HSBC, Citi Bank and Bank of America are in major restructuring. Their performance over the last several years has forced them to comply with the government and change their ways. HSBC has also run into financial troubles. These three are in transition as they sell assets to raise capital for their equity requirements. For the moment you will find them in somewhat of a holding pattern. Credit line changes are tough. Citi has been improving.

As to home mortgages, if you are looking at FHA, VA, FirstTime Home Buyer [Housing Finance Agency] (haven't owned a house in three years or more) or USDA loans you have a chance with a starting FICO Score of 620. If you are into conventionals with 20% down and no mortgage insurance the FICO Score requirements could be in the 700's. Now the lenders would consult with you on their specifics (they are not all the same). Usually a BK will not affect FHA, VA, First Time Homebuyers or USDA loans after three years. Your best bet is to contact a home lender or two and get a sense for what advice they could offer you.

It is very market driven and changes frequently. I obtained a loan with a BK on the record (old but still there...and my FICOS were low 700's at the time - one year ago with a thirty year fixed rate mortgage at 4.3750% so good rates are out there...).

Hope this helps!

Hey guys... I am having a bit of the opposite opinion here on this than everyone. Now, this may not reflect specifically on HSBC though.

Sure, everyone getting higher credit limits allows better credit reports to be developed; however, it also allows higher balances to be racked up. Allowing consumers to buy things they can't afford is exactly why our economic system failed so bad in 2008. I don't blame HSBC or any other creditor for being a scrooge on providing higher credit limits. Consumers have grown to "expect" a credit limit increase every six months, or else they'll jump ship and find a new creditor, I think this logic is kinda senseless. You may disagree. But really, we need to earn better credit limits with time longer than six months - or else we could certainly end up back where we were.

Besides, consumers shouldn't mess around with sleazy banks like this anyway. I believe we should build strong relationships with our regional banks, credit unions, and employee incentive institutions.

To conclude my very opinionated post, I think there is one thing we can agree on here; don't buy things you can't afford. And I think banks are worried about this happening again.

I am worried about higher limits as it impacts a credit score better. I want to buy a house and for that I want the lowest interest rate. This will allow me to save money. Yes I want credit limit increases every six months! I don't need the credit except to build my score. I would be happy to get to the max of what CapOne told me was possible for my type of account. I would even be happy for a while paying the fee out of respect, but since they don't have respect for me I don't have respect for CapOne. I hope that HSBC does give me an increase before CapOne takes over, since it is a no annual fee card with rewards, at least that way I could keep the account and laugh about CapOne not giving me a no annual fee card.

Some of us have learned from our mistakes and are no longer messing around. I will not end up back where I was. I have insured that in many ways, including making sure that I treat credit responsibly and do the right thing this time.

I think it would be interesting to see what Capital One or whoever buys out HSBC's credit card portfolio, what they do with the co-branded cards like the Best Buy Mastercard and store card, GM Card, etc.

Their co-branded cards will handled by their prime card center.

if hsbc is closing here in the US, why did i just a card from them about a month ago? i have 2 other accounts with them and they are still open with credit available with low balances.....

It could be possible that they are building their portfolio before a sale. Like washing a card before putting it up for sale, making it more attractive to potential buyers. Recently they have begun pushing their Platinum Card for good credit ratings.

if hsbc is closing here in the US, why did i just a card from them about a month ago? i have 2 other accounts with them and they are still open with credit available with low balances.....

Got a letter in the mail today from HSBC about my Reward Zone Mastercard today indicating a change of terms. They are adding all of the promotional credit language that the regular Best Buy card has.

It looks like RZ Mastercard customers may soon have access to Best Buy's promotional finance offers too!

Either way, those accounts have value. It's nice to know that they have interest from multiple sources. My feeling is that they will compensate for unprofitable accounts one way or the other. If this is the case, I think you will see rate adjustments for high risk customers.

I'm suprised about wells fargo bidding on a mostly sub-prime card portfolio. I've never known wells fargo to deal with anything sub-prime. i wonder if they buy the portfolio will they keep all the cards open? or will they do like chase did with washington mutual and close some of the cards of the people with less than top tier credit scores?

Looks like HSBC is entertaining bids from Wells Fargo as well as Capital One!

I hope Wells gets it as I already have a card with Cap 1

NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Capital One Financial Corp ( COF.N ) and Wells Fargo ( WFC.N ) are among the bidders for HSBC Holdings Plc's ( HSBA.L ) U.S. credit card portfolio, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Well, I recieved my letter from them today, they did a soft pull on my Equifax report and noticed that I have opened some new accounts, so therfore I am a risk! LOL, I could care less, they are going in the crapper anyways! My Garrett State Bank gold card and a few others will do just fine, even if I endure some pain with them closing the account, it will be worth it later anyways!

My Discover HSBC card is still active with $2000.00 line of credit still there, have not received anything on changes yet.

Do You Have an HSBC Credit Card? Maybe Not Much Longer

On or about June 15, 2011, it was rumored that Capital One Financial put in a bid for the HSBC USA operations. No confirmation has been forth coming.

by Chris Martin | July 1, 2011 - 11] ET
You’ve probably heard of HSBC, a London-based global banking conglomerate. You may even have a credit card from them. But because of recent profit troubles, HSBC is in the process of cutting some $3.5 billion in costs, and you may just take the brunt of it. One of the steps the bank is considering is the sale of its American credit card business. Unfortunately, HSBC is having trouble finding a buyer for the $33 billion division. That prompted HSBC CEO Stuart Gulliver to declare on Monday that if the bank cannot successfully sell off its U.S. credit card arm, it will essentially shut down the business. But closing down a worldwide credit card business is a bit more complex than just closing down an unprofitable retail store. You can't just lock the doors and take the sign out of the window. That's because there are tens of thousands of HSBC credit card holders in the United States. Most of them are carrying a balance, and many of them may be enrolled in rewards programs.

So what should you do if you have an HSBC credit card?

There's still a chance that another financial institution may purchase HSBC's U.S. credit card business -- in which case, you would just get a different credit card and your account would be transferred to a new company. But if that doesn't happen, here's what you can expect.

• HSBC would declare its American credit card arm "in rundown." Very shortly after that, the bank would stop accepting new applications for credit cards in the U.S.
• You would probably receive a notice in the mail saying that your HSBC credit card can no longer be used for purchases after a certain date (likely one that is several months away).
• You would probably be notified that your rewards program account will stop accruing points after a specific date, and that you would have to redeem all of your points by a different deadline. (These two dates would likely be 6 to 12 months apart.)
• After your credit card becomes useless, HSBC will give you a grace period to pay off your remaining balance. This period will probably be measured in years instead of months.
• If you do not pay off the balance by the deadline, your account will be forwarded to a collection agency, who will treat it like any other delinquent credit card account.

There's no hard timetable on when any of this will happen, but HSBC cardholders should follow the news and watch their mailboxes to see how all this plays out. Either way, it's probable that HSBC-labeled credit cards will soon be a thing of the past in the United States.

There is most definately something going on with HSBC, I went online this morning to make a payment to my Discover Card, and noticed I have no available credit! Not that it matters anymore, seeing as how I have graduated to some prime cards, but still, thats just a shame, and they never sent me a notice or anything! LOL

Did they close your account? That can be bad on your CR! If you still owe them and it doesn't show you have any available credit. I would pay it off if possible or transfer the balance to another card & close the account before they can do you any damage to your Credit Report.
They're kinda scrary when you think about the fact that they're backing out of the US market. They're blaming us as Americans that they weren't making enough to be profitable. I heard that if they don't get the price they want for they're card portfolio. They will close it all down. I hope everyone takes the proper measures so that HSBC doesn't pull they're credit scores down. Seems they don't care one way or the other about they're customers now. Besides the fact that of all the Foreign owned banks doing business here in the states. They're the stingiest bank. I cancelled my GM card with them! So I don't have to worry about them negatively affecting my credit report. Plus the fact that Capital One is trying to buy they're portfolio. So I don't that as a better alternative and won't do business with them

There is most definately something going on with HSBC, I went online this morning to make a payment to my Discover Card, and noticed I have no available credit! Not that it matters anymore, seeing as how I have graduated to some prime cards, but still, thats just a shame, and they never sent me a notice or anything! LOL

I finally decided that whether or not HSBC sells their card portfollio. To cancel my GM card . They've never given a CLI ! So they're gone from my wallet !