Household HSBC Watch

If Arab nations have money and the United States is no longer profitable just refocus. If Islamic finance seems attractive in the U.K. and U.S. just focus on your new new friends. That is the business model for HSBC - the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank, headquartered in London and doing business in the United States and United Kingdom. Somehow the words just do not ring true after the subprime debacle. HSBC owns former predatory lender Household International. HSBC also made few changes within the Household system, now called HSBC Finance. What about HSBC’s old friends, like mainstream Americans? You won’t like it:

We invite you to see our complaints section. Under “employement issues” you see comments by current and former employees of HFC and Beneficial Finance. HSBC also sold loans through Decision One, which is now shut down. HSBC bought home mortgages from many other brokers and lenders. However, when we asked realtors about short sales and which companies are the most difficult to deal with - you guessed it - HSBC is at the top of the list. Perhaps the number of HSBC second mortgages and home equity loans plays a factor.

A short sale in real estate occurs when the outstanding obligations (loans) against a property are greater than what the property can be sold for. Short sales are a way for homeowners to avoid foreclosure on their homes and still be able to pay off their loan by settling with the lender. Incidently HSBC sut down Decision One mortgage, leaving 750 Americans without a job. “It’s no longer sustainable and not the right place to allocate capital in the future. We said we would make tough decisions, and we have done exactly that, said Michael Geoghegan, group chief executive of London-based parent HSBC Holdings plc.”