Units of HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest lender by market value, were sued by U.S. customers who said the bank’s – credit card payment protection service – defrauds disabled, retired and unemployed consumers.

While the service purports to safeguard accounts by suspending or canceling required minimum payments when customers become disabled or unemployed, the circumstances that trigger protection are “varied, complicated and always changing,” according to complaints filed July 2 against HSBC units in federal courts in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey.

“The payment protection device is designed to prey on the financially insecure and is virtually worthless because of the numerous restrictions that are imposed,” according to the complaints.

The bank enrolls people before sending them restrictions in small print that are “incomplete, indecipherable, misleading and obfuscatory,” according to the complaints. The plan, which costs $1.35 per $100 of a month-ending credit-card balance, excludes the self-employed, part-time workers, retired people and those who are already unemployed or on disability, the customers said.

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