Switching from Solo to Meastro at HSBC

[hula hoop]

I have had a solo card with HSBC for nearly 5 years, with at least �300 coming in a month for 2 years. Yet every time i ring them and ask to upgrade to the meastro card they check my 'criteria' and tell me it cannot be done nor can they tell me what the 'criteria' is. I understand as this may be down to bad credit rating, but i haven't got any credit cards, therefore no rating. is that just as bad as having bad credit rating?

A while back i also went into my bank and was told that i just needed to provide evidence of how much money comes into my account... but my statement was up there on his computer so couldn't he have just checked that as proof?

does anybody know what exactly this 'criteria' is and what the guy at the bank was doing?