Can you still receive anticipation loan if you do your taxes on line?

Answer 1

First...your almost able to file for your own refund normally now anyway!Anything that loans you on your refund are places doing refund anticpation loans (RALs). Universally denounced as one of the worst things anyone can do financially. Consumer abusive and trying to be outlawed in many areas. They actually give you a loan based on your anticpated refund...at a massively high interest rate (especially as they are lending you your own money) and then, as part of the agreement, require they file your actual return (when all the paperwork is available), at probably 5 or 6 times the fee they would normally charge (and that to file a return that can be done for free on line anyway). H&R Block was sued by several states and paid a huge penalty...and basically is forbidden from doing this type of business anymore. However, they changed it around a little and essentially still do. However, some consumer success was had and any Co hat does do it is now required a separate lisc to do so.If if your having too much withheld, that is what needs to be corrected, (and could have been at anytime during the year), by contacting your payroll dept and filing a new W-4 with them.The below is from an independent source:According to the Consumer Federation of America and the National Consumer Law Center, RALs are controversial because, like payday loans and title loans, RALs are high-profit, low-risk loans marketed toward the working poor. A 2006 study by the NCLC and the Consumer Federation of America found that "Based upon the prices for RALs in 2006, a consumer can expect to pay about $100 in order to get a RAL for the average refund of about $2,150 from a commercial tax preparation chain this year."Supporters of the practice say the loans allow people access to funds immediately in cases of an emergency such as overdue medical bills, credit payments, and other debts while they wait for the IRS to process their income tax return. However, this argument is misleading:[citation needed] taxpayers can file form W-4 to adjust their withholdings to the correct level. When this is done, a taxpayer can hold on to all cash that would be offered by an RAL without paying any fee, thereby making the cash available at any time.Supporters of RALs may contend that the high fees are justified by the high risk associated with these loans, since there is a possibility that the IRS will issue a reduced refund or none at all, depending on whether the taxpayer followed the correct procedures in calculating his or her tax.Opponents of RALs, like as the National Consumer Law Center, argue that the profit motive of the lender results in RALs being issued too often to low-income individuals who are made to believe the wait for their refund is longer than it really is, who do not realize they are taking a loan, do not understand the high interest rates charged by the loan (often exceeding 100% APR), and who do not actually need the funds immediately. An empirical study at Georgetown University found that a large percentage of RAL customers appear to use limited decision processes.More than half of all RAL consumers are low-income recipients of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); in 2006, the NCLC estimates RAL loans cost RAL recipients $1.24 billion (USD) in loan fees and another $360 million in administrative, electronic filing and application fees.In 2002, H&R Block settled a lawsuit brought by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs for predatory lending practices with regard to RALs and the EITC.In 2003, the Illinois Attorney General issued a detailed warning to taxpayers about such loans.On February 15, 2006, the California Attorney General, Bill Lockyer, sued H&R Block over its refund anticipation loan business,citing interest rates exceeded 500%, including fees (which included the tax preparation fee, which is unrelated to the RAL, but included per California law). Lockyer said the company falsely portrayed the nature of the loans, advertising "cash, cold, green, in your hand, out the door."In May 2005, a federal judge in Chicago rejected a $360 million settlement as inadequate.Under the National Bank Act, national banks and their agents who make RALs are broadly excluded from regulating RALs. The only actions that states bring against RAL providers involve allegations of falsely portraying the circumstances of the loan, or fraud. A RAL is a legal loan beyond the scope of the ability of any state agency or state legislature to regulate as a matter of federal law.RALs are within the legislative scope of the United States Congress and to a considerably lesser extent the regulatory authority of the IRS; however, Congress has not demonstrated serious interest in this subject and while the IRS did issue a "Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" in January 2008 that would prevent the tax preparer from sharing tax return data with the lending bank, the advance notice was very poorly received on Capital Hill because of implications that it would have had for other types of loans where tax returns, tax return data, and CPA statements are used as part of a loan decision package.