Household HSBC Watch

HSBC partner, tax preparer H&R Block, will restate earnings. The company, which is in the middle of its make-or-break season preparing other people’s tax returns, said it had underestimated its own “state effective income tax rate” in previous quarters — meaning it owes another $32 million in back taxes.

As a result, H&R Block […]

Who would pay an annualized rate of 178 percent on a 10-day loan they are essentially making to themselves?

Apparently over 12 million taxpayers would, according to the National Consumer Law Center. That is how many taxpayers took out a refund anticipation loan, or RALs, in 2004. Though these loans are more often referred to as […]

Customers of H and R Block’s rapid refund program said their banks would not cash their refund anticipation checks. - see more -

Checks were issued by Block’s bank, HSBC, an international bank formed out of the former Household International and other organizations. In 1998, Block and HSBC, then known as Household Bank, were sued […]

It is tax season again and H&R Block is advertising on television, newspapers, and on the radio. Those who really ant a rapid refund or tax anticipation loan might not care that H&R Block has racketeering charges pending against them and fellow pedator Household International. Household is now owned by HSBC, but that […]

This is the Household - HSBC Watch year end update on H&R Block, Household International, and HSBC tax refund loans. Racketeering charges against HSBC and H&R Block still remain, mostly in part to HSBC’s predatory lending subsidiary formerly named Household International.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha Circuit judge gave preliminary approval Friday to a $62.5 […]

September 29, 2005 Credit card delinquencies shot to a record high in the second quarter, as consumers tried to keep up with rising gas prices and increasing interest rates without curtailing spending, a report showed yesterday. The percentage of credit card accounts that were 30 days or more past due rose to 4.81 […]

A consumer reported today: “Recently, I was denied a car loan because they said my credit rating was very low. I applied for a credit report from EqiFax and found out to my surprise that a company named HSBC TAXMASTERS said I owed a debt of over two hundred dollars and was delinquent. […]

Financial service agencies push RALs as a way of making ends meet sooner, but in reality, say consumer advocates, these loans are far from a good deal, or even a fair one. In 2003, consumers took out more than 12 million RALs, costing over $1 billion in loan fees alone, not including other processing payments […]

Tax preparer H&R Block Inc. reported a 14 percent drop in third-quarter earnings Thursday, but beat expectations as an increase in early tax clients provided the company with record third-quarter revenue. For its fiscal third quarter ending Jan. 31, the Kansas City-based company reported earnings of $91.7 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with […]

“Nearly $2 billion in tax credits earmarked for low-income workers instead went to businesses that offer high-interest loans against pending tax refunds (Rapid Refunds, RAC’s and RAL’s), according to a new study by the Brookings Institution and the Progressive Policy Institute…. Fees on those loans amount to annual percentage rates of 67% to 774%, according […]