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HSBC Finance, which dubs itself "the world's local bank," landed ninth in this year's MSN Money-Zogby International survey, with 30% of respondents familiar with the credit card company rating its customer service "poor."
Company representatives declined to discuss the survey results. But Cindy Savio, the manager of public relations, sent this e-mail: "HSBC is committed to delivering a positive card experience for our customers. We always value feedback from our customers so that we may address their concerns."
In the survey, of those familiar with the company's customer service, 26% rated it "fair," 32% "good" and 12% "excellent."
HSBC Finance is part of HSBC Holdings, a London financial-services company with more than 128 million customers in 83 countries and territories. The parent company had $19.1 billion in net income last year and was described by Forbes as the most profitable bank in the world.
In the U.S., HSBC finances credit cards and backs the in-store cards of dozens of retailers, including Best Buy, Costco Wholesale, OfficeMax, Neiman Marcus and Saks.
Recently, the name has been associated with the housing crisis.
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HSBC became a major contributor to the escalation in high-risk mortgage loans after it bought Household International, then the largest subprime lender in the country, in 2003 for $14 billion. Last year, three top executives of HSBC's North American finance operations were ousted after subprime-loan performance deteriorated badly.
HSBC has also drawn the ire of trade unions for outsourcing labor to service centers abroad.
In April, HSBC in London confirmed it had lost unencrypted data discs containing life insurance policy information for 370,000 customers.
Published May 28, 2008
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