Yes! I agree with you.

I just received a call from this number today and when I answered, there was dead silence. I Googled the number, which is how I happened upon this board. When realizing who it was that called me, I called the number back and got a live person. She looked up my account and could not understand why they called me, as it is in good standing. She did say it was probably an automatic dialer and I hung up before a real person could pick up. I don't know how long it takes for a real person to pick up but I stayed on at least 5 seconds waiting for someone to do so.

Anyways, I also wanted to say that I have had absolutely no problems with HBC credit. But, I keep my account in good standing. I have, once or twice been late with a payment and they have called me, but were very polite and understanding when I told them when I would be making my next payment.

Perhaps they are not so nice with people who are having difficulty and haven't paid in a long time, I can't say since I've not been in that situation. Not trying to discredit those who've had problems, I just wanted to actually say something positive about them, as well as explain the silence when you pick up the phone.

I've received three calls today from 800-667-4363, they never bother to leave a message. HBC has been causing me problems almost from the first day that I signed up for one of their cards. The difficulties began when they advised me one day that there was a problem with my card and they were going to cancel it and issue me another. They never did say what that problem was...never the less, I went along with it and continued to pay my statements as they came in. What they failed to tell me is that they never did cancel the first card. So therefore, while I was paying my statements on the second card, the amount due on the first one went unpaid, and of course, accumulated interest. I have been calling them for over 4 months now to get this straightened out, all without success. Each time I call, they assure me that it has been fixed, but it never is.

Needless to say, I am not happy at all with HBC and their ineptness. Each time that I have called HBC over these last 4 months I have been assured that this matter would be cleared up and my 2 accounts would be merged, but they never were. The first account remains overdue while the second account has a sizable credit balance.

And now it would seem that HBC has taken to calling me at home and at work because of their inability to fix their mistake.

Be warned, avoid HBC and their substandard credit services. You will be saving yourself a lot of problems, and headaches.

PS: The edit function isn't working on this forum.

In my previous reply I said, " Depending on where you are, the limitation period on getting sued is 2 years from the date of discovery of the default." I should have said, "might be."
It's still 6 years in places like New Brunswick.

Ray

It's impossible for anyone to give you a definite answer. Even if you were to phone their in-house collection dept. at 1-800 667-4363, you might get 5 answers from 5 different people unless you made a DEFINITE arrangement with one of their supervisors.

However, once a person gets behind, especially with a 32.3 % effective annual interest rate, things can spiral out of control very quickly. When they turn it over or sell it outright to an external collection agency depends on the size of the balance and of what the size of the delinquent payments are. As I said, there's no way they want to sell a 32.3% cash cow to a bunch of collection agencies like ARO that are going to give them 6 cents on the dollar for it. That's why they're calling you; they want to determine the probability that you'll get up to snuff.

Nonetheless, the general time period that they'll turn it over if you make no payments on the account or very marginal ones with no formal arrangement to catch up will usually be the 180 day R9 writeoff period. Be absolutley sure to keep all your account statements if you're going to go belly up. Depending on where you are, the limitation period on getting sued is 2 years from the date of discovery of the default. Once your account misses three consecutive minimum payments, then that would likely be the date of default.

Ray

Ok now I do have one Question can they put it into Collections even if I am making payments on it? It is not as much as they would like but it is a payment no less. If I could pay more let me tell you I would.
Thanks

Yeah, I guess the only law they're forced to follow is the usury law which caps annual interest at 60%. The 28.8% retail rate is actually 32.3% because if you look at the back of your statement, you'll see it's 2.4% per month. Then they have 28.8% per annum bracketed beside it. But that 2.4% per month is not simple interest. Instead, it gets compounded EVERY MONTH so that it works out to 32.3% per year. Pretty nuts to own a HBC card. Owning one and having a balance on it may even lower your credit score a wee bit. Although not too much if you keep it paid up. Still, it's not a good sign to credit lenders to see that you even have one. They tend to think only suckers or people in distress would pay their egregious rates. Sorry, but kind of hard to argue with that perspective.

Ray

Generally I try to keep my comments as neutral as possible.

HBC treated me terribly and very disrepectfully when I called them on behalf of clients for credit repair. Their credit people were rude and unwilling to be reasonable.

They sited the fact that they didn't have to follow any regulations.

Yes Hudson's Bay Card charges 28.8% which is a "retail credit".rate.

People need to be cautious before getting an HBC card.

HBC has their own in-house collection agency that will attempt to get your account up to what the minimum payment schedule dictated. They will try for some time. The reason is simple; their HBC card has (or least had) a 28.8% monthly interest rate. When you do the math, with compounding, this works out to 32.3% per year. Not too shabby and all you get in return are those worthless HBC points (where you need about 4 million to buy a pair of socks). HBC doesn't want to give this up if there's any realistic chance of salvaging the account. But once it gets 6 months behind (or R9), they likely will SELL it off to a place like ARO in BC who will buy it up for maybe 6 cents on the dollar and play the numbers game with it.

Note if they do that, then ARO (or whoever), will actually own the receivable and by law they will have to send you a letter notifying you of the assignment. In addition, you will get some real humerous phone calls, not all like the ones the HBC in-house collections make.

Ray

Thanks I will do that, and yes I do know they are hard too deal with.