Household HSBC Watch

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sept. 13, 2005–HSBC Bank USA, N.A., (NYSE: HBC) the U.S. banking unit of one of the world’s largest financial services companies, today announced it has begun issuing new debit cards that feature MasterCard(R) PayPass(TM) contactless payment technology to its new and existing customers. With the issuance of these new contactless payment cards, HSBC […]

Is India processing your credit card payments? Most likely they are since they are doing work for the three largest credit card companies. Will HSBC Finance Corporation outsource their jobs and new Metris jobs to India? Time will tell, but wages are one-fifth of U.S. wages.

Nilesh Kothari, chief operating officer of Hero ITES, […]

Thursday, August 25, 2005 — U.S. personal bankruptcy filings in federal courts surged 18 percent in the three months through June from the prior quarter, as consumers rushed to beat the deadline for a new law that makes erasing debt more difficult, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts said. The number […]

Seen in Inner City Press regarding Metris:
“Metris’ lead financial advisor in the deal was Goldman, Sachs — which also sold Household International to HSBC. The similarities are not only subprime, but also SEC investigations. In July 2005, Metris received a Wells Letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Metris said the SEC was planning […]

The deal between HSBC Finance and Metris, which issues credit cards through its Direct Merchants Credit Card Bank subsidiary, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005. It will see Metris become a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC. As Metris is a specialist in non-standard consumer finance, the purchase will see HSBC further build […]

The U.S. credit card industry had seen consolidation in the last two months. Bank of America Corp. has bought MBNA Corp. for $35 billion in June and Washington Mutual Inc. has agreed to buy Providian Financial Corp. for $6.45 billion. HSBC is consolidating its reach in the U.S credit card industry. It is acquiring […]

Your Direct Merchants Credit Card is to become scandal plagued Household International’s operation. Now called HSBC Finance, Household’s parent company HSBC bought Metris, the former owner of Direct Merchants. “For over eleven years Household and HSBC’s credit card businesses, both private label and name brand, have been subject to suspicious acounting, including that […]

HSBC will be able to fund credit-card loans at lower costs, since its credit standing is better. HSBC Finance has a AA- rating from Fitch, the third highest. Metris has a B-rating, the 16th highest. “It’s a competitive market, and Metris was really at a disadvantage because of their funding costs,’’ Fitch […]

Metris’s stock tumbled to as low as $1.25 in January 2003, from a high of about $43 in September 2000. Chief Executive Ronald Zebeck was fired in December 2002. Household International stock tumbled from almost $80 to a low of around $22 in 2002 amid charges of predatory lending. Now part of […]

Metris was created in 1998 when it was spun off from catalog retailer Fingerhut Cos. The company’s marketing of credit cards to lower-income households in the late 1990s and early 2000s increased defaults and delinquencies, leading to combined losses of $149.3 million in 2002 and 2003. HSBC Finance Corporation bought Metris, as announced […]