Rapid Refund Question.

[Silver26]

I have not filed yet and am planning to in the next 3 weeks. The lady who did my taxes offered a rapid refund type return. The way it was explained to me was they were cutting me a check now ( the actual tax place ) and they would just keep my return when it comes in. I received the check today and it looks like i took out a line of credit to get the check? Everyone at the office including the owner assured me this was just fine and would have no effect on bankruptcy. I haven't used or opened any credit at all in over a year in preparation for filing. Is this going to cause me problems? thanks!

[BigJohn]

I got a feeling you got hood winked.

[dingdong]

Rapid Refunds or RAL ( refund anticipation loans) are extremely high interest , very short term loans. You are basically paying huge fees for a loan against your tax return, that if you had elected direct deposit, you would have had your return in your bank account in 7-14 days, depending on the date you e filed and the deposit schedule for the IRS.

These RALs are marketed to very low income and desperate people wanting their refunds ASAP , and there is interest in stopping the RALs alltogether as the interest is usuary (sometimes over 400% APR when the lender gets your return in 7 days, but charges you 300.00 or more for the week long loan term)

Best thing to do, Just Say No to RAL, eFile and elect DD.

[Silver26]

This tax place has been nothing but problems, I just checked over my paperwork and my son was put down as my daughter. My entire family has been going to this place for years and this is the first issue thats come up, I used to do my taxes myself but elected to have it done by them because of the bk getting married and having a child. The interest paid was only like 30$ but if its going to mess up my BK i cant have any of it. If its something that wont be an issue with the BK ill just let it slide and go on. The APR that they sent me was like 32% apr.

[Silver26]

So update on this, This is a very bad thing to do in preparation for BK. I called the tax office and the lady on the phone was extremely rude about the situation and needs to call me back regarding canceling the RAL. My attorney says if this is not canceled they can take my tax return and then i will be sued by chase and have to repay it. Really sucks.. Freaking out now

[Phillymanhere]

The government is getting really fast so I don't know why you had to go to this place. You just need to have direct deposit.

I filed last Thursday and this morning the refund is in my bank account. One week (actually less since I filed late last Thursday).

[Silver26]

Its all been taken care off, My father is good friends with the owner and his rude piece of crap secretary never let him know what was going on with my situation and she took it upon herself to fix it. Well in the end it was a 5 mins fix and its all good now.