucks they've always been.
