HSBC Bank Nevada Sells your social security number, credit history, internet usage, and more to ANYONE!

Today I got a rather generic letter in the mail from HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A. At first I had no idea who they were. I have no such bank affiliation I thought to myself, which prompted me to read it. Figured out it was Best Buy who employs HSBC Bank Nevada, which I happen to have a consumer credit line with. The document, was a basic looking privacy policy with a font size of 5px so you would be sure not to read it. What I found were some of the most offensive business practices I have ever read. Now read this and tell me if this is the most deceitful business practice you have ever heard of.

The first to paragraphs are headed in bold with "Our commitment to You" and "We respect your privacy" They non shalantly state that they collect the common stuff like your name and address blah blah blah. After about four paragraphs you start getting to the good stuff. I quote

"the information we share could include your transactions with us or any of our affiliates (such as your account balance, payment history, and parties to the transaction), your Internet usage, or credit card usage" " We may also share your social security number, assets, income, or credit report"

By SHARE we mean SELL! In an earlier paragraph they mention "We respect your privacy, since some information we gather is not publicly available, we take great care to ensure that this information is kept safe from unauthorized access." Where is the section that says authorized access is only a payment away? WTF! They go on to state they "SHARE" your information with Affiliates Only, then later contradict that by saying that they from time to time "SHARE" your information with non-affiliates like mortgage bankers, insurance providers, internet service providers, data warehousing companies, retailers, and marketers. (but only if they feel the offer could benefit you.) But none of this is applicable to residents in Vermont, your local government has laws that protect consumers there that stop profiteering, dishonest companies like HSBC Bank Nevada.

And finally to appease the anyone who actually read this crap they throw in on the last page buried at the bottom "How to request that your information not be shared" They have a whole toll free number dedicated and manned by robots to deal with you. Enter your SSN, next lets trick the impatient ones with "If you would like to Opt-Out of HSBC's sharing of your information with non affiliates, press one" long pause then "If you would like to Opt-Out of HSBC's sharing of your information with affiliates, press two" and finally the only option you called for, and they damn well know it, "If you would like to Opt-Out of HSBC's sharing of your information with non affiliates and affiliates, press three" And for the grand finale, sorry we already sold your information sucker but in about 4 weeks we will opt you out of future sharing.

Moral of the story, read the junk mail you get from HSBC, as it most likely will inform you that they have no honor and will betray you in anyway possible to grow their enterprise. But only if it could benefit you.

DONT DO BUSINESS WITH HSBC BANK NEVADA!