I received a Credit Card solicitation offer in the mail from HSBC Card Services. I called and was given a credit line which the representative worked with me to apply to my other credit cards with out-standing balances. I made the transfers. The man said that the balance trasfers could take as much as 3-4 weeks. It took 2 1/2 weeks. I called to find out what was going on and to my surprise found that I was already over the credit card limit. I owed $71. I called their 866 number and was told that there were Transfer Fees (3% to a max of $99 per transfer). My original rep did not disclose this to me.
Before, I had just applied for another Credit Card with Chase Bank and made a similar transfer with NO fees. I would recommend them.
In the fine print, the HSBC manager pointed out that a "cash transfer" has associated fees. A balance transfer to pay another credit card is considered a "cash transfer". This is un-fair and in my opinion not properly disclosed on the HSBC Credit card solicitation offer I received.