Household HSBC Watch

In past years as a former customer I felt cheated, swindled, and was lied to by HFC - Household International. No, I was not the victim of foreclosure. Nor was I duped by my Best Buy credit card interest free period. That happened to my wife. I admit my wife and I were hoping Household International would go broke. Instead, HSBC bought the predatory lender. For those still involved with HSBC, HFC, and Beneficial Finance in the United States you have now been economically decoupled.

Chairman Stephen Green said there was growing evidence of “economic decoupling,” with weakness in the U.S. not constraining economic activity elsewhere. “There is a gradual disentangling of the importance of the U.S. consumer, with greater momentum coming from Europe, Japan and emerging markets, so we are pretty confident with the overall level of world growth,” Green said.

In my opinion Green sounds like a used car salesman trying to decouple an unsuspecting buyer from his or her wallet. Gradual disentangling is something that happens after a car wreck. Buying predatory lender Household International nows looks like a car wreck for HSBC. More like a multi-car train wreck actually.

The good news is that American consumers are less important to HSBC. Maybe - just maybe - that means HSBC, Stephen Green, Michael Geoghegan, Brendan McDonagh and the rest of them will leave the United States. Better yet, perhaps they will sell the consumer finance division to somebody that can get sued, pay huge regulatory fines, and go broke like Household International tried to do. And if the new CEO can follow in the footsteps of Qwest executive Joe Nacchio, all the way to prison, it still won’t make up for the way Household, HFC, HSBC Finance, and Beneficial treated their customers over the years.