I have appended this discussion to the established thread.

HSBC's presence in the USA was built by acquisition, and they have a split reputation. One card issuer they acquired was a company called Household Finance which made loans to low income borrowers at very high interest rates. That portion of HSBC's card business was subsequently sold off to Capital One.

The HSBC Premier business is different. The card is competitive: EMV chip, contactless, no foreign transaction fees, no annual fee, useful (but not spectacular) rewards program.

Applicants for HSBC Premier normally have 90 days to bring their account balance up to $100,000 or pay the $50 monthly fee. If you are (for example) finishing a degree from, or working at, Stanford it is perfectly plausible that HSBC would offer a 12 month trial period rather than three months. My belief is that if you downgraded the account from Premier to Advance you would also receive an Advance credit card, but no direct experience.