Household HSBC Watch

Although the credit quality problems at HSBC Finance appear to have tempered management’s enthusiasm for cheap acquisitions of distressed assets, HSBC wasted no time in complaining about wording in the US government $700 Billion bailout. The issue was the wording of “Headquarters in the United States.” As lawmakers and Financial chiefs worked on […]

The Manchester Evening News (see) reported something we already knew. BARCLAYS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and NatWest all offer below average customer service, according to the latest Which? Money current account survey. They also continue to offer paltry amounts of interest on credit balances. Just look at our own survey, located to […]

Seen in the Telegraph: “An update on the race to become the first head of a major UK bank to get the chop. Earlier this week Diary discovered that Paddy Power was running odds on which of RBS, HBOS, HSBC and Barclays would be first to lose their chief exec. The hot money was […]

In a news article from late last week titled “Business big shot: Michael Geoghegan” we see the power of algorithms and content matching. Although I do not know what the article was really trying to prove, the Times Online also suggests other relative articles. One related article is titled “HSBC profit falls […]

Several HSBC websites are subject to scripting flaws that create a possible mechanism for crooks to create more convincing phishing scams. Security blog xssed.com has posted a list of affected domains, which include HSBC sites in multiple territories including the UK. Xssed has been tracking problems on the bank’s sites since last year. The […]

HSBC also likes India as a developing nation. In a recent article we wrote about problems in Vietnam, another HSBC favorite. India’s inflation accelerated to a 13-month high. That means India probably will not see an interest rate reduction any time soon. HSBC Group Plc in the past week reversed their […]

We deviate from our regular HSBC posts to show our readers how UK banks avoid refunding customers’ unfair bank charges. Even though UK regulators said refunds should be issued, customers demanding such refunds are met with stonewalling and refusals. High Street giant Lloyds TSB, which has been accused of overcharging customers £300 million […]

HSBC has been accused of imposing a stealth charge of £25 on customers who go over their agreed overdraft limit. £25 is about $50 (USD). HSBC claims the charge is fair because it covers the time taken to review the customer’s account, but campaigners say it is a device to get round the […]

A large Califronia pension fund has put more pressure on HSBC, setting a deadline for change. Christy Wood, Calpers’ head of global equities, told The Sunday Times it wants HSBC to reveal detailed plans to refocus the group, address share-price underperformance and set a series of testing financial targets. “We want to see […]

According to one article from the UK banks are putting pressure on customers to solve their “debt problems” but the solution may be worse than the problem. HSBC learned from the US subprime problem, as loan officers told customers they could refinance into a better loan in six months or a year. Look […]