If you’ve been lazy and haven’t quite gotten around to doing your taxes yet, don’t worry, there’s still time.  If you do your taxes today, your refund will probably show up in your bank account in about 2 - 3 weeks.  That’s not really so long to wait, now is it?  The folks at H&R Block ( and other tax preparation firms ) sure thing it is.  To this end, they have come up with one of the most insidious financial devices ever created - the Refund Anticipation Loan.

For the pleasure of having your money in an estimated 1-2 days ( rather than 2-3 weeks ), H&R Block will make you pay dearly indeed.  Let’s say your refund works out to be a cool $5,000, and you just can’t wait for your money.  You have to have it right now, no ifs, ands or buts about it.  What will it cost you?  Let’s take a look-see.  The first fee is a Refund Account Fee.  No idea what that means, but it’s $29.95 right off the bat.  After that you pay a finance charge of 53.65 ( that’s 36% APR for those who pay attention to that sort of thing ).  As if that weren’t enough, they have the nerve to charge you $20 to “process” the check.  Grand total?  How about $103.60, just to have your money a few days early.  And that’s not even including the cost of actually doing your taxes - figure another couple hundred bucks for that.

Now I don’t know about you, but $103.60 is a heck of a lot of money to pay, just to get your refund a few days early.  Maybe you’re rich and don’t need that $103 - but then if you’re rich, you can wait a few more days for your refund.  The bottom line is this - if you want your tax refund earlier, do your taxes earlier.

Disclaimer: I don’t mean to pick on H&R Block specifically - there are other companies who offer this sort of product.  H&R Block is simply the largest, and one that everybody has heard of.

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