HSBC Finance

HSBC Finance Corporation was formed from the legal entity that had been known as Household International—shortly after Household International settled for US$486 million in charges pertaining to predatory lending, after burning through $389 million in legal fees and expenses[1]—and is now expanding its consumer finance model via the HSBC Group to Brazil, India, Argentina and elsewhere.

It claims that in 1895 it was the first financial company to offer the installment plan, under which a consumer loan could be repaid through a regular monthly amount rather than a lump sum on the due date.

In October 2002, Household International settled for US$486 million charges of predatory lending by attorneys general in 46 U.S. states.

announced plans to acquire Metris Companies, Inc, a credit card issuer to the U.S. middle market segment.

In 2009, HSBC Finance Corporation announced the discontinuation of loan originations of all products by its Consumer Lending business, but continue to service and collect the existing receivable portfolio as it runs off, while continuing efforts to reach out and assist mortgage customers with their loan repayments and home preservation.

The sale of the U.S. credit card division came a little more than a week after HSBC announced that it will sell almost half its retail branches in the United States.

In 2013, HSBC Finance sold its US consumer loans to Springleaf Financial and Newcastle Investment Corp.[14] In April 2015, HSBC Finance was reported as having accidentally uploaded information on United States customers' mortgages, including social security numbers and telephone numbers, to a publicly accessible webserver that was subsequently indexed by Google search.

The deal remains subject to ratification by the court which is estimated to result in a pre-tax bill of roughly US$ 585 m to HSBC Finance in the second quarter of 2016 covering attorney costs and expenditures.

For instance, it was alleged that Household Finance had placed borrowers in high-cost loans with costly prepayment penalties which had not been properly disclosed.

The unit offers mortgages, personal loans and insurance through 75 branches in 10 provinces and via merchant relationship with stores such as The Brick, Henry's, and Arctic Cat.

[18] In January 2008, the Financial Services Authority fined HFC £1,085,000, for failing to take reasonable care in its sale of Payment Protection Insurance.

[6] The company website now states that the Beneficial and HFC companies and HSBC Credit Centers have closed their consumer finance businesses in the United States, the website is no longer active, and that all loans have been sold with servicing transferred to third-party servicers.