In Defense of RAL

[Unregistered]

The EIC money comes out of your pocket, and mine. The federal governmnet is just the
collection and distribution agency.

Precisely the point I was making. (Not limited to EIC)

[oceanlovin'ea]

Ral

I don't do RALs. But the main reason is that my business is in my home. I prefer to be selective in who my clients are. At this point, I have not had clients requesting or asking if I do RALs.

If I had a storefront business, I might look at the situation differently. I think the services we offer are indiviual decisions and based where we live and work and what suits our business best. No one is any better because they do or do not offer RALs.

Linda F

[Redneck]

RAL fees are paid for by taxpayers money. What's the difference between getting a refund of $2000 or $2000 minus the ral fee. The money is a gift from the IRS.

[Ken]

Bart I didn't do RALS for a long time. Every time a person would call and ask me, I would try and talk them out of it because of the high intrest they would have to pay. What did they do? they would hang up and go to H&R Block and I would be one customer less than I could have been.

I dont drink but a lot of people do.So do I get mad at the people who sell them alcohol?

I dont smoke but a lot of people do. So do I get mad at the people who sell cigerattes?

People have to make their own choices about the things they do in life. I do income taxes and I decided to offer RALs two years ago because if I didn't, someone else would.

I havn't charged extra for them in the past because of the high intrest they already have to pay the banks, but doing RALs is a pain in the butt so I decided this year I am going to charge for that service. Not much, but enough to make it worth the extra time I take to do them.
If anyone wants to criticize me for doing RALS so be it.

[Snaggletooth]

Charge out the Gazoo

Ken, if you're going to do RALs, charge out the gazoo. I can't bear to think of all that time you will spend filling out paperwork for the bank, who will be raking in the REAL money. They give you a stack of applications which require as much time as a short form, and then do absolutely nothing except front the money for less than two weeks, and then they end up making more money than you do.

And obviously, the customers don't care how ridiculous it is -- as you say they will go to another tax office who will present them with a short-sheeted check.

So if you're going to do RALs - GO FOR IT!!

[Jiggers]

RAL's

This is America! Competition determines your business.

I do not do RAL's, because I "CHOOSE" not to. I don't want that type of client. Nothing against them, I just don't want that type. I have relatives that go the RAL route elsewhere because they need that money quick! No hard feelings.

I do e-file, 99% of the time to get the refund fast for my clients who are getting a refund. They want and need that money. Most of the refunds are due to overwithholding. My clients just do not have the discipline to save for themselves. They let the government do it for them. Unfortunately, that refund is probably spent within 2 weeks of receipt.

If someone wants to offer RAL's, and it is profitable to them, so be it.

[geekgirldany]

I tried RALs two tax seasons in a row. I only had three people do it. I had alot of trouble with one bank because they were disallowing the RAL. So I went to another bank. But the local banks around here would not take the check I printed. They would only take them from H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt. At some of the local banks they actually had a partnership with either company.

With the headaches of doing all the paperwork and then having the checks rejected. I said phooey on it this year. I am not doing it. I don't make that much money on it. I don't have people asking for it. Just when I had my sign out in the yard did a few call wanting it.

But if someone can make alot of money doing RALs more power to ya. I just don't want the hassle.

[DTS]

Geekgirldany...

did you ever find out why the town bank did not cash the checks you printed? Seems very odd to me as they are drawn from another bank. The partnership with JH and HRB sounds fishy to me. Probably too late to find out the reason now, but would like to know, just out of curiousity. I heard of this happening to someone last year, but never found out why.

Dennis

[Black Bart]

Check Cashing

did you ever find out why the town bank did not cash the checks you printed? Seems very odd to me as they are drawn from another bank. The partnership with JH and HRB sounds fishy to me. Probably too late to find out the reason now, but would like to know, just out of curiousity. I heard of this happening to someone last year, but never found out why.

Dennis

Starting off doing RALs, we had a little trouble with check cashings. These are large checks ($4-5K) drawn on "foreign" (far-off) banks and local banks weren't 100% sure they were "good;" too, some of the people cashing them were unsavory types--definitely non-recourse (no bank account--much less a balance to charge back against). Our software printed a "check-casher's verification" sheet of the bank's name, address, phone number, and a RAL contact official. That helped, but at first (before the local bank had any positive experience with them) they were jittery about handing out $4-5K checks to people they considered to be local "riff-raff" (I know, I know--it's not PC, but it's the truth).

Still, we were pretty lucky--after three or four checks, our local bank realized ours were good and began to cash them with no hesitation for $20 to all comers. If you think they were being "picky" about it, put yourself in their place. A person comes to you and wants to cash a check for $5,000. The amount's typed in on blank check stock from a "bank" 1,000 miles away that you've never heard of. A letter says "Hey--we're okay;" call this number--they'll agree." You don't know who's answering that phone--maybe it's his brother-in-law. You do know the person trying to cash the check--he/she has a tarnished reputation and a non-existent credit rating. Would you be a little "hinky" about it? I would.

Another bank in town would not cash them at all unless the bearer had an account there and a third bank charged $35 for everybody--account or not. As to getting an exclusive contract with a bank, it's just business, I think. I don't know if it's illegal--if not, I don't see why a company couldn't negotiate a deal (pay a percentage or some other consideration) to cash only their RAL checks.

Talk about gouging though; I heard (unconfirmed) that two or three of the banks in our nearby large "shopping town" charged 2 to 6% ($100 to $300) of the check amount just to cash them. I don't know if that's illegal or even if it's true, but that story was told to me by three different people.

[DTS]

RALs

Hey Bart,

After reading your last reply, it got me to thinking about the time I worked for HRB when I first started. They made arrangements with a local cash checking business that made it possible for people who did not have checking accounts to cash RAL checks, for a percentage fee or straight fee charge.

In answer to your question, if I would cash a check of this size or any size for that matter, the answer is a big fat NO. I don't know the inside workings of the banking industry, but seems like they would have some sort of bank verification for any institution in the country with the click of a mouse or key code. This only seems logical to me. Maybe not. I just may be a little naive.

I can tell you this. If I took a RAL check to my bank and they refused to cash it or even put a hold on it for a few days then cash it, the teller would probably be nodding towards the security guard. Just kidding, of course.

Dennis