Household HSBC Watch

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 […]

“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. […]

It is one thing to buy a predatory lender — Household International — but quite another to cotinue the business practices almost unchanged. HSBC is still one of the biggest subprime lenders in the United States. As a result, lawmakers sent a letter to HSBC asking the lender and mortgage servicer to help […]

“Even though my account is and has been in good standing — and I also pay $241.72 extra payment on top of my mortage due amount every month since I’ve had this account — HSBC charged a late fee of $143.91. This is for a standard, conventional, 30 year fixed mortgage. We surveyed […]

NAACP members are raising awareness about lending discrimination at 17 lending institutions. HSBC released the following statement regarding the NAACP to Eyewitness News: “HSBC Finance Corporation does not comment on litigation. However, at HSBC Finance Corporation, we take our fair lending and consumer protection practices very seriously, and we are confident that we […]

Even bankrupt lenders are looking for a new approach to lending. One subprime lender, the bankrupt Delta Financial, is reemerging as a lender of FHA mortgages and other “alternative” products. The company’s former chief executive, Hugh Miller, along with a small group of former Delta executives, is launching Reliance First Capital, a mortgage company […]

There is a vast difference between true global bankers who once had branches aboard the luxurious Cunard Lines, and the finance company logic of embarassed former predatory lenders. I am old enough to remember true bankers in England, the Cunard Steamship Lines, and such professionalism. I am also old enough to remember when […]

AK in Oregon sent this op-ed piece. We are publishing it here instead of in our complaints blog:
“HSBC- predatory lenders who slam insurance, offer over market rates and fees, and treat employees with disrespect.

When I started working at HFC I was just out of college. I was excited to have a job […]

Reuters is reporting that HSBC intends to open new branches - bank branches, not HFC and Beneficial Finance branches - across the United States. Quoting Kevin Martin, executive vice president of HSBC Bank USA, the bank inteneds to open new branches with a focus on New Jersey, California and Washington D.C. Plans […]

Citigroup Inc., HSBC Finance Corp. and seven other companies agreed to help delinquent homeowners in Ohio avoid foreclosure in the first such accord between a state and home-loan servicers, Governor Ted Strickland said. Like alcoholics that keep drinking, the companies pledged to make an effort. Banks and other lenders pledged to modify terms […]