Household HSBC Watch

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 […]

In a lesson plan, designed to teach about predatory and subprime lending, we asked this question of students in 2005: “What is the impact on a country’s economy if predatory lending is left unchecked?” Three years later the answer is clearly obvious. As of today the world has seen over $515 billion […]

According to the Star Telegram, three credit cards to avoid are First Premier Bank (the card’s first-year fees add up to $276), HSBC American DreamCard (which has a steep 15 percent to 22 percent APR) and New Millennium Visa or MasterCard (which has no grace period to repay purchases or cash advances before a finance […]

Bankruptcy laws were changed and strengthened in 2005. Then greedy banksters, mortgage brokers, and lending companies felt safe. They could do whatever they wanted to do, since it was harder to declare bankruptcy. Nationally, the total number of bankruptcies filed in the first half of 2008, however, rose 29.2 percent, to 522,205, […]

This is a perfect example of HSBC’s exportation of the Household International model of doing business. Credit card interest rates have been increased to as high as 50 percent in India. While proud of making a profit in developing nations HSBC is not alone. ICIC, Deutsche Bank, SBI and HSBC have either […]

With the United States in a recession the double-speak is interesting. Some call the recession of 2000-2001 a “mini-recession.” Now HSBC’s Douglas Flint has a “technical recession.” HSBC finance director Douglas Flint said: “The issue now is the US slowdown and whether it enters a technical recession, and what that does to […]

HSBC PLC leads the list of top losers so far today and is now at $76.87, down $2.44 (-3.08%) on volume of 1,013,233 shares traded. Part of the problem for HSBC comes from the IMF, which said subprime issues will continue and may actually get worse. HSBC became of of the leading subprime […]

Seen in the comments section of Market Watch: “Companies like HSBC should be run out of town. They are crooks. Try getting them on the phone about an error. I hope they go broke.” The article is titled “Wednesday’s Personal Finance stories” and the actual web page is titled “credit-card gripes grow, but […]

HSBC said the bank would export the business model of Household International, purchased by HSBC in 2003. As disturbing as it sounds, HSBC bragged about exporting the so-called “Household Model” even though history will show the model as a predatory lender. Subprime losses in the billions of dollars showed a failure. Pragati […]

“It is clear that growth models in our industry based on high and increasing leverage will no longer be sustainable,” said HSBC chairman Stephen Green. Changes are being made at HSBC, partly to appease Knight Vinke. Don’t tell Green, however, because he wants the world to think it is all his idea. […]