P.O. in Minnesssota said: “: I too have been trying to pay my HSBC retail charge on-line with no success. I also went to the store, this time it is ART VAN FURNITURE STORE. They refused my payment and gave me a sheet of paper telling me to make my payment on-line at www.hrsaccount.com. There is no way to pay on-line. They offer all sorts of other offers such as new cards, insurance, etc, but, no way to pay. The pay by phone charge is $15. I have a card that allowed me 1 year free interest if I pay by the due date. I do plan to get the payment to them even if by overnight mail service but I will not be charge the additional $650+ amount for interest nor will I pay them the fifteen dollars. This scam of theirs should be stopped. I will never use another charge at any company that uses HSBC Retail as their bank.”

Y.K. in Florida said: “I was sent a credit card from HSBC, I repaid the card in full. I requested that the account be closed. The account was not closed, but a service charge was added, along with interest, the company is now claiming that I owe this huge sum based on escalated charges on an account that I requested to be closed.”

PF in California says money disappeared from her/his bank account. “This company debited funds from my bank account. I have never done business with them, ever. I called them directly and was told that I could not talk to their fraud unit to complain….to determine the ISP of the computer that supposedly did this, etc. ….but because I did not have an account with them they refused to talk with me. How did they access and get money out of my account then?????? Is this their M/O, should I close my bank account? “

BB said: ” I purchased an item with 18 months “same as cash” plan from CompUSA on August 12. My understanding of “same as cash” is you have a certain amount of time to pay the balance before accrued interest charges are added to your account. You also can pay it off at any time, including the entire amount near the end of the promotion. That would put the promotional end date at February 2008. Much to my shock, I noticed a negative reporting on my credit report from HSBC. It said I was late on minimum payments and it was forwarded to a collection agency. Then I contacted Customer Service and was speaking to a very arrogant Customer Service Rep who insisted that I had to make minimum payments each month, even if this is a promotion! I explained to her that this plan was misleading if it was truly a “same as cash” and requested to speak to her manager. She refused my request. This practice of “same as cash” but requiring minimum payments similar to a “line of credit” account is very misleading and deceptive. I went ahead and paid the bill in full (including late charges). Their practice needs to be investigated by the Better Business Bureau.”