Household HSBC Watch

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the parent company of predatory lender Household International, is making inroads into the United States. Already a banking giant with locations around the world, HSBC purchased Household International and therefore accepts the responsibility for the once troubled lender.

Allegations in one of most recently settled lawsuits against Household (Shea vs Household - search ) state that Household, for a period of approximately 10 years, deliberately caused payments to be late, thereby collecting the late fees, interest, overlimit fees and more. Household settled the case for $11 million to avoid litigation.

Household Watch wanted you to know how the scam was perpetrated. In determining whether the practice at Household International discriminated by FICO score, age, geographic area or other factors it was determined that such discrimination was avoided. Household simply put entire trays of mail back in the mail system.

Referencing statements by a mail clerk, it was discovered that “many times a tray of delivered Household Retail Services mail is put back in the mail stream by HRS. This mail was held by HRS for a couple of days at the end of the month, then re-deposited. This then gets mail pieces to incure a late charge. The inspection service has been notified a year ago. Nothing changed.”

For consumers that wondered how Household performed this action, now you know. A tray of mail with 200 payments, at $39 each, yields $7800 for Household. If it causes an overlimit fee, Household makes even more.

Factor in the number of accounts which were on a “no interest” promotion, invalidated by the “late payment” and you can add thousands of dollars more. Remember, merchants such as Best Buy, Rainsoft, and others get a portion of these illegal ill-gotten gains. Estimated range from $10,000 to $15,000 for Household - HSBC for each tray of mail submitted back into the mail system instead of being processed it like it should have been. Now we want to know how many trays of mailed HSBC-Household payments re-enter the mail system each month.

Discrimination? Yes, HSBC - Household discriminated against those who mailed a payment instead of using online banking. HSBC - Household discriminated against those who mailed a payment instead of paying the additional fees for using the hrsaccount.com website or phone payment. The “additional fees” charged by Household for using their website or pay by phone, range from $6 to $15 dollars per use at this time.

Once again the American public is disappointed by HSBC - Household. Unable to process payments in a manner consistent with prudent fiduciary trust, the latest scam touches consumers from all walks of life who are customers of over 60 merchants with HSBC - Household contracts. From Best Buy to Saks, Rainsoft to Kawasaki, no monthly payments were safe from this predator.

Here at Household Watch, we urged consumers to file mail fraud reports and complaints when they were a victim of this scam. Once again a trend we identified on a national scale was indead verified and validated. Again, HSBC - Household admitted no responsibility, and settled for $11 million (USD)

Did HSBC know that Household was doing this? Was it discovered in due diligence? Was HSBC waiting for the SEC or Justice Department to catch them? These questions and many more remain unanswered. But while Household was forming a deal with the University of Maryland (UMUC) to “help the military with financial matters and planning” they were perpetrating fraud in the mailroom. UMUC also failed to do due diligence.

Consumers across America were disappointed by HSBC. American service members were, and are, shot at in Iraq and stabbed in the back at home by HSBC - Household, while UMUC took the predator’s money and looked the other way.