Wife and I have used HR Block for 6 to 8 years now. We were invited to apply for the * Christmas * Money. The Emerald Greem cash advance right before Christmas, NO CREDIT CHECK. Good, because of finacial difficulties our credit isn't so great.
Since we were in a bind at that time, we did apply to make Christmas a little better. We each had to fill out an application & we each qualified for 500.00. Total 1000.00
This made us very happy as we had always been with HR Block. Even when the person that filled out our taxes last year made a mistake and we didn't find out about it till 11 months later. Hr Block did an amended return and * supposedly everything is going to be alright. That has yet to be seen.
Any way, we get the Emerald Green Card the same day we applied, minus the fee amount and minus about 50 or 55 dollars. Which we had to call in the next day and have released. No Problem. Pronlem was that it cost us money at the ATM, no matter which one we went to. We even went to the one the HR Block rep told us too. So there we lost money, again, Ok we could lived with this.
3 (three) weeks go by and we get a bill. Hmmmm rep told us when we got our RAL that 1061.00 would be deducted from the RAL, which we were denied because we didn, t even tho we were getting back over 35 hundred, which more than covered the 100.00 advance at christmas. We also knew that since Monday 01/19, was a holiday, that our RAL wouldn't be in till Tuesday, 1/20/09 or so we thought. Some that got their refund loaded on their card, got their returns Sunday Night.
This is what we got when we went to the HR Block return page:
Thank you for submitting an application for a Refund Anticipation Loan or Refund Anticipation Check. Unfortunately, we are unable to approve the application because it does not meet our credit criteria. We will distribute funds when the IRS deposits the refund. Normally, this occurs 8 to 14 days from the date the tax return was filed.
A detailed letter will be sent directly to the applicant within 7 to 10 business days explaining why the loan request was not approved.:
CREDIT CRITERIA? They didn't say anything about or bad credit when they advanced us 1 grand.
A lot of people need to read the fine print. I know I will from now on.
It is found here,
http://www.hrblock.com/bank/
emerald_prepaid_mastercard/index.html
Titled:
H&R Block Emerald Prepaid MasterCard Cardholder Agreement
http://www.hrblock.com/bank/
pdfs/card_account_terms_and_conditions. Pdf
Obtaining Your Card
The USA PATRIOT Act is a federal law that requires all financial institutions to obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each person who opens an account (including a prepaid card account). What this means for you: When you open an account (including a prepaid card account), we will ask for your name, address, date of birth, and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask to see your driver's license or other identifying documents. The Card is a prepaid card. The Card is connected only to the Card Account. The Card is not a credit card.
* yet at the bottom of the page, it reads the following:
Information we receive from consumer reporting agencies (examples include your credit worthiness and credit history). As required by the USA Patriot Act, we also collect information and take actions necessary to verify your identification.
~
Well I guess I have complained enough, a shame the folks on the eastern seabord, can't get a class action going, I am sure there is a loop hole for HR Block to continue ripping people off.
Maybe a lawyer just starting out will want to try and make a name and take this on, I know I will jump on board if that happens, even If we don't get a dime. I just hate to see the poor people, and that's who uses the RAL and Emarld Green Adance, get ripped off. T is hard enough in this day and time.
I do want to state that the people in the past and the lady that has filled our taxes out the past 2 years was very nice and tried to help. I know how it goes tho once it goes above one workers head. It goes to the next step up, and only the next step up can do so much. (Still awaiting on the distric supervisor to call me too... I wish I could put my number here and hope he reads this, but the rules state NO NO LOL.
Will I use HR Block next yer? That's yet to be seen.
Google HR Block Complaint's and even Jackson Hewitt. Seems like unless us poor folk do our own taxes, it is hit and miss. Oh well.
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