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The good, the bad, and the ugly - discover what customers are saying about Household Bank

Welcome to our customer reviews and complaints page for Household Bank. We understand that making informed decisions about where to invest your time and money can be challenging, which is why we've created this platform for our community to share their honest feedback about their experiences with Household Bank.

On this page, you'll find a comprehensive collection of reviews and complaints from real customers who have used Household Bank's products or services. Our reviews are authentic and unbiased, providing you with a complete picture of the company, its products or services, and their customer service.

Whether you're considering doing business with Household Bank, or you've already had an experience with them, our community's reviews and complaints will give you a valuable perspective on what to expect. Our goal is to help you make informed decisions about where to invest your time and money, and we hope that our platform will be a valuable resource for you.

Please feel free to browse our reviews and complaints and share your own experience with Household Bank. Your feedback is an important part of our community and will help others make informed decisions.

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1:47 pm EST

Household Bank Account Problems

On 11/29/11 at approximately 10:00 pm, I called in to activate my new credit card. I was asked a series of questions such as my full social, full name and mother's maiden name. The representative then continued another series of questions that was "obtained from public records" and "may or may not pertain to me." I went on to answer these questions and then I was told that they could not verify my identity. Appalled, I could not understand why this was so since everything that was asked I had answered. Personally, I do not understand how some of the questions such as what kind of car I drive could even be used to verify my identity since they were never initially provided to Household Bank. In addition, a question was asked regarding two relatives which I did not know the answer to. According to the supervisor, this information should have been known by myself, but I fail to see how this would verify my identity.

I would like to be personally contacted regarding my account that I have had since 2005. I do not believe that such security questions can verify my identity. Not once was I asked my date of birth and I was readily available to answer any and all personal information. I do not want to send it additional paperwork to verify my account. I would like to close my account immediately.

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Karlajfox
Beaverton, US
May 21, 2010 3:06 pm EDT
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I got a phone call a few moments ago, a lady wanted to know if I wanted to lower my interest rates on my HB Mastercard account...I pressed 9 for yes.

Another person came on, a man, and started to ask me for my cc info, I said I didn't have it, he said he needed it, I said just tell me about the interest rates, and was I qualified? He hung up on me.

What?

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Henry
, US
Jul 29, 2009 3:22 pm EDT

The payment date is not constant and changes in different months. When making a payment buy phone you are charged $15.00 additional processing fee.

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Jesus Dejesus
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Nov 18, 2008 6:12 pm EST

I receive and e-mail stating that I had made a large purchase with my credit card. I then contact my credit card and they said I need to call the place I had the purchase with. I can't understand why they didn't help me resolve this.

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gdion
Waterboro, US
Mar 01, 2010 9:51 am EST

They made a transfer even after I cancelled and then put me over the limit by charging me interest with out giving me a chance to pay in full first!

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Niel
, US
Jul 11, 2009 12:41 pm EDT

Refused to lower the interest rate on my card. It has been going up up up and I always pay on time and pay more than is required to pay.

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Stan
, US
Mar 11, 2009 8:03 am EDT

I received my bill this month and Household WITHOUT any notice had lowered my 2 accounts credit limits. One was lowered from $8000.00 to a mere $900.00 the other from again $8000.00 to $1800.00 after being a customer of their's for 9 years and with excellent credit. My accounts could have gone over their new credit limits without me even knowing about it. I called the CSR who not only could not speak the English Language let alone understand it, tried to tell me that a notice was sent out last week, yet I received no notice what so ever on any of my accounts. Household is a sub-standard bank with sub-standard practices that have gotten the US in the trouble in which it is in today. Household should concentrate their energy on getting their monies from those that owe it and leave those customers alone with whom pay their bills. I WILL NOT do business with such a bank and with their standards and have simply paid off my accounts. Does anyone know if this is practice is legal? If not does anyone wish to jump on the band wagon with myself and sock it back to this sub-standard bank?

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Vladimir Estragon
Grand Rapids, US
Jun 16, 2010 11:09 am EDT
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They pull the same thing on me and continue to mail me my bill late so they can charge me "late fees"

mjlambie
mjlambie
Los Angeles, US
Mar 11, 2010 2:08 am EST

Household bank and HSBC are jokes. Same things here.

catman220
catman220
Chardon, US
Mar 01, 2010 10:00 am EST

Household bank is a joke.They raised my interest from 17 to 27% for nothing.I was never late or over my limit.I told them to take a hike.

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Wykis
Worcester, US
Mar 20, 2009 8:17 pm EDT

I'm not sure if that's legal or not, but I did ran into a lot of trouble while dealing with the same credit card issuer (Household Bank). However, heres a website that helps people to find answers when dealing with national banks (I don't believe Household is national though).

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11:27 am EDT

Household Bank Screwed

They gave me a 2000 dollar limit. i paid my statement every month almost in full. my wife and my daughter go on vacation and use the card and told there is a block on it, i call household bank and they say they reduced my credit limit to 1400 dollars|. i asked them why and they said i took a cash advance for 60 dollars!. that 60 dollars was already paid/. the said OK and took the block off and my credit available was 69 dollars.. now i have my family on vacation with a 69 dollar credit availability!. i said when were you going to inform me of the credit reduction they said we mailed you a letter today/. what good does that do for me|. when i get the bill i am going to pay them off and cancel the card screw them all.

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11:36 am EDT

Household Bank Charged me Late Fees for No Reason

Every month I make my payment on time give or take a day or so. I just so happened to look back on my statements wondering why my balance is not going down. They have been charging me late charges for no reason. As of January 2011 I am now one month ahead and I received a late charge in the months of November, December, January, February and March. I have emailed them asking them to reimburse these charges and they refused. I also asked them to please lower my rate because of the hard economic times. They said NO! I am now forced to close this account.

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1:05 am EST
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THE AUTO PAY that ISN'T an AUTO PAY. I have HOUSEHOLD BANK for years, I had Auto-Pay set up on my account originally for $50 and then dropped auto pay to $30 and my payment was always $29.00. Well last month they charged me $39 for membership against my account balance so then they changed my minimum to $31 but they only took out $30.00. so I got charged...

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10:41 am EDT
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Household Bank continues to send me my bill late. This is a trick by them to be able to charge their customers "late fees" I have contacted them several times and they say they are required by law to mail the bill at least 21 days in advance. When I ask them why my bill continues to show up late they all have the same corporate answer "we have no control...

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1:21 pm EDT
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I recently got a card from this company. I paid off all charges for the month and they have not given me back credit for it. It was my first payment. I do not want to pay credit fees and felt I was being responsible using credit. They are penalizing me. I would not recommend this card to anyone.I sent email to the customer service Indian named customer...

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11:39 am EST
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Household Bank Raised my interest rate!

They do it because they CAN! Actually, I have card with Orchard Bank, which is same as HSBC.HSBC card has a low interest rate, so did Orchard when I signed up back in November. However they did not send me 1st statement therefore I had not paid the bill. They then sent me the next month's statement, late fee included. I called up telling them I had not received the 1st bill (which was honest) and they reversed the late fee and gave me back half of the annual fee because they did not want to lose me as a customer...oh boo hooo. The next statement...they JACKED UP THE INTEREST FROM 15% TO 29.9%.They did not reverse it and I cancelled the account. Oh and btw, if you want to talk to someone in the US, you MUST ask for it. I do it all the time! Screw these banks. They all do it because they CAN. They take ownership on their faults but screw the customer in the end! I believe if the company is in the US then customer service should be US based and THE INTEREST RATES THAT ARE SKY HIGH SHOULD BE ELIMINATED. It never used to be this way! But greediness comes in various packages.

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aryana
New York, US
Mar 02, 2009 5:46 pm EST

household bank is now going bankrupt

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6:46 am EDT
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Household Bank Poor service

I have been calling household bank for months

1. It prevent me from logging in many time keeps on asking me for my to change my email... then go paperless... then something else.

2. It says it takes my payment online and it doesn’t

I have to keep on checking on it and do it several times before it takes...

I have called more that 10 times on it over the past few months and they keep on saying its fixed or they are working on it .. What a garbage place

I would like to know what fedgov place to complain

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Vladimir Estragon
Grand Rapids, US
Jun 16, 2010 1:14 pm EDT
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All these things they are doing to you they are doing to me also. Its all part of the Scam they are running to charge late fees and raise customers interest rates. They are simply common criminals

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Wykis
Worcester, US
Mar 20, 2009 8:01 pm EDT

Sorry to hear about your business with Household. Appearantly you're not the only one. Here is a website that can help you fidn the information you need and file a complaint against them: http://sanjose.bbb.org/Home.aspx . I'm going to file a complaint about their services as well. As long as no one tells them about their poor service, nobody will know. In some cases, all it takes is few complaints to bring their unconventional practices to surface.

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5:59 am EDT

Household Bank Unauthorized balance transfer!

I applied for a credit card online and I put my balance transfer info on the application I wanted to transfer 8, 500.00 from my discover card., well I was only given a credit limit of 1, 000.00, so there was no way of transferring that balance but instead of calling me first household bank went ahead and transfered 850.00 without my consent first, and i am not even the card holder on the discover card so they didn't even check that first. When I called them to tell them they made a mistake they told me there was nothing they can do about it!

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Wykis
Worcester, US
Mar 20, 2009 8:29 pm EDT

That's one phrase their customer service is good at

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6:35 am EDT
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Household Bank Scam and theft!

I would like to start by saying this company refuses to help me, or anyone I know that utilizes their services. NEVER USE THEM, businesses that I know use them for house accounts are BEST BUY, Household Bank, Helzberg Diamonds, Orchard Bank, and GM Rewards.They outsource customer service calls to the middle east and asian islands, yet are still only open for a short business day. Contacting them is useless. The staff is rude and seem almost happy to hear how bad this company can make your life. HSBC corporate is pleased with their activity, and needs to be sued to stop.

Upon opening my first card with them I noticed they had poor call centers. Within a month I was offered a better card from the same company, so wanting to save money with a better interest rate, I opened the new card and canceled the first. It had a better interest rate and no annual fee. Seemed great.

This is the second year in a row I have been charged a $60 annual fee. This year it put me over my credit limit by $15. They charged me a fee for that too. I emailed them, to complain. Never received contact back. I used their customer service line to dispute and was told they would call me back. They never called. They refuse to help me.

Further, I use a credit report service. I have been informed that they have posted negative information, but will not allow me to dispute it. HSBC IS A FOREIGN OWNED RIPOFF CREDITOR. AVOID THEM. USE ANY AVAILABLE OPTION TO EXCLUDE THEM AS A CREDITOR. HSBC IS A SCAM. HSBC ENCOURAGES RUDE DISRESPECTFUL EMPLOYEES. HSBC IS HORRIBLE.

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NELLIE EARBY
,
Apr 20, 2008 3:57 pm EDT

household bank keeps charging me late fees and i paid this bill off -jan.08, i paid the 407.00, just like nco financial asked me to do.they have me owing 157.00 and i do not owe that

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Wykis
Worcester, US
Mar 20, 2009 7:54 pm EDT

I totally agree. They do rip off their customers with fees and their customer service is extremely poor. I made an online payment for my Household card, and I got charged a returned payment fee of 35$. When I called my bank to see the reason why my payment was denied, they explained to me that no payments were denied. This has happened back in October of 2008. It is March of 2009 and the problem is still ongoing because their Monitory Research Department has been working on it for months. Their customer service associate kept telling me that my bank denied the payment, and I kept telling them that it did not. I even had my banks manager write a letter and fax to them telling that no payments were denied by my bank. It's been months now and they are still "working" on the problem. I've been calling them every other week to check the status of their "research" and representative always tells me to call them back in a week. Don't do business with them. Very poor customer service along with even poorer customer support.

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JH
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Jun 11, 2008 8:48 pm EDT

This is a first! I made an online payment 6/1, to be effective on 6/6. The payment of $100 was not credited on 6/6, 6/7 or 6/8. I called customer NO service and was advised the payment would post within 2 business days. I called back today 6/10 and still no posting of payment. I was told by a csr that it could take up to 14 days for my payment to post. I advised them that the funds had cleared my bank because I had already checked.
The rep continued to repeat the same information in broken english as if he was reading a statement. I requested to speak to a manager because he was giving me no reason for this. How can I depend on using a credit card when they have a hold on my funds. After finally reaching a manager, I was advised that because I had made TOO MANY payments in a short amount of time, the processing of the payment was being delayed. So in other words, I have made too many payments to them within the last 30 days, so they are delaying the release of my funds! How messed up is that. They are holding my money hostage so that they can earn as much interest on this account as they want! I will pay this account off and not use them anymore. I have never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life.

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Cathie Perkins
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Mar 10, 2008 2:44 pm EDT

HSBC increased my APR to the default APR of 26.99% because I used more than 50% of my available credit. I had no late payments, no missed payments and no overlimit instances. The response I received was "We can adjust your APR at any time for any reason per our agreement". I have dealt with a lot of credit card companies over the last 24 years and I have to say HSBC is the most unethical company I have ever had the displeasure to deal with. HSBC is being hit hard by the current mortgage crisis and they are passing on their losses to their credit card customers.

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12:00 am EST
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Household Bank Stay away from the service they offer!

I received a promotion in the mail for a preapproved credit card. It was associated with Best Buy so I figured it was legit. I reviewed the Terms and Conditions and it was a standard card with no annual fee and decent rates. I opted for the 'Account Shield' protection program cause it seemed reasonable. I then used the card a few times and set up online payment through their web site. Here's where they got me. I charged the card up to within $10 of the limit. I set up a payment and it came out of my bank without any issues. what then happened is they held the payment for about 5 days without crediting my account. This put a pending charge on my account for the amount of the payment. Now, we all know that payment is sitting in a big account somewhere earning .003% daily. So, it makes sense for them to hold it as long as possible. They stated that the system will do it automatically. While waiting for the payment to 'clear' I was out of the $$ in my bank account and couldn't use the card. Then the statement was released and there was an over limit charge of $35. I checked online and it showed that the 'account shield' actually put the balance over the limit. Had the payment 'cleared' I would've been $100 below the limit and had no problems... It's a shady way of doing business.

The card is OK as long as you just use it for purchases at retail stores. No gas, No cash, and DO NOT use their on-line bill pay. The best way to pay them is through your own bank because it's usually sent electronically so if they try to charge you late fees you can dispute it through your bank.

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Wykis
Worcester, US
Mar 20, 2009 8:13 pm EDT

Similar thing actually happened to me too. In my case thoug, they charged me $35 for a returned payment fee. And the on top of that a late fee. When I called my bank to find out what had happened and why were Household denied a payment, they told me that no payments were denied. After calling HH and explaining it to the representative (which by the way didn't understand a single word in English and kept asking me if I would like to make a payment) i got to talk to a manager. Manager told me to obtain a letter from my banks manager stating that no payments were denied and fax it to their Monitory Research Department. Did it twice, because after the first time nothing happened, and eventually they asked me to send a 2'nd copy. It took them about 7 months to finally come up with an answer: they'll refund $70 (late fee and denied payment) but they can't do anything about the otehr $230 because according to them I should have paid and made account current by paying from a different bank account. Even though there is part of my fault (I could'v opened a new account), I really don't think I should be spending any of my money because my credit card issuer messes up so big. Long story short, don't do business with Household. Which is part of HSBC. However, another credit card by HSBC rom Best Buy, never ever have I had any problems with them.

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Pamala
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Jul 30, 2008 3:18 pm EDT

I had the secure plus..lost my job ans did not file a claim for 4 months.. was told that I had only 120 days to file therefore I could not get paid under the plan..

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12:00 am EDT

Household Bank Consumer, beware of Household Bank!

When I opened above credit cards with Household Bank I also purchased their credit card insurance. I became disabled and after numerous attempts Household (self-insured) finally activated my disability claim. This was a devastating road, because the insurance claim department was always late in making the payments (same financial institution!). When my doctor declared me permanently disabled, the credit card insurance paid off the balance. However, the interest rate on my credit card went up from 17.9% to 29.0%! (due to the late payments the Household Bank credit card insurance department had made). I called Household Bank and spoke to a supervisor who agreed to decrease the interest rate to the original rate of 17.9% and advised me that a letter would follow-up. I received the letter apologizing for the error, because they felt that the interest rate would be indeed 29.0% instead! I closed both accounts with Household Bank! Talking about crooks! How can Household Bank do this? Their corporate office is in the State of Nevada and this may be the reason why their state laws are more flexible...

CONSUMER, BEWARE!

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Miss Joanie
Tallahassee, US
Aug 04, 2022 1:43 pm EDT
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FALSE SCAM ALERT!I was contacted by a person stating that she represented Household Orchard Bank. They left me a voicemail message and a number to call them back. They also left me a fake customer number. She stated that I had opened an account with this company in 2003 and that the company closed my account in 2006. I have no knowledge of opening an account with Household Orchard Bank in 2003. When I stated this to whomever this bogus person was, she attempted to advise me of actions to take. They had my social security number and date of birth which alarmed me. To all readers, this sounds like a scam to get access to your bank account so that they can totally rip you off. I am filing a police report against them as soon as i finish typing up this message.

Retired Educator and you cannot and will not steal my money!

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