Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.This business has done nothing but lie from very beginning. I contacted them on March 24, 2016 whereby they instructed me to contact my bank of deposit to obtain date refund would be returned so business could then explain precisely when my refund would be sent to me as per agreement. I was then advised to contact business on March 28 & 29th only to get definitive answer confirming refund is sent out and to my address of record. Business then began to DEMAND that I provide to them copy of my driver's license in order to receive my refund. I was advised that if I did not comply to these demands then business would purposely hold on to my refund for lengthy period of time then send refund back to IRS whereby another severe lengthy delay would ensue. I told business this was illegal and breach of agreement and that I was very uncomfortable providing them with essentially remaining personal identifying information that completes my make-up. I also advised business that they are only allowed to verify information that IRS and Intuit possess and that neither of those parties possess or requested copy of driver's license and that business is holding my money and authorized by me to become a party to transaction and thus they agreed to accept my money from one party with instructions by me to deposit my money into deposit account and agreement is clear that they were only opening a TEMPORARY ACCOUNT (without acct number or normal deposit account capabilities) and that upon possible return of my money from designated account to business they are instructed to immediately place my money into form of cashiers check and mail check to my address of record. Business is not authorized to make demands to me, dictate new terms, illegally and unnecessarily hold my money delaying my receipt of funds, and only if certain prongs exist may they return money to IRS. Those prongs are as follows:1. Designated deposit account returns refund;2. Upon mailing of check it is returned to business as unable to complete delivery;3. and I do not claim money and am unable to locate and/or contact thus leaving business with only one avenue at that point to return money to IRS.Business never attempted to execute obligated delivery by mail as business refused to do so unless I complied with term and condition never contained in agreement and in violation of my rights and laws. Business was not a party to agreement, and only involved as alleged acting agent for [redacted] Bank. However, business makes representations in day-to-day activities suggesting that these parties are actually one in the same and business is conducting bank business and transactions from location they conduct primary business at and whereby are not licensed or authorized to transact as a bank or financial institution. Business then blackmailed me into executing another agreement releasing them of liability for their conduct. Upon execution business would immediately send out my refund to address of record by priority mail. Business then sent me alleged tracking number which to this day shows no movement, portrayed to be via certified mail (not new agreed provision of priority mail), allegedly on a form severely outdated and not in use by USPS any longer and lacking data that would normally accompany form 3800 outdated or not, and which I ultimately never received and waited many days suffering damages and hardships. Business then fabricates additional documents and correspondence attempting to cover-up their deceit before offering me issuance of another check immediately upon execution of very short form indemnity bond agreement. I then draft a declaration containing substantially more details and declaring under penalty of perjury to its contents. However, business then proceeds to rescind offer to immediately send another check due to my providing declaration in lieu of their insignificant bond agreement. I am told that a review by their legal team is required to make sure business is covered and they are within their STANDARD POLICIES AND PROCEDURES. I explain that under the law I have no responsibility for indemnity bond since they allegedly sent check via certified mail and I then did not receive check, they never legally relinquished possession of check (certified mail), business received alleged confirmation that mailing never reached me, and I pointed out the strange notarized provision bond agreement contained whereby I would be forced to provide my driver's license to execute bond. Business then (in many ways) reveal their entire plan which was creating this elaborate ruse to first portray attempted mailing of refund (whereby they believe would legally cover them should they carry out their illegal threats to return refund to IRS should I fail to comply with additional illegal demands), causing me further delay in receiving my money (due to refusing to meet their illegal demands and opposing them), then ultimately forcing me into providing my drivers license the very thing that caused this matter to escalate. Business then delays another two days portraying legal review over my declaration. I was irate and advised them that nobody would require this amount of time to review simple document as a substitute for their less than one page bond agreement. I also advised them that they have no set policies and regardless their policies and procedures are frivolous here as they are not a party nor are their policies incorporated into any agreement that governs this matter. Business then admits their tactics whereby they speak freely as to the rare opposition they see with other customers they conduct exact same transactions with as is evident in the many complaints submitted against this business. At this point business has caused me substantial damages and hardships committing many acts and substantial evidence has been gathered and is still being accumulated supporting the details listed herein and much more. This business attempted to justify their acts as safeguard protocols but they are the party that has committed fraud and displays fraud like tendencies. Business also has no right to implement any safeguards or policies they may normally conduct since they did not participate in drafting agreement for this transaction, were merely acting agents for participating bank (allegedly), and with all their banter and raving about policies and procedures they revised these many times but always with business creating the terms and conditions a fact that is comical as upon receipt of my money they are under my directive not other way around. Business at no time possesses legal or ownership rights to money and since I was in constant contact with them the true owner was being illegally denied right to his money (theft by business) and caused to accrue substantial costs to receive money, expenses that were never contained in agreement or mentioned as possibilities. Business may execute their safeguards only before temporary account is opened (which is substantial period of time before they received money) and even with these patriot act safeguards business may only (at most) request information from drivers license not copy of it. But this would not apply as terms clearly provide business right to "other information sources" which refers to same data IRS and Intuit possessed throughout and completed their own safeguards as actual participants to transaction entire time. Business and myself actually have no business relationship and business acting as agent should have received directives and referred to [redacted] Bank not delegate matters and revise, change, and create terms and conditions they are not legally empowered to complete. I am in receipt of check and it has been deposited but business has caused me severe hardships and damages and the pain and suffering forced upon me to simply receive money that is mine and surely not that of business is beyond comprehension or justification. Their acts are criminal, unprofessional, malicious, and outside the parameters outlined in documents I reviewed and agreed to before entering into this mess. Business is apparently committing similar acts and believe that because consumers ultimately comply with their illegal demands and blackmail submitting drivers licenses and other private information it must be legally sufficient and appropriate. They even used this explanation as a means of slandering me whereby I was told that since many consumers ultimately comply then why would I have problem with doing so UNLESS? I advised that by no means should they rest upon this inference as a means of supporting any illegal acts carried out as I have a right to protect my privacy and considering I do not conduct business with this party nor will I how can they expect me to provide them with every personal identifying and meaningful profile detail leaving myself exposed and naked to someone I am unfamiliar with, unprofessional, and doing the types of things they have done? I want business to pay for their treatment of me and acts committed and make sure they do not terrorize other consumers as apparently is occurring on regular basis. Revdex.com is here o protect consumers and we definitely require protection against the likes of this company. There is a lot of evidence here against these companies and it needs to be forwarded to proper departments and agencies. I have contacted several but would love assistance of Revdex.com.   
Regards,
[redacted]

March 2, 2016
[redacted]
Dear [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products
Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February 22, 2016.
Your complaint stated that after your tax...

refund was
approved, there was an issue with the deposit and it was rejected back to TPG. After
trying to contact TPG’s customer service, you were unable to obtain the
information you needed in order to receive your tax refund.
We had an unexpected spike in business which has caused
extreme demand on our resources and unfortunate delays in processing.  We
apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and the manner in which
your inquiry was handled by our Customer Service agents. 
Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity
theft and fraud. After speaking with you on February 23 about this matter, TPG
was able to verify your information and release the hold from your account. On
February 23, TPG processed your tax refund as a check and mailed it to you on
the same date. Your account establishes that the check was verified as of
February 27. 
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel
free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear Ms. [redacted],This letter is in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 10, 2018.To give you some background information and help you appreciate our role in your complaint, we would like to explain TPG’s relationship...

with [redacted] Bank (Bank). TPG is a third-party processor for the Bank. Through this relationship, [redacted] is able to offer tax products which are sold through TPG through independent tax professionals and online tax preparation services. The product you have used through TPG, called a “Refund Transfer”, allowed you to pay for your tax preparation fees and RT processing fee directly out of your tax refund.To address your complaint, we have listed the timeline of events below:·  According to our records, on January 19, 2018, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted]. This means that you used tax software to prepare your own tax return and you elected to utilize a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees.·  On February 21, your refund was approved by the IRS and payment was made to TPG. On that same date, TPG deducted the fees related to your Refund Transfer and made payment to the bank account you indicated on your tax return. Please refer to the mailed response for details on fee amounts.·        Unfortunately, the payment was rejected and returned to TPG. As a courtesy, on February 22, TPG made a second attempt to disburse funds by mailing a Cashier’s Check to the address on your tax return record.·        On February 27, the check was returned to TPG as undeliverable. After two failed attempts, we could not proceed any further in our efforts in disbursing your refund. Therefore, TPG began the process to return funds associated with your tax return filing back to the Internal Revenue Service, specifically the RICS/IVO Division of the IRS in Fresno, CA.·  Please allow 10-12 weeks before the IRS acknowledges receipt and post to your account. You may contact the IRS directly at 800-829-0922 for further details or visit https://www.irs.gov/refunds for an update on your refund. TPG is very sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced. Please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, we are required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. If you have any questions or concerns, please, do not hesitate to contact TPG directly at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. Respectfully, 
[redacted]Program Operations AnalystTell us why here...

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
Thank you so much for responding to my complaint,
however I am still not satisfied with the outcome.  Yes, the refund was allegedly rejected by the
bank. Again, no such transaction exists on my account. I have attached a copy
of the return so that you are able to verify the account information that I
submitted was accurate. I used the same account number as last year and it worked
then, why not now? The account number has not changed. Besides the transaction
being non-existence I did review the fee disclosure (which was not attached as
stated in your response),  there is a
clause that reads, “Our Liability: If we do not complete a transfer to your
account on time or in the correct amount according to this Agreement, BANK or
Processor may be liable for your losses or damages.” In addition to your
company’s clerical errors, you are charging me for your mistake. The fault
appears to be not on my behalf but on your bank. I did not enter the wrong
account number and the accusation of me doing such is actually offensive. And
the latter part of the accusation states the account is closed, another
inaccuracy on behalf of your company. It seems as if all the blame is on me,
and you did nothing wrong but I beg to differ.
On top of that, the site says that verification
takes 2 business day.  Why do I have to
verify my identity if the bank is wrong? Should the error message should have
been “error processing refund” and not fraudulent activity identified.  This in itself caused alarm to me alone, I was
thinking that someone hacked my information. The site and representatives are
very misleading with the disclaimer displayed and the information given. Even
if the disclaimer applies to both situations it is still wrong because it says
2 business days, more like 5. The representative I initially spoke with
confirmed that info of 2 days, and I call back 4 days later (or 2 business
days) and the next representative told me 5 business days. So I do as told and
5 days go by and it is not fixed and I call for a third time. During that call
the representative informed me that my account is unlocked and coincidentally
it had been while on the call with the representative. Right before that call,
earlier during the day, and days prior to it had still been locked. Another
coincidence happened after ending the call with your representative, I received
a response from my complaint minutes after.
This is not good business practice when information
is not uniform. It is not good to have the customer feel at fault when they
have not done anything wrong. Since customer courtesy is top priority it seems
as if the first obligation is to investigate further to ensure your response to
the customer is not offensive.
Please understand that the fees that I paid for were
not contractually my obligation since I did not provide you inaccurate account
number. Please review your records. The charges placed upon me are not what I
paid for.  I paid for a fast return (not
4 weeks), and I get charged extra for something that I did not want. Its like
going to a restaurant and ordering chicken and getting pork---not what you want
and probably against your diet. Please respond as soon as possible, as I would
like this matter resolved.
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear [redacted], We are writing in response to your complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on March 2, 2017. To give you some background information and help you appreciate our role in your complaint, we would like to explain TPG’s...

relationship with [redacted] Bank. TPG, on behalf of [redacted] Bank (Bank), offers tax related financial products through a network of independent tax professionals and online tax preparation providers. These products provide the taxpayer a method of having their tax preparation fees deducted from their tax refund without paying any upfront fees. When your taxes were prepared you chose a Refund Transfer (RT) product. When the taxpayer selects an RT, they direct the IRS to deposit their tax refund into a temporary account at the Bank. When the Bank receives the IRS refund, the Bank makes deductions from the refund to pay the tax preparation fees and Bank fee. The balance of the refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer. In the complaint filed with Revdex.com, it was stated that there were problems surrounding the receipt of your tax refund.  You stated there was a hold placed on your account due to unusual activity and were informed by TPG to upload identification for the release. On February 7, 2017, you submitted your ID and were told to wait 7 days. Assuming everything cleared and verifying that the IRS website states funds will be received February 23, 2017, you waited. Since you did not receive these funds then, you called TPG and were told they received your email without attachments on February 7, 2017, therefore the hold on your account was not released. You were again instructed to re-submit your identification. After re-submitting, your funds were still not released. You have since called in several times requesting confirmation of ID receipt, but told that TPG cannot confirm and you should wait for the processing of 7 business days. Finally, you were told your case would be escalated to management, but have not heard anything. To address your complaint, we have listed the timeline of events below: ·        According to our records, on February 3, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted]. This means that you utilized tax software to prepare your tax return and elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. The following occurred on February 3, 2017: o   Your account was placed through enhanced due diligence at TPG to protect your account from fraud. Please understand that as a financial services business we are required to perform reasonable monitoring procedures to ensure fraud, such as ID theft, has not occurred through our business processes. Certain factors in your tax return caused your account to be flagged as potentially suspicious. Please note: Rather than rejecting the funds received by the IRS, which can delay your refund up to 12 weeks, we allow our customers to submit an unexpired government issued photo ID go through ID authentication. Once we can validate that you are the taxpayer associated with the tax return filed, we release all funds received by the government agency. Funds are held in a non-interest bearing account while we are waiting for the customer to respond to our enhanced due diligence request. If the customer does not respond to our request within a timely manner, we return the funds to the IRS. On February 3, 2017, you were sent an email to the address noted in your tax return to inform you of the account hold and instruct you on how to release the hold. On February 22, 2017, your refund was approved by the IRS and payment was made to TPG, but remained on hold. Unfortunately, the identification documentation you sent to TPG was unsuccessful to release the hold and you were asked to re-authenticate.    On February 27, 2017, you called into TPG inquiring on the status of your return. You informed TPG that you uploaded your ID over 3 weeks ago. A TPG rep notified you nothing was received and asked you to re-upload again and allow 7 business days for your identification to be reviewed. After attempting this a second time, you called TPG once more to ensure the ID upload went through. On February 28, 2017, TPG was able to validate your identification and released the account hold. On that same date, TPG deducted the fees related to your tax software fees and Refund Transfer. It was deposited to the account filed on your tax return. TPG has disbursed your Refund via ACH Direct Deposit to the account information you provided on your tax return. Please contact the ACH Department for your financial institution at [redacted]. Please refer to the detailed client letter mailed to the address on file for tracking information. If the funds have not posted to your bank account in 1-2 business days from the disbursement date, please check your records and make sure that the bank account number you provided is correct. If the information you provided is for a closed or an incorrect account number your refund may be returned to TPG. If the receiving bank returns your deposit, you may receive a check, which will be sent regular mail to the address on your tax return.    Please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, we are required to set up processes to protect our clients from identity theft. We understand your frustration and apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced. As a courtesy, TPG has refunded the RT fee of $34.99 via direct deposit to the account designated on your tax return. If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact TPG at [redacted], Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST). Respectfully,   [redacted] Compliance Analyst

Dear Ms. [redacted], This letter is in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 12, 2018.To give you some background information and help you appreciate our role in your complaint, we would like to explain TPG’s...

relationship with [redacted] Bank (Bank). TPG is a third-party processor for the Bank. Through this relationship, [redacted] Bank is able to offer tax products which are sold through TPG through independent tax professionals and online tax preparation services. The product you have used through TPG, called a “Refund Transfer”, allowed you to pay for your tax preparation fees directly out of your tax refund. This service is optional. This saved you the difficulty of paying these fees upfront to the software provider. You electronically agreed to these governing terms and conditions through your tax preparer, Ms. [redacted] of Tax Payers Bureau. Please reference your RT Application and agreement for details regarding the terms and conditions.To help you understand our process we have listed out the events associated with your account as follows:·        According to our records, on February 14, 2018, TPG received your electronic filing record from your tax preparer. This means that you elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your tax preparation fees in lieu of paying via credit card. ·        On February 21, 2018, your refund was approved by the IRS and payment was made to TPG. On that same date, TPG deducted fees related to your Tax Preparation fee of $699.90, RT processing fee of $39.95 and deposited the remaining balance of $3,053.15 to the account indicated on your tax return. The deposit to the above account was confirmed by the outgoing trace number:[redacted]. You may contact the ACH department for [redacted] for further details regarding this deposit. Please refer to the mailed response for detailed information.·        On March 2, 2018, your tax preparer Ms. [redacted] informed TPG that the account number submitted at the time of filing was incorrect. At that time TPG informed Ms. [redacted] that the funds were already disbursed to the account on record. Furthermore, it was advised that a printed check would be issued in the case that the funds were rejected and returned to TPG by the receiving bank.·        On March 7, 2018, you contacted TPG and learned that the bank information on record was entirely wrong. TPG informed you that the funds need to be reversed before proceeding with an alternate disbursement method. As a tax refund processor, TPG is not authorized to modify account information without explicit permission from taxpayers before funding occurs and may only process according to the filing record transmitted by the tax office. Thus, on that same date, TPG escalated the issue to our partner, [redacted] Bank, for a Letter of Indemnity. This letter is a formal request made to a financial institution requesting that the funds be returned to the issuing bank. Once [redacted] accepts and processes the request, TPG will disburse the returned funds via Cashier’s Check to the address indicated on your tax return. Please be advised, if [redacted] rejects this request, you will need to contact their ACH department for further details regarding the funds. We expect a response within 10 business days.Please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, we are required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact TPG directly at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.  Respectfully, Pearl ParkProgram Operations Analyst

February 17, 2016
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group through the Revdex.com on February 11,
2016.
In your complaint, you stated that...

after entering your
information for a direct deposit, your refund was going to be sent to you via
the [redacted]. You tried contacting TPG’s customer service and were unable
to receive a reason as to why your deposit was going to be sent to you through
the [redacted].
Upon review of your account, it shows that you applied to
have your tax return refund disbursed onto a [redacted] account, not a [redacted]. This is confirmed through the routing number used in your tax return
filing where funds were sent out via ACH to RTN: [redacted] as directed by the
RT application from Turbo Tax. The account number provided was rejected as an
invalid account number and the funds were returned back to TPG. Please log onto
our website, [redacted], and follow the
instructions to verify yourself.
In the scenario described in your complaint you have chosen
a do-it-yourself (DIY) tax preparation software package such as Intuit’s
popular TurboTax product. The taxpayer is entirely responsible for the
information provided to the software including the disbursement account where
the refund will be deposited. DIY tax software requires that the taxpayer
identify a bank account number where they want the refund deposited. TPG has
nothing to do with incorrect account information entered by the taxpayer or the
receiving bank’s decision to reject the funds.
The
$34.99 that was charged to your account is a processing fee that you agreed
upon prior to using our refund transfer services. This processing fee is
clearly described in Section 1 of the [redacted] Refund Processing
Agreement:
1.  NOTICE: No Requirement To Have BANK Process Your
Refund In Order To File Electronically.
YOU
UNDERSTAND THAT A REFUND PROCESSING FEE OF $34.99 IS CHARGED TO ESTABLISH A
TEMPORARY ACCOUNT TO RECEIVE YOUR FEDERAL TAX REFUND, TO PROCESS IT, TO DEDUCT
YOUR TURBOTAX FEES FROM THAT ACCOUNT, AND TO FORWARD FUNDS TO YOU.  THE REFUND PROCESSING FEE IS NOT A LOAN; IT
IS DUE TO BANK WHETHER OR NOT THE REFUND PROCESSING SERVICE OCCURS.  THIS FEE IS COLLECTED AT THE TIME THE REFUND
OCCURS.  YOU CAN AVOID THIS FEE AND NOT
USE THE REFUND PROCESSING SERVICE BY INSTEAD PAYING THE APPLICABLE TURBOTAX
FEES TO INTUIT BY CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD AT THE TIME YOU FILE YOUR 2015 FEDERAL
INCOME TAX RETURN AND ELECTING TO HAVE YOUR REFUND DIRECTLY DEPOSITED IN YOUR
OWN BANK ACCOUNT OR MAILED TO YOU.  IF
YOU DO USE THE REFUND PROCESSING SERVICE, YOU CAN EXPECT TO RECEIVE THE
PROCEEDS FROM YOUR FEDERAL TAX REFUND WITHIN 21 DAYS FROM WHEN THE IRS ACCEPTS
YOUR RETURN UNLESS THERE ARE PROCESSING DELAYS BY THE IRS.  THE REFUND PROCESSING SERVICE WILL NEITHER
SPEED UP NOR DELAY YOUR FEDERAL TAX REFUND. THE COST OF PREPARING YOUR TAX
RETURN IS NOT ANY MORE OR LESS IF YOU PURCHASE THE REFUND PROCESSING SERVICE.
We are experiencing extremely large call volumes which
correlates to an extremely large, and unexpected, funding from the IRS. This
unexpected spike in business has caused extreme demand on our resources. We
apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and the manner in which
your inquiry was handled by our Customer Service agents.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to
contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

[redacted]
"margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">[redacted]
RE: Case [redacted]
Dear [redacted],
This is in response to the complaint filed
against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com on April
1, in regards to service issues
Upon review
of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared
through Turbo TaxOn February 10, the IRS funded your federal return;
fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user fees and an additional bank deposit
product feeThe balance was deposited to the account instructed on The
Citizens Banking Company Refund Processing AgreementYour Bank rejected the
funds and declared the account an R"No Account/Unable to Locate Account"
The funds were returned to TPG on February 12, Please feel free to use
trace number [redacted] to discuss the rejection issue directly with your
bank
TPG has
nothing to do with the receiving bank's decision to reject the fundsOnce TPG
receives the rejected refund, our company has the option of making another
attempt to disburse funds to the customer or simply return the funds to the
IRSTPG
charges a commercially reasonable processing fee to cover the expenses
associated with processing these items.
Most banks typically charge between $and $for return item feesIn
this case, you were charged a $reprocessing fee for the rejection of
funds and $for the processing to return to IRSThis fee is disclosed in
your online agreement; a sample document has been attached for your review
Because your
attempt to change your account information failed we were unable to obtain the
personal information from you in order to verify your identity and to make the
applicable changes needed to correct your account informationFunds returned to the
IRS on March 20, IRS can take several weeks before they acknowledge
receipt and post to your account
Please
feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday am to pm if
you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint
Respectfully,
[redacted]
Compliance
Analyst

March 14, 2016
 
[redacted]
 
Dear Mr. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint against Santa Barbara
Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on March 9, 2016.
Please allow me to...

explain the role of TPG in this matter.
TPG, on behalf of [redacted] (Bank), offers tax related financial products
through a network of tax preparation franchises, independent tax professionals
and online tax preparation providers. These products provide the taxpayer a method of having their tax
preparation fees deducted from their tax refund without paying any upfront
fees. When your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax, you chose a
Refund Transfer (RT) product. When the taxpayer selects an RT, they direct
the IRS to deposit their tax refund into a temporary account at the
Bank. When the Bank receives the IRS refund (usually less than 21 days
from the filing date), the Bank makes deductions from the refund to pay the tax
preparation fees and Bank fees. The balance of the refund is then
disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the
taxpayer.  
Due to the amount of compromised SSNs along with non-public
personal information (NPPI) throughout the country, we have put controls in
place to prevent identity theft and fraud. TPG feels this is the most prudent
course of action to protect taxpayers given the current environment. TPG is
committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that only you can access your
funds.
Per our phone call discussion, details of the hold were
explained, confirmation was received that your information was verified and the
hold on your account was released. The refund and RT fee were reissued as
Cashier’s Checks on March 14, 2016.  Further
details were provided via email as you requested. 
TPG is sorry for any inconvenience that you and your wife
may have experienced.  If you have any
other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at [redacted],
Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Senior Compliance Analyst

Dear Ms. [redacted],   This letter is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on March 30, 2018.   To give you some background information and help you appreciate our role in your complaint, we would like to explain...

TPG’s relationship with [redacted] Bank (Bank). TPG is a third-party processor for the Bank. Through this relationship, [redacted] can offer tax products which are sold through TPG through independent tax professionals and online tax preparation services. The product you have used through TPG, called a “Refund Transfer”, allowed you to pay for your tax preparation fees and RT processing fee directly out of your tax refund. This service is optional. This saved you the difficulty of paying these fees upfront to the software provider.   According to our records, on March 3, 2018, TPG received your electronic filing record from your tax preparer, Marc [redacted]. This means that you had your tax returned prepared by Mr. [redacted] and you elected to utilize a Refund Transfer to pay your tax preparation fees in lieu of a credit card.   On March 27, 2018, your refund was approved by the IRS and payment in the amount of $1,869.12 was made to TPG. TPG deducted the tax preparation fee of $327.00, RT processing fee of $39.95 and made payment of $1,502.17 via direct deposit to the account indicated on your RT Application and Agreement.   For purposes unknown to TPG, the Bureau of Fiscal Service (BFS) intercepted a portion of your refund before it was received at TPG. The BFS offsets taxpayers’ refunds through the Treasury Offset Program to pay off past-due federal agency non-tax debts such as child support, student loans, and state income tax obligations.   Neither TPG nor the IRS is provided with the specific information of your debt. It is advised that you contact the BFS at (800) 304-3107 for further details regarding the government debt. The BFS will send a notice in the mail informing you of any government offset that was made. You may also utilize the “Where’s My Refund” tool at the IRS to check on the status of your refund including any notices of refund reductions (https://www.irs.gov/refunds).   TPG is very sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced. However, TPG has provided the service which we were contracted to provide in deducting the applicable fees and depositing the funds into the     account which you directed on the online agreement. If you have any questions or concerns, please, do not hesitate to contact TPG directly at 858-550-5072, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm PST.     Respectfully,     [redacted] Program Operations Analyst

Dear [redacted],   This letter is in response to your complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February 23, 2017. It is unfortunate that you were charged multiple overdraft fees by your financial institution. Funds are posted to the taxpayers account at the discretion of the receiving bank. Taxpayer(s) are responsible for contacting their banks to learn the exact time that direct deposits are posted to their accounts. We cannot comment on specific reasons, but it is customary for our representatives to relay that direct deposits post two banking days after the direct deposit is transmitted. Once TPG releases the funds, it is up to the discretion of the receiving bank to post it to your account. It is recommended that you speak directly with your bank to inquire if they have overdraft coverage or overdraft protection to limit or completely eliminate overdraft fees. You may also be able to negotiate if you have a series of overdraft charges. Your bank may consider waiving a series of charges stemming from the same overdraft. Please review your bank’s policy regarding the crediting of deposits and payments.  Understand the policy and schedule your payments accordingly. We realize this letter is not the answer you were hoping for, but TPG provided the service in which we were contracted to provide in deducting the applicable fees and depositing the funds into the account which you directed on the online agreement; therefore, we must deny your request for your overdraft fee reimbursements. On behalf of TPG, we would like to apologize for any inconvenience that you may have experienced. As a courtesy to you we will refund the RT fee in the amount of $34.99.  Respectfully, [redacted] Compliance Analyst

March 14, 2017
[redacted]
[redacted] Dear Mrs. [redacted], We are writing in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 9, 2017. Please allow me to explain the role of TPG in this matter. TPG, on...

behalf of [redacted] (Bank), offers tax related financial products through a network of tax preparation franchises, independent tax professionals and online tax preparation providers. These products provide the taxpayer a method of having their tax preparation fees deducted from their tax refund without paying any upfront fees. When your taxes were prepared through Taxslayer, you chose a Refund Transfer (RT) product. When the taxpayer selects an RT, they direct the IRS to deposit their tax refund into a temporary account at the Bank. No interest is earned on your deposit and it is not being used by any financial institution during the processing of your refund. When the Bank receives the IRS refund, the Bank makes deductions from the refund to pay the tax preparation fees and Bank fee. The balance of the refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer. First and foremost, TPG would like to apologize for your negative experience with TPG’s customer service department.  We take this complaint very seriously and are committed to providing each customer a positive experience with our company.  We appreciate you as a customer and value your business.  We are truly sorry to hear you had this experience. According to our records, on February 3, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from Taxslayer. This means that you utilized tax software to prepare your tax return and elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. TPG received the data file and no monies were transferred. Due to certain fraud filters, your account was placed on hold in a non­interest bearing account for additional verification. On February 16, 2017 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your Taxslayer user fees and an additional Bank processing fee for the RT. To remove an account hold, we ask customers to simply provide us a copy of their unexpired government issued identification, such as a driver’s license or passport. This allows us to verify your identity and remove the hold from your account. On March 13, 2017, TPG was able to validate your identification and released the account hold. Your account was placed through enhanced due diligence at TPG to protect your account from fraud.  Please understand that as a financial services business we are required to perform reasonable monitoring procedures to ensure fraud, such as ID theft, has not occurred through our business processes.  Certain factors in your tax return caused your account to be flagged as potentially suspicious. TPG is restricted from disclosing our fraud monitoring rule set and cannot share these criteria with taxpayers as it could compromise the protection we have for our clients, including yourself. We are very sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced, but please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, TPG is required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. As a courtesy to you, TPG has decided to refund the RT fee as a direct deposit to the account on file. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact TPG at 877­908­7228, Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST), or you may utilize our live customer support chat by logging onto https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/requests/new, Monday through Friday between 6:00am to 6:00pm (PST).   Respectfully,Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Dear Ms. [redacted],   This letter is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on March 28, 2018.   To give you some background information and help you appreciate our role in your complaint, we would like to explain...

TPG’s relationship with [redacted] Bank (Bank). TPG is a third-party processor for the Bank. Through this relationship, [redacted] is able to offer tax products which are sold through TPG through independent tax professionals and online tax preparation services. The product you have used through TPG, called a “Refund Transfer”, allowed you to pay for your tax preparation fees and RT processing fee directly out of your tax refund. This service is optional. This saved you the difficulty of paying these fees upfront to the software provider, [redacted] Tax.   First and foremost, we would like to apologize for your experience with conflicting information with Customer Service at TPG. We take your complaint very seriously and are committed to providing our customers with an accurate and positive experience with our company.   According to our records, on January 25, 2018, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted] Tax. This means that you used tax software to prepare your own tax return and elected to utilize a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. On February 21, 2018, your refund was approved by the IRS and payment was made to TPG. On that same date, TPG deducted the fees related to your Refund Transfer and made payment via direct deposit to the account indicated on your RT Application and Agreement.   On February 22, 2018, your financial institution, [redacted], blocked the deposit of your tax refund into your account and returned the funds to TPG. We apologize for any inconvenience or hardship this has caused you, but you can be assured that neither TPG, nor your tax preparation service, [redacted] Tax, contributed in any way to the decision to block your tax refund from being deposited into your [redacted] Bank account and your refund being returned to the IRS. The decision to return your tax refund was exclusively initiated by [redacted].  [redacted] has flagged your account as an R17 for suspicion of fraud and directed that your refund be returned directly to the IRS. Due to laws which govern electronic payments, TPG cannot refuse to honor the instructions of [redacted] or intervene on your behalf.  Please reference the detailed client letter mailed to the address on records for information regarding, RTN, DAN, Bank ACH contact and trace numbers.     On February 22, 2018, TPG began the process to have the funds returned to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), specifically the RICS/IVO Division of the IRS in Fresno, CA. Please be advised this process can take several weeks for TPG to process back to the IRS. Once we have returned funds to the IRS it can take 10-12 weeks before they acknowledge receipt and post to your account. It is recommended that you contact the IRS at 800-829-0922 for further details.   As of March 28, 2018, you have been informed by TPG that funds related to your 2017 Federal Tax Refund have been released. TPG is very sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced. However, TPG has provided the service which we were contracted to provide in deducting the applicable fees and depositing the funds into the account which you directed on the online agreement. Therefore, we must deny your request for fee re-imbursement.   Please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, we are required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft and fraud. If you have any questions or concerns, please, do not hesitate to contact TPG directly at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.   Respectfully,      
[redacted] Program Operations Analyst

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have  determined that this proposed action would not  resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of  the offer I reviewed appear below. I also shall plan on contacting me a attorney if this is not resolved soon!The attorney general office I've waited to long and me n my family are in a bad hardship I've been understanding enough
Regards,
[redacted] Jr

March 21, 2016
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
 
Dear Ms. [redacted]
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on March 9,
2016.
Your...

complaint stated that since February 18, you have been
waiting for your refund to be deposited into your bank account. You realized
that the account you entered for your refund to be deposited to is closed. You
called to inform TPG about your account but learned there was a hold placed on
your refund. You requested your refund be sent back to the IRS but have been
given different timeframes when the refund would be returned.
We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced and the
manner in which you felt our customer service agents handled your inquiry. We
have spoken with the customer service representatives regarding your complaint
and reminded them of their obligation to always process customer inquiries in a
respectful manner.
Controls are in placed to protect our customers from
identity theft. As explained to you during our phone conversation on March 17,
since there was an error in your account information as well as the address you
entered while filing your tax return, TPG is obligated to send your refund back
to the IRS. TPG has begun the process of returning your funds to the IRS,
specifically the RISC/IVO Division of the IRS in Fresno, California. The funds
will be sent back via Cashier’s Check and you will be provided a tracking
number to enable you to track the delivery status. This process can take up to 15
days. Please be advised that once we have returned funds to the IRS it can be 10-15
weeks before they acknowledge receipt and post to your account.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our service
did not meet your expectations. If you have any other questions or concerns,
please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7am to
4pm.
 Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

February 26, 2016
[redacted]
Dear Mr. [redacted],
This is in response to your
complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the
Revdex.com on February19, 2016.
Your complaint stated that...

you
used TPG to process your return. There was an issue with your account and TPG
needed to put it on hold. You spoke with TPG’s customer service but were unable
to receive the information you needed to access your tax refund.
If a taxpayer enters a
bank account that will not accept the refund deposit, the transaction is
rejected by the receiving bank. Often times this occurs because the taxpayer
has entered incorrect bank account information or the account is closed. In
these cases the receiving bank returns the funds to the sender, in this case
TPG. TPG has nothing to do with incorrect account information entered by the
taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to return the funds.
We apologize for the
inconvenience this has caused you and the manner in which your inquiry was
handled by our customer service agents. 
Customer courtesy is an extreme priority for us and in this case, we
apparently failed you.  All the customer
agents involved have been reminded of their obligation to always process
customer inquiries in a respectful manner.
After speaking with you on the
phone on February 19, we were able to resolve the hold on your account. On
February 20, TPG was able to process your tax refund and mail it to the address
on your file. Please allow up to 7 days for the receipt of the check.
If you have any more questions or
concerns, you can reach me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

March 21, 2016
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed
against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the RevDex.com on March 10, 2016.
Your...

complaint stated that TPG held your tax
return for two weeks. You were able to upload your identification for
verification and asked to wait 7 days for TPG to process it. After waiting the
7 days, you called TPG to learn your identification had not been approved yet.
You also claimed TPG’s customer service was rude towards you during your
conversation.
We apologize for the inconvenience you experienced
and the manner in which you felt our customer service agents handled your
inquiry. We have spoken with the customer service representatives regarding
your complaint and reminded them of their obligation to always process customer
inquiries in a respectful manner.
Controls are in place to protect our customers
from identity theft and fraud. On March 11, TPG was able to approve your
identification and release the hold from your account. On the same date, TPG
was able to process your refund as a Cashier’s Check and mail it to the address
you provided. Please allow up to 7 days for your Cashier’s Check to reach your
address. Due to the volume during the same timeframe, TPG needed extra time to
process your documents. 
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us
why our service did not meet your expectations. If you have any questions or
concerns, please feel free to contact me at [redacted] Monday through
Friday, 7am to 4pm.
Sincerely, 
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

March 3, 2017 [redacted] Dear [redacted], We are writing in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against [redacted] ([redacted]) on February 28, 2017. Please allow me to explain the role of [redacted] in this...

matter. [redacted], on behalf of [redacted] (Bank), offers tax related financial products through a network of tax preparation franchises, independent tax professionals and online tax preparation providers. These products provide the taxpayer a method of having their tax preparation fees deducted from their tax refund without paying any upfront fees. When your taxes were prepared through [redacted], you chose a Refund Transfer (RT) product. When the taxpayer selects an RT, they direct the IRS to deposit their tax refund into a temporary account at the Bank. When the Bank receives the IRS refund, the Bank makes deductions from the refund to pay the tax preparation fees and Bank fee. The balance of the refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer. In the complaint received, it was stated that there were problems surrounding the receipt of your tax refund as well as issues regarding customer service at [redacted]. According to our records, on February 8, 2017, [redacted] received your electronic filing record from [redacted]. This means that you utilized tax software to prepare your tax return and elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. [redacted] received the data file and no monies were transferred. Due to certain fraud filters, your account was placed on hold in a non­interest bearing account for additional verification. On February 22, 2017 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees and an additional Bank processing fee for the RT. To remove an account hold, we ask customers to simply provide us a copy of their unexpired government issued identification, such as a driver’s license or passport. This allows us to verify your identity and remove the hold from your account. On March 3, 2017, [redacted] was able to validate your identification and released the account hold. Your account was placed through enhanced due diligence at [redacted] to protect your account from fraud.  Please understand that as a financial services business we are required to perform reasonable monitoring procedures to ensure fraud, such as ID theft, has not occurred through our business processes. Certain factors in your tax return caused your account to be flagged as potentially suspicious.  [redacted] notifies the customer, through email, before funding, in order to process authentication and allow the refund to be deposited into the account once it is funded by the IRS without any further delays. We do apologize if you did not receive this email. We are very sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced, but please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, [redacted] is required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. After reviewing your case and as a courtesy to you, [redacted] has decided to refund the RT fee. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact [redacted] at [redacted], Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST), or you may utilize our live customer support chat by logging onto https://help.sb[redacted].com/hc/en-us/requests/new, Monday through Friday between 6:00am to 6:00pm (PST).   Respectfully, Santa Barbra Tax Products Group

March 2, 2016
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
RE:          Complaint
ID: [redacted]
                Complaint
ID: [redacted]
Dear Ms....

[redacted],
This is in response to the complaints filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group through the Revdex.com on February 22,
2016 by you and your spouse.
Your complaint stated that once you learned your account was
placed on hold, you tried speaking with TPG’s customer service to learn why
there was a hold. You were unable to speak to someone after calling a number of
times which is why you filled a Revdex.com complaint.
We are experiencing extremely large call volumes which
correlates to extremely large funding from the IRS. This unexpected spike
in business has caused extreme demand on our resources and unfortunate delays
in processing.  We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and
the manner in which your inquiry was handled by our Customer Service
agents. 
Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity
theft and fraud. Our Risk Department contacted you on February 26 to discuss
your complaint. TPG was able to verify your information and released the hold on
your account. Your refund was direct deposited into your account.
If you have any other questions or concerns, please feel
free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst