HSB - Household Bank MasterCard Ripoff Interest rate hikes on good customers Should be illegal Internet

I had the same think from Household Bank. I've had it for about 8 years. A few years ago, they jacked up my interest rates. Now i no longer carry a balance on it. I've asked them to lower my rates, but they tell me they don't have any lower rates to offer.

I have had the same problems as most on here, paid my bill ontime every month, and my rate was jacked up. They sent me a letter saying it was due to deliquency and utilization of credit limit, I contacted the credit department and talked to a supervisor. She said maybe it was something on my credit, I said no I have credit monitoring and watch it. She said well maybe on of your payments was late, I said no one late charge was on there where i paid the rush payment fee and the late charge was automatically taken off dur to I paid on day that it was due.

She said well you have been near your credit limit, I said so i pay extra every payment, she said there was nothing she could do and to call back in a few months and maybe they can lower it. I told them this is stupid you thought that since i was near my credit limit i would have a hard time paying extra and they could make some money off me. Suprise was for them I paid off the whole $1025 balance 2 days later. I plan on leaving it open with a o balnace, and they can waist there money printing me 0 balance statement and cost of stamps every month.

I have also filed a complaint with the better businnes bureau, and would suggest everybody else alos. Thses companies do not like to have comaplints filed against them by bbb, it hurts there overall socre with them.
Good luck to all

I am disgusted with the whole credit card industry as it seems like legalized fraud to entrap people whose incomes are not increasing verses rates going up everywhere.

Today I received my household bank statement in mail and my interest rate shows 30.49% and I live in NC! I have been with them 5 years, had continued credit limit increases over those years, never late and this is what I get??

Are they not supposed to tell people why rates are increasing? I NEVER received any letter.

Regardless, how the hell can they be allowed to charge such exuberant rates at all as they have made a ton off me alone in 5 years time with services & purchases.

I called household and talked to one of their outsourced call center gals and she told me they never sent me a rate increase letter, yet my statement now shows 30.49% APR !! Why I ask? How I ask? What is going on and who is going to do something about this criminal behavior by credit card companies? This call center gal had no answer for me...

Be happy you haven't experienced this. I have the original BEFORE HSBC bought Household out. Trust me, I am not the only one. When it happened the first time I was told that they were receiving a lot of calls from customers with the same complaint which is why I contacted the OCC and my state Senators.

How long have you had your card? I was singing the praises of this bank for the first three years too. Either way, its good to be done with them.

How my account deserves this type of treatment I can never know but as I told the CS when she asked why I was closing the card 'Household Bank has told me in no uncertain terms that they do not want my business'

I think its a stupidity litmus test, the longer you are with them, the more IQ points they think you lose.

Which HSBC card product are you referring to? They have different types of cards. I have the HSBC Platinum MasterCard and have not experienced anything like this.

Okay as I stated in my original post, I decided to be done with HHB. Since I had already paid the annual fee I decided to keep thecard open until they acessed the next annual fee and only use the card for purchases that I could PIF each month. Since MArch 06 my statements have read 0 balance 0 due. When I realized that household was not reporting a 0 balance, (they don't report when nothing is due) I decided to use the card and not pay it off until the statement date. I made a small purchase of 170.00 Surprised when I opened my statement to find that when an amount showed on the statement I jad been ratejacked once again.


LOL!! of course they'd never get one dime out of me for interest but its the principal of the thing. I had already scheduled the payment to PIF for the month, so I called HHB and told them exactly where they could stick their card. I don't want to fall victim to a limit decrease as that can also hurt your credit score.

Who is doing their modeling? Monkeys? How do you take the chance of losing a loyal customer who you can see has more available credit than you offer with better rates by constantly ratejacking them? So no on top of any interest that they may have gotten before playing this game trhey will no longer get the interchange fee for simply processing the credit transactions.

I think HHB wants people who do not pay on time or go over their limits simply so that they can collect more money from them. Evidently I was not contributing enough to their bottem line so they were going to try and get more anyway they could

You may have read my earlier response posted from Senator Johnny Isakson. I just received a response from Representative Phil Gingrey - house of representatives. Mr Gingrey's response at least gives you hope that the politicians you vote to keep in office do not consider you something distasteful found on the bottom of their shoe after a morning walk. It also give me hope that at least some one really IS trying to protect the 'little guy'. So to give equal time and unbiased info, Mr. Gingrey's response is quoted below:

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Thank you for contacting me with your concerns regarding the fees and interest rates charged by credit card companies. I appreciate you taking the time to inform me of your views on this issue and am grateful for the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, Rep. Bernard Sanders introduced H.R. 1619, the Loan Shark Prevention Act, on April 13, 2005. It has been referred to the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit of the House Financial Services Committee. I believe this legislation would address many of the concerns you have brought forth in your letter.

The main purpose of this bill is to amend the Truth In Lending Act to set caps on the annual percentage rate applicable to any extension of credit and to the fees a creditor may impose under the terms of a credit transaction. It would also amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prohibit a credit card issuer from increasing any introductory annual percentage rate of interest applicable to an account for reasons other than actions or omissions of the card holder that are directly related to that account.

While I am against actions by credit card companies to take advantage of individuals, I also believe it is incumbent upon individuals to monitor their spending judiciously and understand the agreements they make with credit card companies upon applying for a credit card. Credit card company agreements must be transparent and upfront about the consumer's obligations. Rest assured that I will follow this legislation closely, and will continue to promote sound financial planning during my tenure in Congress. Should this legislation come to the floor for a vote, I will be certain to keep your sentiments in mind.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. If you feel that I may be of additional assistance on this, or any other matter of importance to you, please do not hesitate to contact me. You may further contact me via my email at gingrey.ga@mail.house.gov, or log your ideas and opinions on my website: www.house.gov/gingrey.
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THANK YOU Mr. Gingrey

Anyone in similar circumstances should encourage their lawmakers to support the aforementioned bill as well as suggest any caps to these ridiculous interest rates.

I had not closed my HHB account yet and after all of this, opened my statement this month to find out that not only had that put my interest rate back where it should be but increased my limit this month. Huh??

Just wanted to post here that I have been successful in having the balance on this card transferred. WEll I paid it off and opened an account with xxx.


sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company your comments on this policy are welcome! CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

While I commend you for contacting your Senator, it was an exercise in futility. In his eyes you count as one vote, one he can likely ignore.

Banks on the other hand are money in the pocket.
During the 1997-98 election cycle a period when Congress came its closest in years to passing a bank deregulation package -- banking, securities, and insurance interests made more than $87 million in soft money, PAC, and individual contributions to federal parties and candidates.

In addition to political contributions, industries involved in the bank reform debate spent millions of dollars to lobby members of Congress and the Clinton Administration. From 1997-1998 the banking industry alone spent $62,900,000.00 in lobbying costs.

To political representatives campaign money wags the dog.

I contacted my legislators and have received one response from senator Johnny Isakson - Ga. I did contact Mr Isakson and ask his permission to post this here but have received no reply in two weeks. Mr Isakson's response is as follows

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Thank you for contacting my office regarding credit cards and the credit card industry. I appreciate your concerns and the opportunity to respond.

Consumers with a credit card are protected from wrongdoing under the Truth in Lending Act, which is part of the Consumer Credit Protection Act of 1968. The Truth in Lending Act states that creditors must clearly state the terms of each card enabling consumers to knowingly shop around for the card that best meets their individual borrowing needs. Federal law does not regulate interest rates or any other additional credit card charges associated with the cost of borrowing the money. These are established by the credit cards companies and based on several factors, such as a card's status (i.e., Platinum vs. Gold) and the consumer's credit history.

As for your specific concerns, the credit card industry is regulated by the Federal Reserve Board. They are responsible for insuring that credit card companies behave in a fair and just manner. To file a complaint with an individual credit card company or for more information on consumer rights please visit the Federal Reserves Consumer Handbook: Credit at the following website: http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/consumerhdbk/complaint.htm. Here you will find the most up-to-date information as well as contact numbers for additional support.

As a businessman and the father of three, I understand the power of credit cards. If used correctly, credit cards can be a useful consumer tool. However, if used incorrectly they can quickly become dangerous. Thus, I believe we should encourage consumers to educate themselves before they apply for a credit card.

Thank you again for contacting me, and I hope you will not hesitate to call on me in the future if I can be of assistance to you.

Sincerely,
A
Johnny Isakson

United States Senate

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson
United States Senator
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I take this to mean that Mr. Isakson could care less that this bank has been practicing these same predatory lending practices for over 35 years against the poor who could get credit no where else. Nor does he care that this practice is used against people who keep their accounts in good standing with this bank according to the terms and conditions of their agreement.

Mr. Isakson's response seems to indicate that he is powerless to initiate legislation to change these predatory lending practices or could just care less. Nor does he respect the protection that is supposedly afforded under bankruptcy protection.

I wonder if Mr. Isakson realizes how many of his constituents have filed bankruptcy and DO vote. Was it not the law makers who initially passed legislation to require changes in the minimum payment to allow borrowers to pay off debt sooner? Why can't those same legislators pass legislation to prevent this type of fraud for the people who can least afford it, those who are making a serious effort to rebuild credit and do not have the opprtunity to pick and choose?

Every other predatory lending scam is put on the chopping block for all of America to see how our legislators are protecting the little guy. Why not this bank? Exactly how much power does HSBC hold in our Senate?

Mr. Isakson, I believe that me and many others would like to know the answer to this question.

BTW the offices who regulate this bank Mr. Isakson would be the FTC or the OCC not the federal reserve.

After speaking with both the FTC and the OCC I was told that they can indeed go up on an interest rate AT WILL as long as you are given 15 days notice. I was also informed that they are hearing the same complaint about this bank on a daily basis, the old bait and switch.

Since there is no legislation currently on the books to prevent this, at the suggestion of the OCC, I have sent emails to both my congressmen and senators.

PLEASE if your issues mirrors mine TAKE ACTION. Although no action can be taken by the OCC or FTC due to current laws, each call to the FTC and OCC are looked at and passed on to legislators. The additional step of personally writing these lawmakers may result in some action.

Due to the new laws passed that require CC companies to raise min payments, I believe that this is a tactic to save their bottom line by targeting those trying to establish or rebuild credit. One voice may not make a difference , but a choir will!!!

I received a letter from household stating that the reason that they were going up on my interest rate was a delinquency with another lender. After researching this, I did find that a lender was reporting my account status incorrectly. After going through the rigamorole to get this corrected, I called household and explained that it had been reporting incorrectly and was now corrected. Did this make a difference? Oh no! Now they tell me that because I utilize more than half my available credit, they won't lower the rate. Give me a freaking break!!

This had never been an issue before as I pay the card on time and have never been over the limit nor do I make minimum payments. After explaining this to their credit department I was told it was a variable rate card and they had the right to go up on my interest rate AT WILL. Anybody smell the livestock droppings close by?

DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER GETTING THIS CARD!!! I am now attempting to get another card and transfer the balance to sane people. I have also contacted the office of the comptroller of the currency who oversees credit card issues. Anyone else having similar problems with these people would be encourage to do so as well. THIS IS PREDATORY LENDING UNDER THE GUISE OF CREDIT REBUILDING!