H&R Block Refund Advance

[bl4cklabel (OP)]

For those in the states, it's time to get back all of the money withheld by our employers. The money that the given government didn't decide to steal, that is...

Typically, it takes about a month to get the refund. One of the more popular tax preparation franchises advertises a "Refund Advance." Supposedly, you get up to $3,000 that same day. What they don't advertise is anything concerning approval criteria or probability.

After I went to an actual storefront and was informed that "everyone gets approved!", I decided to go ahead and pay the $107 dollar fee to have them file my taxes rather than do them on my own, for free. Seeing as I'm hungry homeless, have no income ATM, and it's a frozen fucking tundra in Western MI this time of year, I could really use a few hundred dollars of my return right away.

So, after I sat through two hours of questions and awkward small talk with the "Tax Specialist," I couldn't wait to get the email saying my Advance had been loaded on the prepaid card I was given.

Having no reason to believe I wouldn't get the money today (I mean, I was all but guaranteed I would be approved,) I spent the rest of the day relaxing instead of hustling up some money for dope and a motel room for the night.

Imagine my disappointment, when around 7PM I finally get an email from them informing me that after careful consideration, they regret to inform me that I was denied for the Refund Advance.

So here I sit on the bench in the lobby of a 24hr grocery store, growing sicker by the minute, just waiting for some asshole employee to come and kick me out into the cold for the night. All while being spun by the dope man, who keeps insisting that he's going to bring me a front.

This is partly a warning to others, but mostly it's just me bitching. Hopefully you guys don't get tricked like l did...

[Jega]

I know a thing or two about the US tax code. I also know someone who works at H&R block. No promises but I can ask why this could happen, although my guess is there is just an error somewhere. And considering they didn't handle your case that's probably the best 3rd party comment you're going to find. It got rejected by the IRS it sounds. That's not a big deal. Could be something as simple as an SSN not being entered correctly. Yes, I have heard that happening. In the end you paid H&R block and someone with a PTIN number did your taxes so they have responsibility of them being correct. You couldn't have done anything wrong here and they have to fix it.

I don't work at H&R block so I can't tell what did happen in your case, but what I can say is the big reason someone would go to H&R block is to file State and Local taxes. I know it sounds insane but most people can get a lot back in the end filing state and local (think the school district) yet very few ever do unless they have a paid tax preparer do it for them.

It may be worth going there tomorrow and asking what happened. Not saying it will but it could expedite manners.

[Chip]

fuck.

tell me that you will get your $107 back - if not, that's a scam.

they owe you a good reason why not - do they tell you ?

at least the guaranteed money will reach you.

[BamaPainGurl]

Speaking from personal experience (H&R Block did my taxes this year) and after reading all the fine print at the office while my taxes were being prepared, I can possibly help explain. There is no scam and more than likely no error either. In 2012 the federal government banned all refund advance "loans" due to folks taking advantage and being taken advantage of by the banks financing said loans.


The next tax season the big tax preparing companies had to find a new "draw" to get people in to use their wildly over priced services (I paid $325 this year after the generous $25 off coupon provided by my preparing specialist). They came up with interest free refund "advances" and they are funded by the same banks that offered the refund advance loans. However, they have found a new way to earn their money...


First, they charge a fee for transferring the advance to the card, then the card charges $3.00 for each withdrawal from the card. Plus whatever the atm charges from the bank it is attached to. The small print states that the credit of the person filing their taxes can and most likely will be run before approving the advance and they also look at the last several years of tax returns to see if there were any offsets (debt owed to child support, state or federal government et. cetera that can be withheld from your federal tax return).


Of course, there is an asterisk on all those !Guaranteed! advertisements and one of the small prints listed is the amount of any potential advance is based on the size of the refund due back. To qualify for the largest advance, the refund has to be at least $5000, and the requirements are similar with the rest of the advances. The tax agencies aren't breaking any laws you just have to really read and ask questions about how they are doing their qualification process. The bank offering the advances aren't going to take unnecessary risks so if they deem anyone a potential risk they just don't make the advance. Not saying the OP is a risk, just that the bank is going to look after itself and the shareholders first.


FYI to the OP: If you opted to have your return deposited onto the emerald card try to pull all the money off in the largest amounts possible due to the per transaction fees associated. You also have the option to have the money transferred to your bank account with a free one time ACH transfer to your account. It may take a few days to do the ACH but if you can get enough off to live on with one withdrawal then transfer the balance to your bank account it will save you quite a bit in transaction fees!


Sorry if the message sucks,       Lissa

[Jega]

What BamaPainGurl said is essentially what was just explained to me more or less. There probably wasn't a problem with the tax return. It is still a "loan" but 3rd parties are handling it though we may be interpreting "loan" differently as finance laws go. To that end it depends on the "borrower", to that end they may pull your credit report.

But again BamaPainGurl had a great explanation.