Complaint Review: H&r Block + Household Finance

please read all of your paperwork carfully! if you defalt on a loan,this could happen to you. depending on what you owed,H&R probaly did not get a dime of your money. this is how ot goes:
1. they send your return
2.IRS gets it,so far so good.
3. the tax office get acknowegment of the irs getting the forms and agrees that it looks ok.they check you out. if you owe them a debt,they take it. any leftover money goes to bank.
4.IRS sends ack to bank.
5. bank does a check on you. if you owe to any of them.they hold it,remove what you owe them and any other bank.
6.then if there is any left,H&R get it's fee.
7.any that is left now,you get it.
i work for another co. it's all the same. household bank is not a scam.just a bank,out to make money. i have 100's of files i never got fees from,and we don't go after our clients to get it. i hate to say it,but H&R did not rip you off.

Many people do not know this, and I didnt until a couple of years ago. In my city, THE LOCAL IRS OFFICE WILL DO YOUR TAXES FOR FREE!!!!-thats right I said free. -Better than getting ripped off by HRB.- as I used to.

They also referred me to a state office to get my State portion filled out for free.

I could only get this done a couple of times because my income has increased since and they told me last time that they had a cut-off of above $30,000. They did give me some good advice to keep me from owing though. All in all, was pleased with the experiences and who better to do your taxes for you than the arm of the same organization that makes you pay em. If theres a mistake you can say "ha, your fault"

The income level may have changed so worth checking out, and you may still be able to get your state done (if required in your state).

Why pay HRB money to do something you can get done for free, or do yourself pretty easy (unless you itemize- then you need to read a little bit)

Use these services why we still got em!!!!

P.S. Who do you think foots the bill for all those HR Block commercials????

I need no credit for this....

-the middle man ELIMINATOR

Great information, Nancy. Thank you for taking the time to share.

The federal government can reduce your refund, or refuse one altogether due to information reported to the Financial Management Services (FMS). This reduction can be due to unpaid federal debt, ie unpaid or delinquent taxes, charges incurred at VA hospitals, delinquent child support, unpaid student loans, etc.

The reduction is not known by the preparers until the tax returns are filed with the IRS. After the return is filed it is coded as an "offset" by FMS.

The "Refund anticipation loans" (RALs) will not exceed the amount of the refund less processing and filing fees charged by Block, and will be delayed until the amount of the refund has been paid to Household, then it would be released to the customer. This takes approximately 3 weeks.

You filled out an application for a loan when you filed your taxes. In the fine print, there was a paragraph stating that if you had any delinquent loans with Household or affiliate lenders, the loan would be reduced or cancelled to pay the debts. HOWEVER, Household still gets the tax refund, because you authorized it when you applied for the RAL.

Some of the "fine print" I described was added about 6 years ago, after Block and Household lost a case under the same circumstances you describe. Basically it had been done without advising the tax payer that the refund could be kept by Household or paid to other lenders with agreements with Household for debt collections.

Many "high risk" lenders work together in this collection process, so the only safe way is to file your return directly to the IRS and wait for your refund from the IRS. Do not trust the loans from third parties.

Is it possible for this to happen? If you owe debt to anyone else but the government, it will be deducted by an income tax return? How did H&R Block know that you owed Houshold? I agree that Houehold Finance is a scam company, but this seems a bit odd.