NEW YORK – HSBC Finance Corp. said Thursday it will stop offering some tax refund loans, popular but controversial products that let taxpayers who expect refunds get their money early, but at a potentially high cost.
Archive for » March, 2007 «
Category: General Issues, Watchdog Issues
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MR asks: “HSBC is constantly calling my house and never leaves a message. I finally answered because I knew who it was. They claimed our account was two months past due. All of our payments are current and have been made every month by electronic check. I had the same experience with another account with HSBC and had to pay off and close the account. These people are either stupid or just thieves. They are constantly claiming they never received payments and then charging additional late fees. They need to be stopped! How can they be put out of business?”
Category: General Issues, Payment Issues
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EH in Maryland says: “This complaint is about a BestBuy scam of shipping an item that I purchased on 2/21/07 to the wrong address, which led to loosing it. Neither BestBuy nor United Parcel Service (UPS) take the responsibility for it. I called to dispute it and think BestBuy in Hanover, MD has a bazaar customer service, and exhibits bazaar behavior interacting with customers. They charged me $49.99 for TV installation that was shipped from Maryland to RI and that was never part of my request. BestBuy charged me twice on my TV receipt and when I call customer services or HSBC I also get very long time waiting and poor customer services. If I did not get feed back by 3/15/07, I will consider this as fraud as I did not receive that item of $160.00 nor get a refund for $49.99 for installation that was never requested.”
Category: General Issues, Merchant Issues
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I am a US citizen living in Panama. I recently learned of a very disturbing lawsuit filed by the multi national banking conglomerate HSBC in Panama - a country where anyone can be criminally prosecuted or civilly sued for defamation even if the statements that are the subject of the suit are absolutely true (truth is not a defense). The suit was filed by HSBC’s Panama branch, which is (I believe) an affiliate of the US corporation, against a British resident of Panama, Peter Gordon.
Category: General Issues, Panama Issues, Watchdog Issues
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A flurry of advance-fee loan scams is victimizing consumers across the USA and Canada, the Council of Better Business Bureaus warns. Consumers who respond to phone calls or ads that purportedly guarantee loans to those with poor credit instead lose hundreds of dollars or more in fees demanded by the suspected scammers. The frauds follow a typical pattern. Consumers call a toll-free number and are told to submit credit information over the phone or fill out paperwork to be mailed later. In exchange for a $5,000 to $100,000 loan, they are told to wire or mail a money order for $500 or more to pay processing fees or other charges. The applicants never get the loan, and they lose what they paid in fees. They also risk having their identity stolen if they provided a Social Security number or other personal data to the scammers. “People with the poorest finances are being victimized,” said Steve Cole, CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. Although the group had no data on the number of victims, spokesman Stephen Cox said workers in the council’s 129 local bureaus have fielded a rise in complaints about the alleged scam.
Category: General Issues, Watchdog Issues
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