Household HSBC Watch

“We consider our proprietary credit card program to be a key component of our retailing concept, and we place a high degree of importance on our relationship with our cardholders,” said Bon-Ton President and Chief Executive Bud Bergren.

For HSBC, the deal is small. The unit of Illinois-based HSBC North America Holdings is the nation’s No. 3 issuer of store cards, and handles the card businesses for more than 60 major retailers, including Best Buy, Costco Wholesale Corp., Casual Male Retail Group, Saks Fifth Avenue and Kmart.

Household - HSBC Watch, a consumer advocacy organization that follows Household International and HSBC, said “We welcome Bon-Ton to our merchant monitoring program and now, because of Household International, we can watch them like a hawk. News alerts are set up. If Bud Bergren valued his cardholders he would have researched Shea v Household, predatory lending, Household’s reputation and more. At least he didn’t enter our quotable quotes section by saying ‘Household, one of the most respected in the industry….’ as Saks CEO Brad Martin did just before Household’s nationwide predatory lending settlement exploded in his face.”