As Household - HSBC Watch looks out for you we talked with the Missouri Attorney General and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) today (25 February 2005). New changes in consumer complaint reporting make it easier for you to complain about Household, HSBC, and any of over 60 merchants. Although the Federal Trade Commission will still take your complaint about a credit card problem, the OCC will take your merchant complaint and Household -HSBC complaint and they will handle it all. They contact the offending financial institution and attempt to get your money back if indeed there has been an illegal act or duplicity. We advise you to contact your state attorney general so a complaint is on file with them and they know what is happening at the federal level. Both agencies are available from the drop down menu on the front page of our website www.householdwatch.com
Archive for » February, 2005 «
Andrew Armishaw, group executive and chief information officer at HSBC has some explaining to do. Consumers have reported in recent weeks that HSBC’s online payment website, www.hrsaccount.com , will not let customers pay their accounts online. The number of complaints about the online payment website rose to an all time high in recent weeks. Consumer watchdog organization Household - HSBC Watch said www.hrsaccount.com supports accounts for predatory lender Household International, now called HSBC Finance Corporation. See a letter to the FBI and regulators.
Tax preparer H&R Block Inc. reported a 14 percent drop in third-quarter earnings Thursday, but beat expectations as an increase in early tax clients provided the company with record third-quarter revenue. For its fiscal third quarter ending Jan. 31, the Kansas City-based company reported earnings of $91.7 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with net income of $106.7 million, or 59 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.
Report that you may be the victim of identity theft with at least one of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax (www.equifax.com or 800-685-1111), Experian (www.experian.com or 888-397-3742) or TransUnion (www.transunion.com or 800-888-4213). That bureau is required to notify the other two.
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.
