Complaint / Review
H & R Block & HSBC Bank USA
HR Block & HSBC Bank USA Rapid Refund becomes Rabid Refund

Warning to all H&R Block Customers. Be wary when the tax preparer offers you to purchase their Rapid Refund product from their finance partner HSBC Bank USA. H & R Block has too many untrained tax preparers in their offices that don't give the right advice to their customers and they deny reponsibility after the sale.

My situation was that I had H & R Block prepare my 2003 and 2004 tax returns at the same time. When the tax preparer was finished he asked me if I wanted my 2004 tax return through their Rapid Refund. I inquired about the cost and it was nominal compared to the money I was going to recieve right away.
I signed all the paper work from HSBC Bank USA (the finance lender). They are the official lender until the IRS refunds the return. I was instructed that I needed to mail in my 2003 tax return, which I did.

Rapid Refund turned into Rabid Refund. A few weeks later I got a call from a collector at HSBC informing me that the IRS did not send them the money and I have to give them back the return.
Otherwise they will mark my credit record (which they did) and I was also charged 18% interest for not returning the money (I diligently paid off some outstanding bills) this amounts to over $1,500.

The reason the IRS didn't refund the return right away is because it takes six to eight weeks to process the 2003 return. The H & R Block tax preparer didn't warn me about this when I signed up with HSBC BAnk for a Rapid Refund which needs to be paid back within 30 days. I was instructed to call the District Manager Maureen out of the Detroit office who said "What to you want me to do? You signed the papers, that's not our problem." H & R Block quickly disassociates themselves from their financial partners when problems arise and takes no responsibility for the inept tax preparers they have on staff.

Advice: Do not purchase H & R Block's Rapid Refund unless you are sure that the IRS will be refunding your money within thirty days. It cost me over $1,500, a mark on my credit record plus over $500 to H & R Block to have some inept preparer my taxes and cause me all this grief.