Cancelling Indonesian Credit Cards

[Periwinkle]

Has anyone ever had trouble cancelling their credit cards here before? I just called to cancel my HSBC card and was willing to pay the outstanding balance right away, but they refused to cancel it. I'm moving back to the United States on Friday and I honestly don't have time for this nonsense. Should I just pay the remaining balance and then try to cancel once I'm in the United States? I feel like that will be such a pain in the ass.

 

[jstar]

Weird. 'She who has more credit cards than I have fingers' cancels them all the time. By telephone. Did they give a reason? Could it have to do with the current temporary closing of all the banks here?

 

[Euc-]

Tried to close my HSBC last month, but had to pay-off the current month first. Don't forget to add 7500 IDR if you pay from another bank and it takes 2/3 working days.

Luckily I didn't close it yet as I got 130k bonus points from the 6x multiplier the month prior a few days after the call, thought it was already added but those were only the "regular" points, so now I'll just spend a bit more to get the 10k KrisFlyer miles (need 170.000 HSBC points for that) and off I go to DBS with better mileage earning potential.

As you need to ensure your balance is 0 when you're calling to cancel your card, you should be fine closing it from the US.

 

[jstar]

Don’t you just love that very clear Customer Service?

 

[Periwinkle]

Yeah she said I needed to pay the outstanding balance. Which I agreed to do, right away. Never had a bank that wouldn't take my money before. Guess maybe cause banks are closed? But why not just take what I owe and be done with it???

 

[Periwinkle]

Hypothetically, because I'm an angel and would never do this, what might happen if I just don't pay and fuck off to the states? I know these banks aren't reporting to any credit bureaus (sp?).

 

[Euc-]

Yeah she said I needed to pay the outstanding balance. Which I agreed to do, right away. Never had a bank that wouldn't take my money before. Guess maybe cause banks are closed? But why not just take what I owe and be done with it???

Even if you transfer it right now, unless done from an HSBC account, it would take a few days for the transaction to be verified which the call-centre is unable to do. They're not going to believe you transferred the money just because you said you "will do it right away" and close your card without any verification that your balance is cleared.

I'm sorry but in which country in the world would you be able to close an account with an outstanding balance and they'll just take your word that you'll transfer without any verification?

 

[vocalneal]

Maybe it is just me but surely one would pay off the balance before one asked for the card to be cancelled?

 

[Euc-]

Hypothetically, because I'm an angel and would never do this, what might happen if I just don't pay and fuck off to the states? I know these banks aren't reporting to any credit bureaus (sp?).

Good question. Several Indonesian banks have very bad experiences with dept collectors, Citibank even lost their license to issue credit-cards for a while because a team of their dept collectors beat a man to death.

Would they go abroad? Perhaps if the amount is in the billions, other then that I doubt there's much that they can do?

Thinking out loud: would they be able to get a court conviction for defaulting on a loan, which would then possibly effect you in the future as you can't get a police certificate for good behaviour or something? Possibly needed for future immigration applications in other countries?

Or sell the dept to a dept collector in the US?

 

[Periwinkle]

Euc- I asked if I could come into the bank and pay in cash, in person, they said no. I asked if it could be paid from an HSBC account today and they said I would still have to wait until the 18th.

What I owe is very little, less than 2 juta, hardly worth going after. I don't ever plan to come back to Indonesia, but once I leave here, I'm not sure how I will get the money to them unless I do it through a friend and then call them back from the United States.

Vocalneal, one has every intention of paying one's outstanding balance, the point is they are making it difficult for one to do.

I will leave and then try to settle it once I'm in the United States, as annoying as that will be. Thanks for the replies!

 

[Euc-]

If you had done this last week you wouldn't have had any issues, currently there is a 10 day long bank holiday so even if you would find a branch open to take your cash it would only get processed once they open again.

If you have an HSBC account (or any other Indonesian bank account, beware of additional charges of 7500idr for using BCA etc, so add that into the transfer) just transfer the money today, make your balance 0 and give them a call from the US after they've processed it to cancel your card, pretty straight forward i'd think?

 

[Euc-]

https://www.hsbc.co.id/1/2/id/personal/kartu-kredit/lokasi-pembayaran

There's a list of payment locations/methods and their respective charges.

 

[Periwinkle]

Euc- I hope it will be straightforward but my experience in dealing with banks in Indonesia is that it certainly will not be, especially if I'm trying to call in from the U.S. I will leave my Indonesian bank account open and wait for it to go through next week before calling back. Thanks for the help.

 

[Periwinkle]

If you had done this last week you wouldn't have had any issues, currently there is a 10 day long bank holiday so even if you would find a branch open to take your cash it would only get processed once they open again.

If you have an HSBC account (or any other Indonesian bank account, beware of additional charges of 7500idr for using BCA etc, so add that into the transfer) just transfer the money today, make your balance 0 and give them a call from the US after they've processed it to cancel your card, pretty straight forward i'd think?

I know, it's definitely my fault for waiting until the last minute and not considering the holiday. Lesson learned.

 

[snpark]

Even if you pay cash they will still need a few days to process and actually I think (legally?) they need to wait like 14 days in case of any pending transactions
Plus interest etc on the current month

In hindsight (sorry) you should have just paid the balance, and then on your next statement when it shows zero balance, THEN phone and cancel. Also do not overpay, if you leave a credit balance so they owe you money, that still complicates it

Maybe just a confusion you asking to cancel while you have a balance
Clear it all, then cancel from the next statement that shows also zero balance - wait 14-21 days to include pending trans.