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HSBC sued over credit card 'cartel' <br>By Jason Nisse <br>Published: 04 September 2005 <br><br>HSBC has been accused of being part of a cartel which has forced up fees and restricted consumers' rights in the US credit card market. <br><br>Two lawsuits, filed in New York and Pennsylvania, have claimed that eight banks plus American Express came together to agree a fee structure for Americans using their credit cards abroad - and terms and conditions that restrict customers' rights.<br><br>The eight banks - Bank of America, Capital One, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, HBSC, MBNA and Providian - are said to have agreed with American Express on minimum fees for currency conversion into US dollars for Americans abroad.<br><br>They are also said to have harmonised the terms and conditions on their credit cards to include a clause that forces any customer with a dispute to go to arbitration, so giving away their rights to sue the credit card issuer.<br><br>The so called "arbitration" clauses are becoming increasingly common in the US as companies try to cut down on the amount of expensive litigation that they have to face.<br><br>Although inserting the clauses into credit cards' terms and conditions is not illegal - and was supported by a US judge last year - the litigation accuses the banks of meeting to agree common terms. The so- called "arbitration coalition" is said to have met 20 times between 1999 and 2003. This, it is claimed, constitutes a cartel and restraint of trade.<br><br>The move comes against the background of upheaval in the credit card market, with Mastercard announcing that it is going to float in the next few months. Its main rival, Visa International, is expected to follow.<br><br>The class action is being brought by seven individuals in five states, and is being co-ordinated by Pennsylvania law firm Berger & Montague.<br><br>It declined to comment, as did HSBC, citing legal advice. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article310082.ece">news.independent.co.uk/bu...310082.ece</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>

Ain't the "free market" grand... <p><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:black;font-family:century gothic;font-size:x-small;"><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Qutb means "axis," "pole," "the center," which contains the periphery or is present in it. The qutb is a spiritual being, or function, which can reside in a human being or several human beings or a moment. It is the elusive mystery of how the divine gets delegated into the manifest world and obviously cannot be defined.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--></span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br><br></p><i></i>

> harmonised the terms and conditions<br><br>I love this term, because it usually means that we picked the worst terms and conditions and then applied it to all...<br><br>This is why the banks want to get credit instead of cash, because with creditcards (and also debitcards) you can charge per transaction, you can charge currency conversion costs etc.<br><br>The computer statement:<br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:blue;">Value := Input.LocalValue * ExchangeRate[Input.CurrencyIndex]</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--><br>only costs $0.01 to program, however<br><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="color:blue;">Value := Input.LocalValue * ExchangeRate[Input.CurrencyIndex] * BonusProfit</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br>generates money... <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=drdebugdu>DrDebugDU</A> at: 9/4/05 11:04 am<br></i>