"RAPID REFUND" horror stories

[barkley]

i think everyone is aware of the crazy costs associated with getting your tax refund "advanced" to you from h/r block and other tax services. but since this is tax time and it can be tempting i thought i would share a friend's horrible experience with it.

friend had very straight forward tax situation with nothing that the irs would likely call into question (mortage related deductions only). so she goes to h/r block and has them do the taxes. she gets 'greedy' and decides to pay the crazy fee to get the money from the h/r block now instead of waiting. she did'nt take the time to read the fine print on the contract.

HER return was fine, but someone else-somewhere in the u.s. had botched theirs and in transposing social security numbers managed to get friends ssn on thier return. when friends return gets randomly pulled for a quick/routine check by irs it bounces due to the other person's mistaken use of the ssn.

upshot-while friend ends up getting her full refund from irs it takes months to straighten out and all the while h/r block is piling on interest, late fees...
she ended up majorly in the hole.

so-if you're thinking of doing it READ THE FINE PRINT!

 

[GoofieRuthie]

Great post! I would also like to add that I work in a bank and we see these checks all the time. While people pay all of this extra money to get it RIGHT NOW, our bank will not cash it. It says that it is a cashiers check, but it is actually a loan. It says so on the back where you sign. So, if you have an account at our bank you have to deposit it and there is a 2-5 day hold put on it depending on the history of your account. It's called recourse. There have already been many fake checks presented so we have to cover our backs. So, you might want to check on your banks policy before you shell out the extra money to get it right then, when you might still have to wait another week.

 

[MagicKingdom05]

I did my taxes with H&R block on 1/31 and got my state return auto deposited on 2/6 and my federal return autp deposited on 2/10. So I had to wait a whole 10 days to get my tax returns without having to do the loan thing. If a bank won't let you get the funds until 5-7 days after the check is deposited, then I almost got my $$$ just as fast as they did.

 

[BrinxFam]

There was a report on our local news yesterday about some workers at a tax office filing the quick refund and somehow keeping some of the money from it.

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

I work with a girl that does this type of refund EVERY year. I do mine online for free and my refund is in my checkbook within 10 days. She got her money on Monday of last week and I got mine on Friday. Her refund cost about 300 dollars to do to get her money just a few days sooner. The APR on this type of loan is 66.898% or something crazy like that.

 

[Nancy]

It reminds me of the old saying "if it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't"

Why would anyone think they are doing the rapid refund out of the goodness of their hearts? It's a business and you can bet your life the only reason they do it is to make themself some money....not so you actually get your money sooner!

 

[Simba's Mom]

Can someone explain these "Refund Anticipation Loan"s to me? How much do they charge? I work for a non-profit and this year we're doing taxes for free for low income people. No loans but direct deposit in about 2 weeks. Our director insists that those loans work out to be close to 700% interest annually?! I don't even know what it costs to get your taxes done using H&R Block, if you have a standard deduction, straight-forward form. All I know is that, supposedly, we're helping save these people lots of money, but I wish I knew more specifics. Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I'm not sure how I understand what her having a rapid return had anything to do with someone making a mistake across the country.

we file electronically and have never had a problem. We don't mess with H/R block.


(nevermind--I get it now. Do turbo tax and stay away from H/R block!)