HSBC increasing credit card annual fees on 11/3/25

[kokoikaka]

Just saw the news,
looks like HSBC Australia retail banking business is up for sale

 

[desafinado74]

I had a missed call from a Premier Manager just now. (I recently became a Premier customer)
He said he wanted to discuss about my Premier status.
Has anyone here received such a call before ?

 

[0x012fd0aa]

I had a missed call from a Premier Manager just now. (I recently became a Premier customer)
He said he wanted to discuss about my Premier status.
Has anyone here received such a call before ?

I've had one before.

 

[desafinado74]

I've had one before.

What was the call about?

 

[0x012fd0aa]

What was the call about?

Not much, just an introduction and some general info.

 

[skylab]

so I have applied and got approved the HSBC premier Mastercard, just after Christmas '24.

then I got a letter to say the they will increase the annual fee, from $0 to $399 , but I get the first year off (just as was discussed on this thread).

then I just got an email today to say that there will be an annual fee of $399, which is charged in March this year!!

is this right and can they do this????

What you need to know​

The annual fee for your credit card will be changing from $0 to $399. The updated fee will apply from when your next annual fee is due on or after 11 March 2025.

 

[Damo_Oz_1]

It seems you'll get charged in December 2025 (if not cancelled before).

I mentioned the new charges to my RM, and it is not okay. She had no idea about the changes.

Post automatically merged: Jan 28, 2025

Just saw the news,
looks like HSBC Australia retail banking business is up for sale

That's why they stopped trying to be competitive all together. Their term deposit rates are shocking as compared to Macquarie.

 

[oz_mark]

so I have applied and got approved the HSBC premier Mastercard, just after Christmas '24.

then I got a letter to say the they will increase the annual fee, from $0 to $399 , but I get the first year off (just as was discussed on this thread).

then I just got an email today to say that there will be an annual fee of $399, which is charged in March this year!!

is this right and can they do this????

What you need to know​

The annual fee for your credit card will be changing from $0 to $399. The updated fee will apply from when your next annual fee is due on or after 11 March 2025.

It says when your fee is due on or after 11 March 2025. In your case that should be about 1 year after you opened the account.

 

[grandir]

Just saw the news,
looks like HSBC Australia retail banking business is up for sale

Hopefully NAB wont be the buyer. They're already destroying Citibank products via death by a thousand cuts - they'd likely do the same thing for HSBC too

 

[B A]

It seems you'll get charged in December 2025 (if not cancelled before).

I mentioned the new charges to my RM, and it is not okay. She had no idea about the changes.

Post automatically merged: Jan 28, 2025

That's why they stopped trying to be competitive all together. Their term deposit rates are shocking as compared to Macquarie.

They also dropped their bonus saving interest where’s it’s no longer competitive anymore. And the bad thing with HSBC is that if you want to change your online banking sending limit you need to call them and they can’t even do it then as you will get a call back from them to do it which is stupid as then how do you verify you are really getting a call back from HSBC. Only option was to get a reference number from the first call and for them to quote it when they call you back.

Just got email as well with the fee change. Will cancel my card before anniversary date.

 

[Johnxx]

That's annoying, the Premier Mastercard was a keeper even after planning to stop using after year 1 and the 1.5X Qantas points earn....just the travel insurance and 2 free lounge passes was enough. Add the 2 lounge passes from Citi free for life and getting Qantas Club every 2 years from Points Club+ and J class travel from points gets me a very good lounge game for someone with no status

 

[Blackswan]

Looks like it's made mainstream press, too;

https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/i-dont-think-so-aussie-man-slams-bank-over-credit-card-fee-increase/news-story/948598a0c948dd45d9a1a77b62c5aaf6

 

[bamboo tree]

Any suggestions for which card to switch to for those that don't like annual fees?

 

[GrahamBRI]

Any suggestions for which card to switch to for those that don't like annual fees?

Checkout this article for some options of cards for people who don't like annual fees

Why Are Credit Cards Moving to Monthly Fees?

Some Australian banks are starting to switch from annual credit card fees to monthly fees, sometimes with a fee waiver for each month that you spend over a certain amount. Why?

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[grandir]

Any suggestions for which card to switch to for those that don't like annual fees?

All depends on what you're after.

The great thing about HSBC Premier CC was that it earned you decent points with $0 AF. After this change, Im not aware of any CCs on the market now that earn any points with $0 AF or $0 monthly fee (excluding those that require minimum spends).

EDIT: I think the only two cards on the market atm with $0 AF that still earns points is the Amex Qantas Discovery Card (0.75 QFF/$) and the Coles No Annual Fee MC (0.5 flybuys/$). Both are very basic e.g. no additional extras like travel insurance or have points earn caps, but at least they're simple no complicated hoops or acrobatics to worry about to avoid a fee.

 

[albyd]

I agree, there's not much in the market. Was looking around to add some cards to my "portfolio" after a dry spell of applications having cancelled a number of cards to qualify for my home loan, I think I'll reluctantly be sticking with my HSBC card. Some of the AF's being charged by some reward cards are just ridiculous - especially since after the SUB is earned, the ongoing earn caps out at a few thousand per month. HSBC has an annual cap so they're no different in this respect. Happy to be told of an alternative.

Used to like to Amplify family of cards but after they gutted SQ and removed many other transfer partners, I moved on from it.

Hopefully HSBC AU is "bought" by someone other than NAB. I imagine NAB might have some ACCC issues. Appears the foreign banks who were encouraged to set up in AU during the 1980s are all leaving which is a shame. Will have to find another solution to maintaining Premier with HSBC.

Imagine the increase in AF's will prepare the pig for sale - I saw this with Citi bringing in their now phased out Payments for Points (I've forgotten what they called it) and Fixed Payment Option which NAB has been slowly increasing the fee for - started at 1% now 5% upfront. Guess these 2 products were designed to pump up the credit card book so they could get more for the business (turned out from NAB).

Edit: HSBC US have also increased their AF for the Premier MC from $US0 to $US95 so I think this might be a global search for more revenue as well as trying to pump up the sale price for HSBC AU.

 

[serfty]

HSBC has an annual cap so they're no different in this respect.

The Australia HSBC Premier World MC had has a monthly cap of 10K points.
The Australia HSBC Premier World MC had has an annual cap for points earn of $120000. At 1.5 per $ that's 180,000 points which convert to Krisflyer/Velocity at 2:1 ...

 

[albyd]

The Australia HSBC Premier World MC had has a monthly cap of 10K points.

Reads to me like an annual cap once you reach $120K spend:

Premier World Mastercard | Rewards Credit Card - HSBC AU

HSBC Premier Credit Card provides you with a wide range of exclusive benefits. Find out more about our Premier Credit Card and enjoy our premium service.

www.hsbc.com.au

This is the case for either QFF or HSBC Rewards Plus variants.

 

[serfty]

Reads to me like an annual cap once you reach $120K spend:

Premier World Mastercard | Rewards Credit Card - HSBC AU

HSBC Premier Credit Card provides you with a wide range of exclusive benefits. Find out more about our Premier Credit Card and enjoy our premium service.

www.hsbc.com.au

This is the case for either QFF or HSBC Rewards Plus variants.

You are correct. I had originally though that but on receiving the card I decided to recheck and must have misread the terms.

www.hsbc.com.au/content/dam/hsbc/au/docs/pdf/pp_rewards_terms.pdf