Household HSBC Watch

Seen on the ICP web site: 3/23/2006 — HFC has deceived us over and over again and reading your website made me realize I wasn’t alone. We refinanced with them in 2003 because they were the only ones who would give us the loan at the time. We would have been better off without it. They charged us $7,800 in points and origination fees but we had no idea that was so high at the time.

We learned 5 months ago that we owed $10,000 in deferred interest. We had no idea what deferred interest meant. HFC had changed their billing to reflect this deferred interest when they never had before. I was floored to learn I owed ten grand more than I thought. We now owe more than we borrowed 3 years ago. It took 4 months of calling them and finally going in and confronting them, for them to tell us we have a simple interest loan where interest accrues daily. We were never told this before. We have never made payments on an exact 30 day schedule to avoid more interest. We didn’t know we had to.

We have been lied to over and over when we call them. My husband became unemployed a couple years ago and we applied for 3 hardships and were denied each time for the same reason. The reason: we need more paper work. We would give them what they wanted, re-file and then it would happen again. Our very first payment was late because we didn’t receive the payment booklet in time to make the payment. That right there racked up over $1,000 in deferred interest and we had no idea it was even happening. We currently cannot refinance because we owe more than our house is worth. I am trapped in a mortgage that will only grow as I make payments instead of decrease. I can’t see how this can be legal or just.