In excerpts from an Australian article by By Peter Weekes, dated February 24, 2005, we learn GE Money, the consumer division of the world’s largest company, fired the first shot a fortnight ago. Yesterday HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks but a minnow in Australia, stepped up to the plate by slashing its existing low-rate card to zero per cent for transfers. “We have seen the introductory rate war and now we are seeing the transfer rate war,” Denis Orrock, chief executive of bank monitoring company InfoChoice, said.
Meanwhile in the United States, consumer watchdog organization Household - HSBC Watch theorizes exportation of former predatory lender Household International’s credit card operations model, now owned by HSBC, will fund or offset losses. “Applying payments late, charging for unwanted insurance, high late fees, failure to send statements, violations of United States FDIC Regulation Z, charging interest on interest free plans, charging interest on late fees, and other predatory practices seen in the United States continues to generate revenue for HSBC, although the legality of such tactics is hightly questionable” said Household - HSBC Watch. After buying troubled predatory lender Household International, HSBC freely admitted to exportation of the predatory lending model, but HSBC argued that tactics were not predatory.
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