Here is a post from the Guardian in the UK. IF HSBC sent a case of wine to every American that routinely experiences the same problem HSBC would go broke. Here is the complaint, and, after press involvement, HSBC’s reply.

I have held an HSBC credit card since 1980. For the past 12 years I have always paid it off in full every month.

Recently, being occupied taking a friend to hospital appointments, I forgot the bill until two days after the due date. I immediately telephoned to apologise for my oversight and to pay £116. I asked HSBC to put a note on my file to allay any concerns.

On the Saturday morning two days later, I had a telephone call from an HSBC debt collector wanting to know why I had not paid my bill. He had clearly not accessed my file to check recent information. I explained I had paid. On the Monday, I had another call from a different HSBC debt collector with exactly the same demands. She also had no knowledge of anything that had occurred before. I was left with the impression they didn’t really believe me. KH, Quorn, Loughborough

The newspaper then said this:

HSBC admits making a mistake. Its system was not updated after you paid the bill so the collections department really did think you had failed to pay. When you phoned, you spoke to the inbound call centre team which is separate from the outbound call centre people who later phoned you. The two centres did not confer. It is bank policy to telephone customers within a couple of days of a missed payment but you should not have received two calls so quickly. The bank has sent you a case of wine to apologise.

Newspaper headlines said “HSBC called to account over settled credit card debt. Banking group’s debt collectors contacted customer twice even after he had settled outstanding credit card balance”