What are the consequences of helping Peregund or Hanwen besides the reputation boost/loss and the discount/hat?

None. The quest, like all quests, is a simple matter of consequences, and the only consequence in this quest is positive or negative reputation in Defiance Bay. You get the hat (given or corpse looted) no matter which way you choose. The discount is negligible, and Peregund only sells traps, as I recall.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that the looters might actually be thieves, or something and that my choice would come back to bite me in the ass.

No, they're down on their luck, more so than Peregund. I found it a tad counter-intuitive: I helped Peregund get her gear back and got bad reputation. Go figure...

Make sense, really. I don't think killing a bunch of people down on their luck should grant me a reputation boost.

No, I was thinking more along the lines of reputation for helping out a city trader -- the other people *were* looters, whether they were destitute or not. A matter of perspective, I suppose.

I just wish I could solve the quest by helping them without getting a deceptive boost.

Agreed. In this quest I would've wanted that they spent a bit more time, and given us the option of both helping the destitute and letting the merchant know about it. In my opinion, now I "loose" either way. Either I have to kill a bunch of innocent people OR I have to lie someone in the face. And for what, some junk floating in the river?

...but fight off some looters by the bridge and you lose reputation with this suddenly caring, sharing city.