One point of frustration is points earned with HSBC Card A can't be combined with HSBC Card B. That is annoying. However, I'm not sure I'm following on the redemption rates. I can transfer my points from my Premier World Elite Card to their few partners at a 1:1 ratio (excluding any bonuses). Are you saying you're getting a worse off transfer rate?

Transfer rate depends on the country in which the card is issued.

I truly appreciate the time you took to spell out the information on the card. There are some attractive perks, including Boingo, which I used to use when it was an AmEx benefit, but nothing else that compels me to make the move. Now if they waived the annual fee for their Wolrd Elite card by funding an HSBC account, I may actually do so, as they have some competitive saving products, but their Premier card doesn't warrant the move IMO.

I am a fellow CNB refugee.

It all depends on your needs. I product changed a free Hilton AMEX to the Aspire. I did it for a few reasons - it's easy for us to use the free weekend night and resort credit, I like getting diamond status included, and I avoided a hard pull by doing an upgrade. I also got a pretty decent 150,000 point upgrade bonus. It pays out poorly in terms of points for everyday spend, but for ancillary benefits, it's not a bad card... and anyway we put most of our spend on a legacy Priceline Visa which gets 3.3% back when redeemed certain ways.

I considered the HSBC card. I was a client of HSBC's back in the early 2000s when they rebranded the Marine Midland banks in upstate New York. I didn't like the lack of PP on this card (we're lucky in that most airports we care about have PP lounges) and I didn't like the relationship requirements to lower the fee, either. HSBC was fine back then but they were a pretty vanilla bank and have since re-oriented their US market focus towards customers that value their presence in Asia. If you value that, it might be a good fit. As for me, I'm happy with Alliant CU as our main checking account and our menagerie of online savings accounts.

As for CSR and AMEX Plat, they really weren't considerations in my case. I didn't want to pay an AU fee for my wife, and I was looking for a card mainly with solid benefits at the expense of good earn/burn rates. Since we can use the Aspire benefits and make the AF net-negative, that made the card more appealing to us.

As a Hilton fan, myself, I've had a Hilton AmEx since the beginning of time. I have the Surpass card so I earn Diamond through the $40K annual spend on the card. I had pondered either upgrading to the Aspire card, or simply applying for the card outright, as I still value the grocery spending bonus on the Surpass, which the Aspire lacks. The difficulty I have with the Aspire is that we need two Priority Pass memberships, which AmEx Platinum and CSR permit. I wish Aspire would allow this, as it would be a slam dunk decision for me.

I have a boatload of CNB points that I'd like to use before the card renews in November. My intent was to book a large trip for next summer, but we shall see if/how travel resumes. I can downgrade the card if I need to hang on to the points for a bit longer, but for a net of $50, I may be forced to keep the card for another year. I have far too many points to redeem for Amazon cards. I just hate what they did to their Priority Pass program in terms of not permitting any complimentary guests.

It's interesting that you mentioned Marine Midland bank, as we lived in upstate NY for a few years when I was a child. I remember that bank, although I'm not certain if my parents had an account there.

Has anyone heard of potential changes coming to the US World Elite in the coming months? Seems unlikely given the circumstances but I'm hopeful HSBC might want to make this more competitive.

Banks like HSBC are not trying to compete with the credit card factories. These cards exist to give their deposit /loan clients a "good enough" product and reduce the risk that those clients will move their banking relationship to Chase or Citi.

It would be interesting. Since you can only get these cards as a Premier client you think one angle can be "lets make this card attractive to drive new deposit accounts". However, HSBCs US strategy seems to always be changing. The last I heard is the US market is underperforming but they won't pull out as the US is important to the banking industry.

Data Point: It seems Target codes as 3x during the current groceries promo. That is pretty clutch as Target normally is unbonused spend.

can you give us more details? i had thought all US CC pts transferred at 1:1 regardless of which CC. is it different for Canadian cards? not sure if im able to get all three pt based US cards - HSBC Advance/Premier World/World Elite. but ive read you can only hold one card at a time. Since HSBC doesnt get hit hard like other banks, Im hoping their app velocity limits are more lax.

one thing that shocked me were the massive differences between the US, CA, UK versions of this card. especially the annual fee. its crazy. i had to double check i was looking at the same product. design also looks slightly different.

https://www.us.hsbc.com/credit-cards/products/premier-elite
https://www.hsbc.ca/credit-cards/pro...er-world-elite
https://www.hsbc.co.uk/credit-cards/...er-world-elite

does anyone know if someone could get this card for each country via opening HSBC bank accounts in their respective country (international services)? im sure someone must have tried this.

TPG says it codes as travel. I'd prefer it coded as "hotel".

Those are dismal savings rates. My Citibank saving rate just dropped to 1.2% a few days ago. That's equally sad.

Is there an advantage to a Premier Savings over HSBC Direct? I have HSBC Direct and the rates aren't as good as they use to be they are somewhat competitive with other banks.

Unrelated, the 3x on groceries has been extended through the end of August.

Premier sometimes has Promotional rates for "new" money. For example, there was an offer in May at 1.5% guaranteed for 90 days, after which the rate will no doubt be reduced. While "new" money is required to open the account, additional funds can be moved from other HSBC accounts, including HSBC Direct.