Refund Anticipation Loans

Many of the "Tax Shacks" offer high-interest Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) sometimes called Rapid Refunds.  The people who obtain these loans are usually low-income people who are so impatient to receive their money that they will pay almost anything to get it a few days sooner.

If someone wants to pay an enormous amount of interest to obtain a loan, that's their business, but having the IRS aid and abet such a rip-off is where I take exception.  Apparently, the IRS has begun to realize the error of its ways and will no longer provide the banks which provide these loans a "debt indicator" so if the refund is denied by the IRS the bank would be left holding the bag.

One other feature of these loans were that the bank deducted the tax preparer's fee as well as their fees from the refund.  Since some people could not otherwise pay a tax preparer, the IRS is now considering allowing the tax preparation fee to go direct to the preparer and the balance to the taxpayer.  This would eliminate one other justification for RALs.

The only remaining incentive for anyone to take the RAL would be to get the money as soon as the return was prepared rather than waiting for a few more days.  After waiting 365 days for the refund, some people just can't wait another ten days!  So RALs may not entirely disappear but the banks will have to take a much bigger risk without the debt indicator, so this will greatly decrease this sort of fleecing the poor. 




 

FLORESCENT LIGHT FOR MY OFFICE

A few days ago I went to Home Depot and bought a florescent light fixture for my office.
I've been working in the dark too long with just the regular light bulbs.
I sent an e-mail to "maintenance" at the company that manages my condo. However, the e-mail was opened by the Manager of the company who thought I was trying to get free service. I had previously spoken to Jeff, the maintenance guru, who told me he could install a florescent light fixture. So, I called Jeff and he said he could install it on Tuesday after he got off work.
Jeff arrived on schedule.
He had to spend a lot of time on the light switch and finally had to get a new one since ths old one had a dimmer switch.
Finally, the got everything done and now I no longer feeling I am having to work in inadequate light.
I do accounting and tax work, and need adequate lighting in my office to work.
My home office was designed as a den, but we use the living room as our den.

We live near Turtle Creek which is where the expensive houses start.
Our condo unit is on Blackburn Street.