They also say you will be able to borrow against the value of the coins on your hardware wallet and spend in fiat, which can only mean the coins on your hardware wallet are locked up in some kind of smart contract or escrow controlled by Ledger or Baanx, and are therefore not your coins at all.

Completely agree. I have never and will never use such a card, but least of all do I want one linked to my hardware wallet! If I can't find a retailer who will accept bitcoin for some good or service I want, then I'll either buy a gift card or I'll just buy it in fiat and let them know I'd really like to pay in bitcoin. I'll sell all my bitcoin before I compromise my privacy and autonomy by using such a card, knowing that the card issuer is monitoring all my transactions and can censor me at any time, and I have to pay them fees for the privilege of all this.

Will shop owners even realize though. If you go and pay with your HSBC issued Visa debit card and I pay with my Baanx issued Visa debit card, even if for some reason the shop owner was going over every individual transaction on their statement, they aren't going to know that I've actually paid in bitcoin.