Complaint Review: Liberty Tax Preparers

         Liberty Tax Preparers in the suburb Wyoming, in Grand Rapids, MI, used a lie to secure the highest tax preparation fee I ever paid. The lie was  that they would secure an early tax refund based loan in two days from when they prepared my taxes, and I would not have to wait for the refund from the IRS.

         When the loan did not show up, and they said it was declined, I asked for the name of the bank, and why it was declined when my refund had been approved by the IRS on its website.

         They said they did not know, so I called the bank, only to find out from them (Santa Barbara Bank and Trust) that they did not do tax refund loans at all, or RAL's, or ICS's as they call the income tax refund  loans.

         I then called every number I could find on my paperwork, and found a convoluted trail of shady check cashers, bottom tier out of state credit/finacial agencies, and no real answers, and the information contradicted from one to the other as to whether there ever was or could be any kind of loan.

         I heard all kinds of evasive excuses ranging from stories of software glitches, credit info missing. to finally an admission that it was all bogus about anything except the refund would be processed when the IRS sent the refund to the SBT bank, and then after takeing some 500 dollars from it they would print the check at Liberty.

         My troubles with them continued as their check was from a non-recognized bank, had a coating on it that made it unreadable to normal check scanners, and their was only one place in town to cash it for a large fee, a pharmacy with tie-ins to the owner Ginny of Liberty Tax Preparers. They prey on people that are poor, cannot obtain loans as large as they promise, and who are the last people that need to be ripped off like this.