Those of you who joined me on Monday’s earning miles webinar will remember me waxing lyrical about one particular card- the HSBC Advance.
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The HSBC Advance currently gives you 4 miles per $1 on local dining and online spending, without any caps. I don’t need to tell you how amazing a deal this is, if you’re willing to park $30K in a HSBC Advance account or transfer $2,500 a month into one for 12 months (which is required to get a HSBC Advance card).
We knew from the start that this was never going to be sustainable over the long term. Offering 4 miles per $1 (10X rewards points) on spending is a loss leader strategy for HSBC to get people to park money with them (and perhaps eventually target some of these individuals for priority banking products). It can’t be anything other than that, because I imagine they lose money every time someone does a 4 mpd transaction.
Originally the 10X HSBC Rewards points program was scheduled to end on 31 Dec 2016. However, I’ve just been informed (thanks Carl) by a reader that HSBC has quietly updated the T&C on their site, which now read-
- The programme period for the 10x HSBC Rewards points programme ends on 31 March 2017 or such other date as may be determined byย ย HSBC at its sole discretion.
I don’t know how HSBC is financing this. Frankly, I don’t care. All I know is 4mpd without caps continues and it feels so good.
If you’re still on the fence about getting a HSBC Advance card, this should provide you some extra impetus to do so.
It is with caps unless you have unlimited credit limit.
yeah but come on, you get what i mean. If credit limit is the issue it’s possible to “top up” your balance by prepaying your credit card bill.
I think there is a cap on the bonus points (up to your monthly credit limit). So you cannot prepay your account to get around this limit. You can charge more by prepaying but you will not get bonus points on this “extra payment”.
Did I get it right?
No, I checked my statements in greatest detail and also called them up. Confirmed that there is no cap.
I think you’re referring to this
The 10X HSBC Rewards points earned on qualifying transactions will be limited to the approved credit limit within the qualifying calendar month.
I’ve not busted my limit on this card before so I can’t comment from personal experience, but you’re right, it does sound like pre-paying an additional amount will not earn the bonus points. I’d defer to someone who has tried before though.
I dropped HSBC a query using their secured messaging system, and they confirmed that bonus points is limited to the approved credit limit. Pre-paying or asking for a temporary increase in credit limit will not increase the cap in bonus points.
thanks james
All credit cards with no earning caps are always subject to the credit card limit anyway, so I don’t really understand what point you are trying to make.
Originally the 10X HSBC Rewards points program was scheduled to end on 31 Dec 2017. >> you mean 31 Dec 2016?
good catch. will fix.
The alternative to parking $30,000 with them is actually transferring $2,500 every month with a grace period of 24 months to reach $30,000 (not 12 months). You can withdraw the $2,500 immediately after you transfer so that basically gives you 24 months of free HSBC Advance Visa.
This is my go-to card for local dining now as it is superior to UOB PP Amex in every way. UOB PP Amex is used for overseas dining.
Grace period 24 months mean, i can wait 2 years before 1st start transfer 2500 $ per month ? How if i close the account before 2 years ( and i havent started transfer 2500$ per month) .Any Penalty ?
Anyone can confirm Rio’s and Peter’s comment? So how does that work, so I will choose to get the “transfer” option and then every month, I will transfer in 2500 and then withdraw it straight away? Is there any minimum balance to maintain?
As long as HSBC sees incoming 2500/month they’re happy. So you can withdraw your funds right after. As for minimum balance I don’t think there’s any, but I could be wrong. Any idea from others?
That’s not how it works. I remember heading down to a HSBC outlet and confirming this in person. If you are GIROing in your monthly income you can withdraw it immediately, but if you are going for the deposit 2500 a month route, your monthly account balance needs to increase by 2500 every month regardless of whatever deposits or withdrawals you make. Every month that doesn’t fulfill this criteria subjects you to the admin penalty charge of 10 dollars a month…
i’m actually a bit confused as to why everyone is so averse to parking money with hsbc. i mean, all of us need a savings account, why not make hsbc your primary savings account for this period then? i guess if you’re earning bonus interest with a scb bonus saver/ocbc 360 account then yeah you’d be less likely to switch, but if your funds are otherwise parked in a virtually no interest earning posb/dbs/whatever account, why not?
Anyone can confirm this? So in order for me to withdraw the money after the transfer, I would need to GIRO in my salary instead of just transferring in 2500 and then withdrawing it afterwards?
Grace period of 24 months means that you have 24 months to reach $30,000. However during these 24 months, you must have incoming transfer of $2,500 every month but you can take it out. No fall below fee, no minimum balance.
Having said that, it is a good idea to consider leaving funds in HSBC as they currently give one of the highest interest rates for their Step Up Promotion.
Do they extend the period every 3 months? If not, it sounds like they will cease this after apr.2017 as usually this kind of thing is set yearly.
And one knows how they extend the period?
how i imagine it happens is a few weeks before each promotion period is set to end the advance team sits down and evaluates whether this promotion has reached its goals yet, and if not how much more money they can keep plowing into it. for outsiders it’s almost impossible to speculate with any certainty what will happen, suffice to say that (1) this promo can’t be cheap and (2) i’ll take it as long as they offer it.
So here is my story. I ALREADY AM Premier customer in US and Singapore and you know what requirement that status has. In March I went to open Advance account. After first being told that I can’t have both Premier and Advance account, I pointed them that it is incorrect, because Premier is joint, while Advance – individual. OK, opened account, deposited money (MORE than required) and applied on Advance card. Long story short – today (7 month after the whole process has started) was told that I won’t get card. Without reason given. This is after my application has… Read more »
I find this surprising. I went to open my Advance account with HSBC last month and it took them 3 days to open the Savings Account and about 10 days to process the Credit Card application. I did tell the RM that I was only opening the Advance Account because of their Credit card benefits and would hence need him to really push the CC team hard to chase / expedite the card processing. While I did not have any previous relationship with HSBC, my wife does have a Premier Account with them. So am now curious to see if… Read more »
Well, we see what we see here. And I suspect that this whole fuss is because I have US citizenship and HSBC is not in the best relationship with US.
I highly) doubt that your US citizenship would have anything to do with it. Yes, you would be a tad more expensive a customer to service when compared to others (ex, given that they will have to do additional FATCA reporting) but I would be extremely skeptical of them discriminating on these grounds.
It’s probably more to do with their competence (or lack of it). You can see a similar sentiment echoed by Spk307 in the comment below.
I am a fan of the saying “never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence”
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?
Same story here. Was informed after 4 months that my advance credit card application was rejected even after re-applying twice. Closing the account in another two months to avoid early termination fee. The staff in SG blame the support teams in offshore locations, but you can see that they won’t break a sweat to do basic stuff. HSBC is not a bank, its like a state owned company in a communist country where employees do not serve you and are happy to admit the same. Probably in competition with OCBC for the title of the worst bank in SG. The… Read more »
How much time should I have it open to avoid termination fee?
6 months. $50 charge for terminating within 6 months.
Sorry to hear about SPK 307 and invisible’s bad experience. I guess the old adage of if they don’t want your business, take it elsewhere applies here? I personally find the best customer experienced I’ve had are from Amex and Citibank in that order. Sadly the Amex acceptance locally isn’t as good nor is their regular miles earning. Unless Amex wants to gift me with their krisflyer PPS card? haha!
Yeah, no big loss really. Between two WWMC cards, Citi rewards, M1 Fevo and a couple of signup promos from ANZ and UOB, I have most expenses covered. Had prepaid some before Citi pulled the plug on Axs payments. What the advance card would have helped is consolidate the spending into max 2 cards.
I would say DBS is ahead of Citi for customer service. I have had no issues in 5 years with any of their products.
Amex platinum cards are long overdue for a refresh! Let’s hope they come up with something attractive next year.
I hear you. I had exactly the same experience. I closed my account too! Hell, go public!!
Today, after six month time was up, I closed my account, which already did not have a dime there.
Not a single question was asked ‘why do you close?’ or ‘is there something else we can do?’ No. You wanna close account – sign here and get the hell out.
Love this card. The only thing I don’t get is, why are the bonus rewards for local dining and entertainment merchants only. I’m sure they probably earn more from cross border transactions (FX fees, interchange, etc).
I need a go-to card for 4miles overseas spending. Currently using Citi-Samsung Pay boosted 10x rewards but similarly ends Dec 2016. If not, it’s FEVO. Am I missing out anything out there?
you’ve raised a good point and I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t reward overseas dining (like the UOB PPA does). is the uob visa signature still available for applications? that will give you 4mpd for overseas with a min of 1k and max 2k spend per statement period.
Hi, anyone can confirm whether you can get 10x points with PayPal payments?
yes, i can confirm you do.
Really? It’s expressly excluded. I tried and didn’t.
weird. i called in 1 month ago and went item by item and they acknowledged paypal as 10x. do you have the reference for where it’s expressly excluded?
because i’ve been quite obsessive about tracking this and each month my bonus points have been equal to spend *4 (i only use the card for online +dining)
Para 4 of the TnCs. “For the avoidance of doubt, transactions made on brokerage/securities and/or money payment/transfer websites are not classified as retail transactions and are expressly excluded.”
yeah i saw that, but i always thought they were referring to western union or something like that. i think i’ll just give hsbc a call again to check my balance at the end of the month.
Might be worth checking also if there is a distinction between PayPal transactions to merchants and PayPal transactions between individuals.
I believe they’re coded differently – For some other cards, rewards are earned on the former but not the latter. Can be particularly annoying if vendor accepts payment via PayPal but is not actually on a merchant account…
so i’ve just got off the phone with hsbc. my paypal transactions have been getting 10x, no issues.
As louist mentioned, could it be that your transactions were legit retail ones (checkout with PayPal, etc), not those paying your mum and mistress.
Nope, they were payments to personal accounts
How do you pay utility with HSBC advance card
Hey Aaron,
Any idea whether the 10X shows up the month itself?
I have been using it for 3-4 months now and I dun actually see my 10x rewards;(
TIA~ ๐
1X Rewards point will be computed and awarded on all Qualifying Transactions based on the Cardholderโs statement cycle. The additional 9X Rewards points earned on Qualifying Transactions which are Online Transactions, Dining Transactions or Entertainment Transactions will be credited into the Account by the last day of the following calendar month and will be reflected on the Cardholderโs statement no later than the last day of the second calendar month from the date of such transaction. All Cardholders are eligible to receive HSBC Rewards points subject to the qualifying conditions.
thanks so much for your kind reply Aaron.:)
I wonder if Grab/Uber falls under online transactions…
Yes.
Quick question: How do you pay for your insurance premiums using this card? I can’t seem to find a viable way to do it..
Does anyone knows if this promotion will be extended beyond 31 March 17? I want to sign up, but not if it’s going to end by 31 March.
Called them on another matter, snuck in that question to the CSO. Said it would be extended but was cagey – would not say when it would be extended to.
I heard someone else got the response from the CSO it would be extended to April pending a review, but only heard that from one guy.
Oh well, if it ends, bittersweet then – lose a card with great benefits, and it will be tricky to replicate (I missed the boat on the PP Amex) but then my $30k becomes available again haha
I am going to update myself here, I sent an online message and they said no news. So I am sitting here quite annoyed. Any alternatives for those who missed the PP Amex boat? Maybank Horizon Visa Signature: 8x (3.2mpd) for dining and other things with $300 monthly spend (quite rare to see a minimum spend on points cards!) Downside: only 8x, the $300 spend, Maybank points only last 1 year (I got nothing else to spend with them…) Citi Clear Platinum or HSBC Revolution: 5x (Revolution is the Advance with half the promotional points) For those who are interested,… Read more »
you’ve pretty much mentioned the other dining cards i was thinking of. ocbc voyage has 2.3 mpd on dining as well, fyi.
i’m not giving up hope yet!
Citi Clear Platinum has been sunsetted, no longer available for new applications.
Interesting! None of the CSOs would tell me anything about the destiny of the 10x when I pressed him (nicely). I only got the card in Feb so I’m desperately trying to rack up points to make the $42 fee less painful.
On a separate note, Paypal payments to retail merchants are not awarded 10x. One CSO said they will be but another CSO (when I rang again recently to check) said otherwise :/
Extended to May 31st.
thank you! just updated