WOW.. Where to begin… HSBC's Auto lending company is known as Household Auto Finance. This is the second loan I had through them. The first load I choose them by choice, and the second it was choosen for me through the car company.
The first problem I had is I was promised a 4 year loan by the car company, and when the bills came in it was a 6 year loan. I was told an interest rate of 10% (I had poor credit), but was actually given a 19.9% rate (I know… whew)… I didn’t know of the actual interest rate until almost two years into the second loan.
The first loan I had I refinanced with (((competitor's name redacted))) (a FANTASTIC company) shortly after closing on the HSBC loan and lot of problems occurring with them.
The Second loan is why I am filing a Fraud Report claim on them.
Problems:
1. Was lied to about the length of loan
2. Was lied to about interest rate.
3. I ended military service under honorable conditions (as a combat veteran) and ended up missing two payments due to lack of employment. They tried to repossess the vehicle after the first missed payment.
4. People on the phone were VERY, VERY, VERY, rude and pushy at every opportunity. A supervisor actually threatened to file criminal charges against me and have me thrown in jail if I didn’t pay them… I FOUGHT IN A FREGGIN WAR FOR MY COUNTRY AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GOT!!! They were completely unwilling to work with me and help me out… (keep in mind that this was one of only two missed payments I’ve had with them through either loan, almost a total of 4 years with them).
5. Recently I moved from Hampton Roads, Virginia to Pensacola, Florida.
When I got to FL I asked them to send a copy of the car title to the Florida DMV. They never sent the title. I called a total of 11 times each time speaking with a representative located in Malaysia that refused to pass me to their supervisor when I couldn’t get a reasonable explanation why they were not sending the car title to FL (so I could register the vehicle in FL). They also refused to give me contact information to their corporate HQ so I could talk to a manager there.
Every time I called them about them sending the title to FL DMV they would give me a different excuse. Finally it was sent, but they sent it to Alabama. NOT Florida?!? I again asked them to send it (call #9) to Florida DMV, and they mailed it to my house. Florida DMV couldn’t accept a title coming from me, it had to come from them. I called them back (#10) and they said they didn’t have an address to send the request to. I called them out of this as well.
There is absolutely no way possible I was the only person in the entire state of Florida that had their car financed through them. The Florida DMV had also at this point requested a copy from them via mail, fax, email, and telephone call 3 times as well… Once they finally acknowledged the requests, they said it would take anther month to request the title back from Alabama and send it to Florida…
Their customer service is very rude, crude, and they do not understand English. They refuse help in every respect.
Another problem I had with them is their payment processing. I send several payments that the checks were cashed, but the account was not credited. This went on my credit report as non-payment. I called them and they said there is nothing they can do, so I filed a grievance/challenge with the 3 credit agencies. The response back form HSBC
“ In response to your recent inquiry ….. We have thoroughly looked into you account and we are unable to find any inaccuracies on our part and therefore we are unable to withdraw any negative credit notations made on any of your credit reports. We sincerely apologize if you find this in error and you may reply in writing to …. “
Well the address they said to “reply in writing to†is a bogus address.. I received no reply or any further action.
I’ve contact an attorney about my case, but the cost of taking them to court for these grievences would cost more than the vehicle is worth, so I have no other recourse than to write this and hope and pray that no one else will use their service(s).
This company is a “Predatory Lender†and is a complete sham. They will rip you off and malign your credit. They will lie to you about your length of loan and interest rate, and will belittle and threaten you if you are off payment by one day.
If you are lay on payment by one day, they will harass you by calling every number they have for you every day. It was routine for them to call my cellular with very condescending and rude remarks demanding payment (when it was just 1 day past due), then 10 mins later someone different would call my house phone. If I refused to give them payment over the phone (a post dated check) they would call back later that afternoon demanding payment yet again. The process would happen about 3 to 4 times a day, but when I complained to them about this harassing beheivor they would get really cynical with me and say things like “If you would live up to your end of the bargin then we wouldn’t have to call you at all. We don’t call more than once a day, and you are lying saying we call more than that. We have an automated system that doesn’t allow more than one call per dayâ€.. This is bogus.
There were several and I mean SEVERAL times that my payment was a day or two late due to latency in the postal service, and I would get calls demanding I give them a post dated check and they wouldn’t accept the payment was in the mail. It got so bad I had to call my telephone company and put a block on their calls. When I did this they looked up my mother in Alabama, and my father in Colorado and would harass them. When they were told by each of them not to call again, they looked up my grandparents in Tennessee and called them.. They were looking up relatives with the same last name in the phone book and calling them!!! My last name is very rare in the US and everyone that is in the United States with my last name is a relative of mine. They somehow knew this…
I don’t know how they continue to get away with this sort of behavior, so I decided to refinance again. Now Im with (((competitor's name redacted))), and I couldn’t be happier. My payments are over $100.00 less a month, my interest rate is less than half of what it was with HSBC, and (((competitor's name redacted)))'s customer service is SUPERB!
Please, with everything I am, if you’re thinking about financing through HSBC Auto Finance, DON’T! You will be VERY sorry in the long run. Please read my story and that of others on this site and other sites as well BEFORE you decide to go through the loan with them!!!! They are shady crooks that don’t deserve to be allowed to operate in the United States.
Robert *****
Pensacola, Florida