Household HSBC Watch

HSBC North America Holdings Inc is the holding company for all of HSBC’s U.S. and Canadian businesses, including Household International.

1. HSBC Bank USA, National Association
2. HSBC Bank Canada
3. HSBC’s consumer lending business operates in the United States under the HFC and Beneficial names.
4. HSBC Mortgage Services purchases and services non-conforming residential real estate secured loans. Business is found using the Internet and other methods.
5. Decision One Mortgage Company directly originates real estate secured loans that are sourced through mortgage brokers.
6. HSBC Card Services is an issuer of MasterCard or Visa credit cards in the United States
7. Household Bank and Orchard Bank card services offer credit cards to higher risk consumers.
8. HSBC Retail Services issues private label (merchant branded) credit cards.
9. HSBC Auto Finance has over 5000 dealer relationships; also services auto loans for HFC and Beneficial branches. Finds business using Internet; looks for refinance business; uses brokers (also called alliances.)
10. HSBC Insurance Services
11. HSBC Taxpayer Financial Services - the famous RAC and RAL’s that caused racketeering, influence and corrupt organization (RICO) charges.
12. HFC Canada - uses branch offices and merchant relationships
13. United Kingdom, HFC Bank

Once known as Household International - the troubled predatory lender responsible for US$484 million in a nationwide settlement - the Household name drives consumers away as they use the Internet to research before making a financial decision. Here is what the list would have looked like before:

1. Household Bank USA, National Association
2. Household Bank Canada
3. Household’s consumer lending business operates in the United States under the HFC and Beneficial names.
4. Household Mortgage Services purchases and services non-conforming residential real estate secured loans. Business is found using the Internet and other methods.
5. Decision One Mortgage Company directly originates real estatesecured loans that are sourced through mortgage brokers.
6. Household Card Services is an issuer of MasterCard or Visa credit cards in the United States
7. Household Bank and Orchard Bank card services offer credit cards to higher risk consumers.
8. Household Retail Services issues private label (merchant branded) credit cards. Also known as HRS and HRSI. Cleaverly disguised their bad name by calling themselves Retail Services.
9. Household Auto Finance has over 5000 dealer relationships; also services auto loans for HFC and Beneficial branches. Finds business using Internet; looks for refinance business; uses brokers (also called alliances.)
10. Household Insurance Services
11. Household Taxpayer Financial Services - the famous RAC and RAL’s that caused racketeering, influence and corruptorganization (RICO) charges.
12. HFC Canada - uses branch offices and merchant relationships
13. United Kingdom, HFC Bank

Predatory lending is defined in various ways:

As defined by California Association of Mortgage Brokers ( CAMB ), predatory lending is “placing consumers in loan products with significantly worse terms and/or higher costs than loans offered to similarly qualified consumers in the region for the primary purpose of enriching the originator and with little or no regard for the costs to the consumer.”

FDIC chairman Donna Tanoue said “Not all loans are predatory - in fact, most loans are not. What makes a loan predatory are certain features that take advantage of naive or gullible consumers. These include misleading and even fraudulent marketing representations, excessive fees, exorbitant interest rates, prepayment penalties that deter prepayment, balloon payments to conceal true cost and trigger foreclosure, frequent refinancing with new fees, and abusive collection practices.”

Another definition states “Predatory lending can be defined as loans placed through high-pressure sales tactics that force consumers to accept real estate financing with high costs. Sub-prime mortgage lending has boomed in recent years and consumers have been victimized by excessive fees, too many ‘points’, high interest, credit life insurance, prepayment penalties, and the encouragement to refinance too often so that lenders can get extra fees (flipping).”

However, “predatory lending,” as defined by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the primary regulator of HSBC and its subsidiary, Household International), means “making consumer loans (loans for personal, family or household purposes) based predominantly on the value of the collateral for the loan and the lender’s reliance on foreclosure of that collateral as the primary source of repayment, without taking into account the borrower’s ability to repay the loan in accordance with its terms.”

At Household - HSBC Watch we put forth a definition which shows the actual damage done by Household and HSBC under the control of CEO William F. Aldinger III :

�Predatory lending is the practice of imposing inflated interest rates, fees, charges, and other onerous terms on home mortgage loans � not because the imperatives of the market require them, but because the lender has found a way to get away with them.�