We took revolving crdit with HFC before they went out of business and was taken over by HSBC. Since then, I have become very ill and disabled. My husband, a Research Scientist, was laid off back in March. Now our combined income between unemployment and disability is barely enough to pay our rent, let alone any other debts. Citibank contacted us and offered a program allowing us to pay what we could afford and dropped our interest rate to below 10% to assist us with that debt. HSBC on the other hand

1) is applying only about $70 a month to our $14, 000 debt, while charging us over $220 a month in interest each month. Although we have been paying on time the minimum balance plus, our principal has been constantly increasing due to their interest fees.

2) To contact someone in customer service (aka India) I was bounced from one rep to another. They claimed not to have our current address on record, although somehow our monthly statement is addressed to our cuurent residence. None seemed to be able to answer any questions (off script)

3) After speaking to 6 people and repeating the same information over and over again, I was finally handed off to an extremely rude, arrogant and incompetant American rep who, after interrogating us over every asset, income, debt etc..., told us the only service they would offer is a 6 month partial discount on the interest rate.

4) they state in small print, small enough you need a magnifying glass, that the balance due does NOT include interest accrued since prior billing. With seeing this (which the average person would easily overlook) and not being provided with the actual amount due, you are doomed to underpay the account and be hit with numerous charges.

5) no telephone numbers for US offices are provided.

HFC was a disgrace and so is HSBC. You would think with the Banking industries record profits due to excessive and unfair charges, they would have some compassion for customers who were drawn into their web of deceit.