Has anyone used Turbo Tax with Santa Barbara Bank and Trust deducting tax preparation fees?
I used Turbo Tax to prepare my taxes and chose to have Santa Barbara Bank and Trust deduct my preparation fees from my refund. This was not a RAL (Refund Anticipation Loan), yet on my bank statement, it is showing "TAX REFUND PER RAL DEPT." Has this happened to anyone else? According to the IRS, my refund was disbursed. Why is my bank statement showing that this was a RAL when it is not? Has this happened to you? I understand that SBBT took out an additional fee. If you chose not to read my question and just spout off an answer, I cannot help you there! I am just making sure that this was not accidentally processed as a loan.
Public Comments
- Wait another 8 hours and call your bank in the morning. If they have a 24-hour call center, call them now.
- When you have them take the prep fee out of your refund it's processed exactly the same way as a RAL is. The ONLY difference is that you don't get hit with the fees and interest for the RAL. You are hit with a fee just for using SBBT, plus another fee for having the prep fees deducted from your refund. You are, in effect, getting a RAL for the amount of the prep and filing fees. Having the prep fees deducted from your refund effectively doubles the cost of having your return prepared. The fees that they charge are a major ripoff compared to the actual work done. The fees were explained to you by TT when you chose the option to have them deducted from your refund. If you chose to not read it completely, I can't help you there. You avoid those fees by using a credit or debit card to pay the prep and filing fees.
- Yeah, I know what you mean. It still acts like it was a RAL even though it's not - that's just how they present it for some reason. I guess I didn't read carefully enough either. I didn't know the fees were so expensive if I didn't use a credit card. I didn't have much choice though - my cards are maxed out! :) Guess I learned my lesson.
