If you don’t know much about credit cards you could be easily fooled by a card like HSBC’s American Express Gold. The website talks so much about how much ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’ you’ll have when you get this credit card, but when it comes down to it, it’s just way too expensive for what you actually get.

Initially, The annual fee seems cheap for an American Express credit card with rewards, especially with it being waived in the first year (and every year after in which you spend $9,500 or more). But this is not the only fee you’ll have to pay each year.

Balance transfers are available, but at what HSBC calls a ‘special low rate’. To make matters worse, this rate is only for the first six months, after which it increases. Saying it’s laughable is putting it nicely!

Interest is charged p.a. on purchases and  p.a. on cash advances. This would be considered just a tad high on any other card with a rewards program. However this card’s rewards program is a little different to the rest (and not in a good way!).

Unfortunately membership with the HSBC American Express Gold’s rewards program is not free. But when you do join you get the choice of two different credit card rewards options – Choices and Ascent. With the Choices option you get can redeem your points for gifts, vouchers, and great discounts and special offers when you book your travel through Travelscene American Express. This program has a membership fee of $40 per year. The Ascent rewards program however, is a little different.

As well as all the features of the Choices program, people who join the Ascent program will also be able to redeem Ascent points for Frequent Flyer points with American Express’ frequent flyer partner programs. This program is double the price of the Choices program. Both options earn you one point for every dollar spent and every 10,000 points earned gets you $100 to redeem on the reward of your choice. Therefore, while we can say that the earn rate is ok, the cost of redeeming your points is quite high.

So no matter which way you look at it, HSBC’s American Express Gold credit card is overpriced. With the annual fee, rewards program fee and through-the-roof interest rates, this card is not at all suitable for anyone who is looking to make any kind if savings on any aspect of their American Express Gold credit card.

See our top credit card picks in the Editor’s Choice category

Getting information from the HSBC website about the HSBC Classic credit card is like trying to get blood out of a stone. You’re forced to look at all sorts of web pages and open a whole lot of new windows just to get the basics. So to save you time and energy we’ve done it for you.

For starters, there is a annual fee which is waived in the first year. Your annual fee will get you ridiculously high interest rates for purchases and for cash advances. The interest free period sits at 55 days, however, the balance transfer rate is particularly average, which reverts to the cash advance rate after the six month introductory period is over.

Like the Bendigo Red credit card, this credit card from HSBC is quite obviously all about the rewards program which would be great, if the asking price wasn’t so high. But back to the rewards program – you’ll earn one point for every dollar you spend with your HSBC Classic credit card, with bonus partners of the rewards program offering double and sometimes even triple points on credit card purchases.

The number of points available to be earned on this credit card in one year is 100,000, with unused points expiring after three years. The redemption rate on the HSBC Classic credit card is reasonable when it comes to points redemption, with between 15,000 and 17,000 points required for a $100 gift voucher (dependent on which store it’s from). You can also redeem your points for a whole truck load of other rewards, like fun park tickets, electronics, dinners, movie passes, clothing, insurance rebates and even donations to charities.

With no other benefits to speak of, the rewards program is all there is to the HSBC Classic credit card. We can’t deny the fact that yes, we like rewards, but we also like having money in our bank accounts so while all this rewards hoo-ha is great, it doesn’t really excuse the fact that the card itself is still horrifically overpriced. Without a doubt, this card would be a bad choice for pretty much anyone in the market for a credit card as there are so many better alternatives out there.

See our top credit card picks in the Editors Choice category

The HSBC Credit Card is a very standard middle of the range card. HSBC says when you use this card you have ‘the freedom to buy what you want, when you want’ without paying ‘for features you don’t need’.

In reality this is just a smoke screen to cover up how basic this card really is.

With an interest rate  for purchases and p.a. for cash advances, there is no real competition for other cards that offer low interest rates, so this is quite obviously not the selling point of this credit card.

On the other hand, the balance transfer rate p.a. for the first 6 months. After those 6 months it takes a steep jump up.  , which along with (up to) 55 days interest free, is a plus. But in all honesty, the best thing that can be said about this card is that its  annual fee is at a great rate of just  $0. That’s right…$o.

This is the only real selling point of the credit card, and if you are looking for a low balance transfer then there are a number of other much cheaper options on the market.

With such run of the mill interest rates there’s just no reason why anyone would pick it over other low interest credit cards, or mid range cards that include a whole lot more features and benefits. With no rewards program, no insurance benefits and a minimum income requirement of $20,000, it makes you wonder if HSBC really wants anyone to apply for it at all.

Overall this is just a really average credit card that can’t compete to satisfy consumer’s needs in today’s credit card market.

See our top credit card picks in the Editor’s Choice category