Household HSBC Watch

Once again the question of protection, regulation, or lack or regulation in the United States comes up relative to HSBC. “We cannot have a segregated market where only the large and connected get protected by the SEC,” said former SEC commissioner Roel Campos, now a partner at law firm Cooley Godward Kronish. The American Bankers Association is lobbying the SEC to include all publicly traded banks and bank holding companies such as Washington Mutual Inc and Wachovia Corp, which have been under pressure. The SEC’s order only covers the primary dealers that have access to the Federal Reserve’s discount window and many of those firms are foreign-based such as Swiss-based UBS AG and London-based HSBC Holdings. “I don’t think you could limit it to those 19 names pushed on the SEC by the Federal Reserve, to protect all dealers in government securities,” said John Coffee, professor at Columbia Law School.

Read the rest of this entry »

Other banks and investment banks looked for foreign capital and losses continued. In some cases it was a further erosion of American companies. HSBC plc is the same, although as a global bank it is easier to disguise. HSBC needs money. HSBC Holdings has met with China Investment Corp (CIC), China’s US$200 billion sovereign wealth fund, over a potential investment deal, Reuters reported, citing the Sunday Telegraph. According to the report, which did not cite any sources, HSBC Chairman Stephen Green has met with CIC officials several times, and is believed to have discussed the possibility of CIC buying shares in HSBC on the open market. HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, currently aims to become the first foreign company to list on China’s A-share market.

A former employee of HSBC in Florida sent us this opinion: “Ex-employee from HSBC, parent company of HFC/Beneficial collections team. First I would like to straighten some facts about prior to my bashing. This company is a pay for performance company and each employee has the bonus options. The better you collect, the better the bonus. That makes each employee fight to obtain their bonus, which includes misleading, tossing out empty threats, offering solutions that will never exist. Yes, they are all salesmen, selling you a reason on why you should pay your bills. The communication from upper management was never clearly communicated and they are all interested in the dollars only. Customers are not the priority.

Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Grodon in Panama said: “About 2 years ago, because I had complained on various Yahoo internet chat groups, HSBC USA and HSBC Panama sued me for $5 million, and seized my assets and those of a charitable Foundation I had donated significant assets to. The story has just appeared over the past 4 days in the Panama newspaper La Estrella. Below is a link to the whole story, kindly prepared by Mr Ornstein. Please see it here.

Read the rest of this entry »

“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 10 other mortgage holders. If they pay after the 15th but before the 28th of the month the maximum late fee for the group suveyed was no more than $19. Is the HSBC late fee a percentage of the payment? As with most of HSBC’s fine print the extra $241.72 this person sends every month certainly does not offset anything. The matter hinges around when HSBC decides to process the payment.

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems the FSA is busy in London. What theme seems to run through this article? It suggests there is a big difference between Islamic Finance in the Middle East and people named Mohammed running fraud schemes in London. In March, the FSA banned Andrew Talai Kiplimo, a mortgage introducer (a person who brings business from customers to brokers and lenders) from Ilford, after he was found to have put forward applications “supported by inflated income statements, false employment details and a false set of accounts and tax calculation”. And in February, similar action was taken against two partners of a mortgage broker and accountancy firm in Ilford. The FSA said Amjad Malik and Tahir Mahmood, of Abbaci Associates, had submitted false loan applications to lenders, and “pose a risk to consumers”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here at Household - HSBC Watch we receive complaints every day. Some involve pre-payment penalties on home loans that trap the buyer, preventing refinancing or otherwise putting the buyer upside down in the home. That may soon change according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Read the rest of this entry »

More U.S. banks may fail after the collapse of mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc, straining a financial system seeking stability after years of lending excesses. More than 300 banks could fail in the next three years, said RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy, who had in February estimated no more than 150. Face the facts as HSBC makes a decision about their business model in the United States. HSBC bought a predatory lender–Household International– and subsequently saw huge losses. HSBC never got a foothold in America, except for a few states. HSBC tarnished their own image. No, we have no idea about which banks will fail in the next three years, but we will not miss some of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

On the legal front it appears as though HSBC USA and HSBC North America Holdings have some explaining to do. In a recent court document it was discovered that the are actual two additional holding companies as part of HSBC in the United States. Why is that?

Read the rest of this entry »

It has been published elsewhere but we must add this HSBC article: An HSBC clerk who attempted to steal £72m while working in the bank’s Canary Wharf headquarters has been sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy to defraud and money laundering. Jagmeet Channa had sent €60m (£47.7m) to one of Société Générale’s trading accounts in Morocco and minutes later wired €30m to a Barclays branch in Manchester. Channa is thought to have followed orders of fellow conspirators and expected a substantial sum of money for carrying out the crime. But the clerk forgot the account he used had to show a zero balance at the end of each day, so a massive debit figure became obvious to HSBC workers in Malaysia who informed HSBC’s headquarters in London.

Read the rest of this entry »