Warning: H&R Block 2009 Tax Rapid Refund Anticipation loan complaints

I received a RAL last year..never had a problem with getting the RAL or having it paid back when I did my taxes this year. I know HRBlock has been doing the RAL for a few years now. I really like the idea. :D

If you read the complaints it seems many people have been doing it for years with no issues or problems.

It seems there are issues this year.

I am glad you had no problems.

ETA:

I found this article as well about the CA attorney general filing a suit against them. They have agreed to stop providing those loans in CA.

You can read more here.

Deceptive advertising and unfair debt collections. Sounds a lot like the illegal payday loan companies.

More general information on RALs.

Article from the BBB on RALs.

I am not saying that someone should not get one and a LOT of us can use that refund money early but I guess the more we know the more we can make an informed decision.

I've read the Article aboce about the RAL's, etc. I never found anything about an Attorney filing suit aqainst anyone. Also.............I was ALSO reading about the "fees" ( says this in the article) that are charged to you when you get a RAL, E-file for your refund. When I did my RAL, I was charged a $30.00 fee...that was it. When I did my Refund, I was charged a $50.00 fee (HRBlock fee) and a $50.00 bank fee for E-fling it, because I wanted it back in 1-2 days..and I DID get it back in 1-2 days. That's ALL I was charged.What in the world are these other fees they are talking about???!! I've been E-filing, with HRBlock for 7 years, or so. NEVER had all the fees 'added', as the article claims that HRBlock does.

In the first article I linked to in the post above yours..

"Brown filed suit against H&R Block in early 2006 regarding its marketing and sale of income tax refund anticipation loans and a related product called refund anticipation checks. The company denied any wrongdoing."

Brown is the AG of California. He filed a suit. They settled and the settlement was for H&R block to stop offering these loans to consumers in California.

Again, I am glad you did not get taken and that the fee you had was reasonable.

I guess I should have made the warning about RALs in general and to be careful and to shop around before you sign a contract.

If you google refund anticipation loan you will find a lot of articles about them.

In some cases the problem happens when you they do your taxes and it says you are getting back X amount of dollars but the IRS does not agree and it is a lower amount. In the case of back taxes owed, back child support, student loan or leins on your refund.

You get back less but you have the loan so then they charge you a very high interest rate and added fees on the money they lent to you that the refund did not cover.

Again, I am not saying it is a bad idea over all but I want to make people aware to get all the facts first.

There are a LOT of complaints on consumer affairs. People are paying for a service they are not getting because their loan was denied and are having to wait the 10 to 14 days anyway which if they could have filed themselves and waited and not paid H&R the fee.

H&R is basically ignoring the complaints and are pretty much saying "to bad, so sad".

I am not grabbing the complaints or articles out of the air. They are real issues concerning real people.

And based on what I have read about this type of a loan, in some cases, the interest rate charged closely resembles that of a payday loan. VERY scary.

If you did not get a loan from these rip offs consider yourself lucky. I have been a customer for over 20 years and filed RAL ever since I can remember. The last few years the card has been a pain. I have had money missing for no reason at all then a few days later appear like nothing happend. This year I can't even discuss the card with the operator cause I'm the spouse not head of house hold. (I guess my money don't count!) not to mention it will cost $2.00 to talk to someone about the hidden fees that are costing us on the loan they gave us back in December. I have called the company 4 times to complain and only have got the receptionist telling me they are busy and I will get a call back. Four weeks have gone by and not one call back from the person who did my taxes or the manager. tried to call corp with a machine telling me my call can not be taken at this time, try again later. My business will go to someone who cares next year and if any one else out there is smart they will too.