WK in Illinois said: “I have followed the entries on your website for several years and I can understand why HSBC customers and employees feel the way they do. I was employed at HSBC for 10 years in the HFC and Retail Services divisions of Household International which later became HSBC Finance. What I witnessed was a culture that views employees as exploitable and customers as mere consumers of product. The culture there is indeed a horror story where anyone who is capable of thinking critically is considered a pariah. It is no wonder that we are experiencing an economic crisis of such magnitude that the taxpayers are forced to bail out these predatory bottom feeders. And of course, was Household’s former CEO Bill Aldinger ever forced to account for his actions? No, he got a parachute.”
Archive for » October, 2008 «
Editor’s Note: See latest reports on layoffs and reorganization here
This time state attorney’s general are asking HSBC Finance for something other than evidence of predatory lending. They are asking for help. What will be the result if requests are ignored? History shows that HSBC Finance was Household International, which was purchased by HSBC in 2003. Prior to that Household was sued by AG’s in almost every state. The allegations were predatory lending, and Household settled for $484 million.
It has been ten years since consumer advocates started Household - HSBC Watch. Sometimes we wonder where the years went. Ten years ago we started a single web page on a free server. Now we have over 3000 visitors every day. Part of the traffic obviously is a result of the current mortgage crisis. Our volunteers give their time and resources to help in this effort, while much of our work is accomplished by telecommuting and virtual offices. It’s been ten years since we first realized that Household International abused military servicemembers and civilians.
