Household HSBC Watch

Best Buy Co. Inc. is now repainting its 150 “Geek Squad” Beetles throughout California to comply with the highway patrol’s request that the vehicles not look so much like their patrol cars, the company said. “If a new driver or an older driver sees this black and white vehicle they might think it’s the police — they’ve got uniforms on and they’ve got badges on and could be mistaken for an officer,” CHP spokesman Mike Herman said Thursday.

The decision to repaint cars stemmed from a traffic stop in Walnut Creek, Calif., in June when a Geek Squad member was charged with breaking a California law that says, “No person shall own or operate a motor vehicle painted … to resemble a motor vehicle used by a peace officer or traffic officer on duty.”

The Best Buy credit card is backed and processed by former predatory lender Household International, now part of HSBC. See consumer complaints here.