Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

March 9,
"margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt">[redacted]
Dear Ms
[redacted],
This letter is in
response to the complaint filed by the above referenced consumer with the RevDex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG)According to your complaint, you filed her tax return
through [redacted] on January 21, 2016; however, you entered an incorrect
account number and the funds were rejected back to TPGYou stated you have contacted
TPG multiple times, but have been unable to resolve this matterUpon review of your record, an RT was chosen when your
taxes were prepared through [redacted]On February 9, the IRS funded the federal return; fees were deducted to pay
the [redacted] user fees and an additional Bank processing fee for the RTThe
balance was deposited to the account instructed on the [redacted] Refund
Processing AgreementYour financial institution rejected the funds because they
were unable to locate the specified accountPlease note, as a risk control, rejected
transactions are placed on hold until TPG can verify the taxpayer's identity,
at which time a Cashier's Check is issuedOn February 12, 2016, you contacted TPG regarding the
status of your refund and alerted TPG that you had entered an incorrect account
numberTPG explained that the account was placed on hold and once your
identity was verified, the funds would be released via Cashier's CheckYou informed TPG multiple times that you
uploaded the appropriate documents to identify yourself as the account holderPlease
note, due to the volume during the same time frame, TPG retracted the standard two
business day SLA and extended the review period
On February 29, 2016, TPG was able to verify your
information and released the hold on the account. The refund was reissued as a Cashier's Check
on March 1, TPG confirmed that the check was negotiated on March 8, TPG is sorry for
any inconvenience that you may have experiencedIf you have any questions or concerns, please
do not hesitate to contact me at [redacted],
Monday through Friday 7:am to 3:pm
Respectfully,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

12/16/15
[redacted] Ave
[redacted]
RE: [redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to the complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com on December 10,
2015.
Upon review of your record, you...

had contacted TPG in April
of 2013 regarding your 2012 tax refund. Your refund, after deduction of fees,
totaled $1030.07. Since you did not receive your 2012 tax refund, you spoke to
a TPG representative for assistance. At the time you were asked to fill out an
Indemnity Bond for a reissuance of your check, but we were unable to process it
because it did not have the correct signatures. Unfortunately, we have not
heard from you since regarding your tax return until you contacted TPG again
with this Revdex.com complaint.
Per our discussion today, TPG will send you another Indemnity
Bond to fill out and sign. We will be able to process your tax refund once we receive
the completed Indemnity Bond.
We hope this satisfies your inquiry. If you have any other
questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 800-[redacted] Monday
through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
Respectfully,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

February 18, 2016
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February
15, 2016.
Your complaint stated that you...

tried numerous times
uploading your identification in order to release the hold on your account. You
contacted TPG’s customer service to inquire the length of time it will take for
the hold to be released, but was given a different answer each time.
Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was
chosen when your taxes were prepared through [redacted].  On February 9, 2016 the IRS funded your
federal return. Your bank rejected the funds and declared the account
“R02/Account Closed”.  You may contact
your bank and provide them with trace number: [redacted] for further
details regarding the rejection of funds. TPG has nothing to do with incorrect
account information entered by the taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to
reject the funds.  
On February 17, 2016 the rejected funds were reprocessed and
converted into a check. The check will be issued within the next 24 hours.
Please allow up to 7 days for the check to be received at your address of
record. Please reference the attached online agreement for terms and conditions
related to rejected transactions. 
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

May 29,
"">[redacted]
RE: Complaint ID: [redacted]
Dear Mr[redacted],
This email is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com of San Diego on May 22, regarding held funds and customer service issues.
As part of routine audits we undertake in cooperation with the IRS, late season filings are held in order to verify the identity of each record holder. These controls are in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud.
Our regulators require that we follow identification procedures, which are part of the statute of the USA Patriot Act, by requesting and processing copies of your unexpired government-issued picture ID, Social Security card and other supporting documentation. Thank you for your cooperation in forwarding the required documents, we realize this is a sensitive issue with the rise in ID theft and fraudPlease note that all confidential information is handled securelyOnce you were verified as the lawful owner of the funds, your refund was released on May 23, 2014. When I called you today, you confirmed that you received the funds into your designated account.
Thank you for the inquiry and the opportunity to resolve the issue. If you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint please feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday am to pm PST.
Respectfully,
[redacted]
Compliance Assistant
Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

February 26, 2016
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your
complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the
Revdex.com on February 19, 2016.
Your complaint stated...

that you
called TPG to request for a check to be mailed to your address because you
closed your bank account. You were told the check would be mailed to you on
February 8th, but noticed it still has not been sent to you.
When a taxpayer requests a
different delivery method for their refund, TPG has to follow the appropriate
procedures to ensure the taxpayer is the correct bank account holder. TPG
allows taxpayers the opportunity to correct their initial mistakes which could
take several days or weeks.  For corrections,
customers can go to the website change their account information online.  TPG’s customer service efforts are highly
successful as customers each year utilize the web to change account information
prior to IRS funding.
Upon review of your account, we
considered your delivery changes and mailed you a check to your address on file.  The check was verified on February 20th
and it was cleared on February 25th.
If you have any other questions
or concerns, please feel free to contact me at [redacted] from Monday through
Friday between 7am and 4pm.
 Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

March 12, 2018    
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]     Dear Mrs. [redacted],   This letter is in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 8, 2018.   First and...

foremost, we would like to apologize for not being able to contact a live customer service agent during your call. We take this complaint very seriously and are committed to providing you a positive experience with our company.    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.   To address your complaint, we have listed the timeline of events below: ·         According to our records, on February 9, 2018, TPG received your electronic filing record from the online service provider [redacted] Tax. 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 20, 2018, your account was placed through enhanced due diligence at TPG to protect your account from fraud. Please keep in mind, TPG notifies the customer, through email, before funding, to process authentication and allow the refund to be deposited into the account once it is funded by the IRS without any further delays. Unfortunately, TPG did not receive your identification prior to the IRS funding your account. o   Due to industry requirements and company policy, if an account is flagged for unusual activity we are required to perform additional account due diligence in order to authenticate the identity of the taxpayer. Many companies, including most banks, feel that tax refunds with suspicious account attributes are high risk and rather than trying to perform additional due diligence they simply return the funds to the IRS.  TPG feels a better option for their valued customers is to try to perform additional steps to validate accounts and release the holds.  o   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 and go through ID authentication. TPG’s verification process can take up to 7 business days to review the ID. 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 27, 2018, your refund was approved by the IRS and TPG received payment related to your 2017 federal refund. On that same date, TPG deducted the [redacted]Tax software fee, RT fee and the balance remained on hold in a non-interest-bearing account for ID verification. ·         On March 7, 2018, TPG received a copy of your driver’s license and began the review process. ·         On March 8, 2018, TPG was able to validate your identification and released the account hold. ·         On March 9, 2018, TPG made payment to the bank account you designated on your tax return. Please reference the detailed client letter mailed to address on record for account and tracking information regarding the deposit. 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 858-550-5072, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.   Respectfully,   [redacted] Program Operations Analyst

Dear Mr. [redacted],   This letter is in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 9, 2018.   First and foremost, TPG would like to apologize for you not being able to reach a live customer service agent. We take...

this complaint very seriously and are committed to providing each customer a positive experience with our company.    Please allow me to explain the role of TPG in this matter. TPG, on behalf of [redacted] Bank (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 the software provider, 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. This service is optional. When the Bank receives the IRS refund, the Bank makes deductions from the refund to pay the tax preparation fees and RT processing fee. The balance of the refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account designated by the taxpayer.   To help you understand our process we have listed out the events associated with your account as follows:  According to our records, on February 16, 2018, TPG received your electronic filing record from Turbo Tax. This means that you used tax software to prepare your own tax return and elected to utilize an RT to pay your software and RT processing fee.On February 22, 2018, your account was placed through enhanced due diligence at TPG to protect your account from fraud. Please keep in mind, TPG notifies the customer, through email, before funding, to process authentication and allow the refund to be deposited into the account once it is funded by the IRS without any further delays. Unfortunately, TPG did not receive your identification prior to the IRS funding your account.On February 27, 2018, your refund was accepted by the IRS. TPG deducted fees related to your Software and RT processing fee and the balance remained on hold in a non-interest-bearing account for ID Verification.On March 6, 2018, you submitted ID verification, but unfortunately there was a problem with the upload. Therefore, you were asked to resubmit a copy of your driver’s license. On March 12, 2018, TPG received the re-upload, verified your identity and released the hold on your account. TPG then processed funds to be deposited to the account on record. Please allow your financial institution 24-48 hours for the funds to be received and posted. Respectfully,   [redacted] Program Operations Analyst

Dear Mrs. [redacted],   This letter is in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on November 3, 2017.   In the complaint received, you state TPG gave you instructions to contact your bank regarding your outstanding tax...

refund. After contacting your bank, you confirmed the funds were never received. In order to resolve your issue, you would like to receive your refund.   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.   To address your complaint, we have listed the timeline of events below: According to our records, on February 7, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted].com. 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. TPG received the data file and no monies were transferred.On February 22, 2017, your refund was approved by the IRS and payment was made to TPG. On that same date, TPG deducted the fees related to your Software and RT Processing fees and made payment to the bank account indicated on your tax return. On November 3, 2017, per your request TPG sent you a Letter of Research (LOR) regarding the details associated with your account.On November 9, 2017, TPG contacted you via conference call with the ACH Department of [redacted] Bank on the line. You confirmed your identity with the Bank and they confirmed receipt of the deposit made by TPG. At your request, the Bank forwarded a copy of the deposit statement at a nearby branch for you to pick up. TPG has provided the service which we were contracted in deducting the applicable fees and depositing the funds directed on the online agreement. If you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact TPG directly at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.   Respectfully,   [redacted] Program Operations Analyst

February 26, 2016
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February
17, 2016.
You stated that you expected your tax...

refund to be deposited
into your account on February 10 but found out that your account was placed on
hold. After going online and following the procedures to release the hold you
were unable to receive the information you wanted regarding your account. We
apologize for the differing information provided to you by customer service. I
can assure you we are taking appropriate steps to ensure this does not happen
to our valued customers in the future.
If a taxpayer enters a bank account that is closed or
incorrect, the transaction is generally rejected by the receiving bank.  When this occurs, the receiving bank returns
the funds back 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 reject the funds. When a refund is rejected back to TPG, the funds can
either be sent back to the IRS or an attempt can be made to validate the
taxpayer’s identity so that the funds can be released to the customer. TPG
requested that you upload your current, valid government-issued photo
identification through our website and it appears that this was not completely
correctly. After emailing your identification on 2/17, the hold was released the
following day.
TPG processed your tax return as a check on February 18.
Please allow up to 7 days for the check to reach your address on file.
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

February 16, 2016
[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 February 11, 2016.
You contacted TPG’s customer...

service regarding an
error with the routing number you entered. You stated that you provided your
wire transfer routing number instead of your direct deposit routing number.
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. In these cases, the receiving bank “rejects” the transaction and
returns the funds to the sender, in this case TPG. TPG will then re-disburse
your funds via check.
Your refund was rejected by the receiving bank which
allowed TPG to reprocess your refund and mail it to the address on record. Your
check was mailed on February 11, 2016. Please allow up to 7 days for the check
to reach your address. 
We are experiencing extremely large call volumes
which correlates to an extremely large, and unexpected, funding from
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. 
 
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

April 11, 2016
[redacted]
[redacted]
 
Dear Mr. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on April 1,
2016.
In your complaint, you stated that your...

tax return was
rejected and you were asked to submit information to verify your identity. Your
identity was verified and a check was issued on March 17. You have not received
your check since TPG sent it to you. You have also been unable to speak with a
representative regarding this matter.
We experienced large call volumes which correlated to
extremely large funding from the IRS. This unexpected spike in business caused
an extreme demand on our resources such as our call center. We apologize for
the inconvenience this has caused you and the inability for you to reach live
customer service.
In the scenario you described, TPG placed a hold on your
account because the account you tried to deposit your funds into was frozen.
TPG requested you to upload a form of identification to be verified to allow
TPG to release the hold from your account. On March 16, TPG received your
documents, verified your account and released the hold. The refund was reissued
as a Cashier’s Check to the address on file, but you claimed it has not reached
you.
Please fill out the attached Indemnity Bond and send back
via fax or email. An Indemnity Bond will authorize a stop payment on the first
Cashier’s Check sent to you and allow TPG to reissue a new check. Please note,
you will need to have the Indemnity Bond notarized. Once you submit the
Indemnity Bond back to me, TPG can begin to process a new Cashier’s Check. TPG
Compliance will provide you the form and instructions via email. 
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

March 1, 2017 [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 February 21, 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 [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. According to our records, on January 30, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted]. This means that you used tax software to prepare your tax return and elected to utilize a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. TPG received the data file and no monies were transferred. On February 22, 2017, your refund was approved by the IRS and payment was made to TPG. On the same day, TPG deducted the [redacted] user fees and RT fee and made payment to the bank account indicated on your tax return. Per the IRS, taxpayers can generally expect refunds to be issued in less than 21 days after the electronic return was accepted. Of course, certain factors can cause delays to taxpayer refunds which are out of the control of TPG. For example, if your return contains Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) or Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), the IRS will not issue your tax refund before February 15th, which means you can expect your deposit the week of February 27th. To keep you informed about the status of your refund payment, you may use the following tools, which are updated in real time: • Please utilize the “Where’s My Refund” tool, provided by the IRS, to check on the status of your refund - https://www.irs.gov/refunds         • Please log into your TPG account on our website to get up-to-date information about your Refund Transfer filing. Additional information is available through our help center and automated phone center. We encourage you to read about possible payment delays in more detail by viewing the IRS website at https://www.irs.gov/individuals/refund-timing. Additionally, you stated an issue with our Customer Service agents. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you and the manner in which you felt your inquiry was handled by our Customer Service agents. All the customer agents involved have been reminded of their obligation to always process customer inquiries in a respectful manner. If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact TPG directly at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.   Respectfully, Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Dear [redacted],This letter is in response to your complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on March 2, 2017. Please allow me to explain the role of TPG in this matter. 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. This service is optional. When your taxes were prepared through the online software provider, 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 were told your account was placed on hold and needed ID verification, which you did. TPG claimed after you verified your identity the hold would be released, which they have not. Every time you called TPG, you were told you have not been verified. To resolve the issue at hand, you would like TPG to release your entire refund. I would like to first and foremost apologize for your negative experience with TPG customer service.  We take this complaint very seriously and are committed to providing you a positive experience with our company.  We appreciate you as a customer and value your business. Upon review of your account, you have used our service in prior years with no issues. To help you understand our process we have listed out the events associated to your account as follows:  ·        According to our records, on January 23, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from your online software provider. This means that you elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your tax preparation fees. The following occurred on January 23, 2017: ·        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 and go through ID authentication. TPG’s verification process can take up to 7 business days to review the ID. 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. ·        You were sent an email to the address noted in your tax return to inform you of the account hold.   ·        On February 22, 2017, TPG received payment related to your 2016 federal tax refund, but your account remained on hold for verification. ·        On February 24, 2017, you called TPG inquiring why your account was placed on hold. TPG advised you to look for the email that was previously sent with the instructions on how to verify your identity. You were then advised, TPG’s verification process can take up to 7 business days to review the ID. In your case it was processed quicker. ·        On March 3, 2017, TPG was able to validate your identification and released the account hold. On that same day, TPG deducted the Turbo Tax software fee and the RT fee and made a payment to the account indicated on your tax return. Please refer to the detailed client letter mailed to the address on record for details regarding the tracking information.   TPG 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. Please request and reference the Refund Transfer Application and Agreement from Turbo Tax. The terms and conditions related to holds will be noted in two separate sections:   5.  Acknowledgements. (a) You understand that: (i) neither Bank nor Processor can guarantee the amount of your tax year 2016 federal tax refund or the date it will be issued, and (ii) neither Bank nor Processor is affiliated with the transmitter of the tax return (Intuit) and neither warrants the accuracy of the software used to prepare the tax return. (b) You agree that Intuit is not acting as your agent and is not under any fiduciary duty with respect to the processing of your refund by Bank and Processor. (c) Your refund may be held or returned to the IRS if it is suspected of fraud or identity theft.12.  Customer Identity Validation Disclosure. To help Bank, Processor and the government identify and fight tax refund fraud, as well as fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, Bank and Processor obtain, verify, and record information that identifies each Refund Processing Service client. What this means for you: When you apply to use the Refund Processing Service for the purpose of receiving your federal tax refund, we will ask for your name, address, date of birth, and other information that will allow us to identify you. We may also ask to see your driver’s license or other identifying documents if we need to perform additional due diligence on your account. 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. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact TPG directly at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.   Sincerely,   [redacted] Compliance Analyst

Hello Ms[redacted],
"">The customer who filed this complaint is a possible victim of ID theft. We respectfully decline to provide any further information regarding his account in order to protect him from any further fraud. I have contacted him at the phone number he provided on the complaint to explain his next steps in resolving the situation. I have also provided a personal email with details and the following steps:
1. HE MUST FILEA POLICE REPORT IN HIS LOCAL POLICE PRECINCT AND SEND A COPY OF THE REPORT TO TPGTHE REPORT MUST INCLUDE (IF AVAILABLE) THE RTN/DAN WHERE THE MONEY WAS SENT IF IT WAS ACH
2. RETURN THE CHECK, MARKED VOIDED BACK TO TPG. TPG WILL RETURN THESE FUNDS BACK TO THE IRS.
3. COPY OF A VALID, GOVERNMENT ISSUED PHOTO ID
4. COPY OF THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD
5. THEIR SIGNATURE FIVE (5) TIMES
6. A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF HOW THE CRIME OCCURRED
Kind Regards,
[redacted]

March 3, 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 February
23, 2016.
In your complaint you stated...

that, you tried calling TPG to
inquire the status of your refund. When you did try to speak to a
representative at TPG, you were unable to because you stated that you were
disconnected each time.
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.
Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was
chosen when your taxes were prepared through [redacted]. On February 17, 2016 the IRS funded your federal
return; fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees and an additional
Bank processing fee for the RT. The balance was deposited to the account
instructed on the [redacted] Refund Processing Agreement. [redacted] rejected the funds and declared the account an R03 / “No Account – Unable
to Locate Account”. You may contact the ACH Department for your financial
institution at [redacted] and provide them with trace number: [redacted],
disbursement amount: $7,884.02 and date of disbursement: 2-17-2016 for further details regarding the
rejection of funds. The funds were returned to TPG on February 19, 2016.
Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity
theft and fraud. On February 29, TPG was able to verify your information,
released the hold on your account and mailed the check to your address on
record. Please allow up to 7 days for receipt of the check in the mail.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our
service did not meet your expectations. 
We have every desire to address your needs and provide the best solution
available to resolve your issue as soon as possible.  We hope the points listed above offered a
fair solution.
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

March 4, 2016
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
 
Dear Mr. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February
24, 2016.
You complaint stated that you were...

told to send your
identification in order for TPG to release your refund. You waited two weeks
and still have not received your refund.
Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity
theft and fraud. On February 25, TPG was able to verify your information,
released the hold from your account and as contracted, mailed a check to your
address on record. Our records show that your check was cashed on March 4,
2016.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our
service did not meet your expectations. 
We have every desire to address your needs and provide the best solution
available to resolve your issue as soon as possible.  We hope the points listed above offered a
fair solution.
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

Dear Mr. [redacted],   This letter is in response to the complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 21, 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] ([redacted]). TPG is a third-party processor for the [redacted]. 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.   First and foremost, we apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced with getting ahold of our Customer Service agents. Thank you for your patience. TPG takes this complaint very seriously and is committed to providing our customers a positive experience with our company.   To help you understand our process we have listed out the events associated with your account as follows: According to our records, on February 27, 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.Due to certain fraud filters, 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. 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. Please keep in mind, TPG notifies the customer, through email, before funding, to process authentication and allow the refund to be deposited into the account once it is funded by the IRS without any further delays. Due to industry requirements and company policy, if an account is flagged for unusual activity we are required to perform additional account due diligence in order to authenticate the identity of the taxpayer. Many companies, including most [redacted]s, feel that tax refunds with suspicious account attributes are high risk and rather than trying to perform additional due diligence they simply return the funds to the IRS.  TPG feels a better   option for their valued customers is to try to perform additional steps to validate accounts and release the holds.  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 and go through ID authentication. TPG’s verification process can take up to 7 business days to review the ID. 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 March 5, 2018, TPG sent an email notification to inform you of the account hold. Unfortunately, TPG did not receive your identification prior to the IRS funding your account. On March 13, 2018, your refund was approved by the IRS and TPG received payment related to your 2017 federal refund. On that same date, TPG deducted the fees related to the Refund Transfer and the balance remained on hold in a non-interest-bearing account for ID verification.On March 22, 2018, TPG received your submission of ID verification and began the review process. On that same date, TPG was able to validate your identity, released the account hold disbursed funds via direct deposit to the account designated on your return. Please reference the detailed client letter mailed to the address on record for the trace number and contact information for the ACH department of your [redacted].   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 Analyst

April 21, 2016[redacted] 
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your comments addressed in
your rebuttal to Santa Barbara Tax Products Group’s (TPG) response.
As we previously explained, because your check did not reach
you when it was first processed and mailed in February, you will need to fill
out an Indemnity Bond in order to authorize a stop payment on the original
check and to allow TPG to reissue a new check.
Please fill out the attached Indemnity Bond and send back
via fax or email. Please note, you will need to have the Indemnity Bond
notarized. Once you submit the Indemnity Bond back to me, TPG can begin to
process a new Cashier’s Check. TPG Compliance will provide you the form and
instructions via email.
This procedure will ensure that you receive your
refund in a timely manner.
We apologize for the miscommunication from our agent,
[redacted] She read the notes incorrectly and suspected that a new check was
mailed on the same day that the supervisor had spoken with you. TPG has
provided further coaching to the agent.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel
free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

January 31, 2017   [redacted], [redacted]     Dear [redacted],   This letter is in response to your complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on January 25, 2017.   In the complaint, you...

stated you opted in and were approved for our fee advance program in prior years. When you opted in this year, you were denied on account of your credit score being too low. It was also stated that the TPG website had no reference to a credit check to qualify for the in-season advance. Additionally, there was uncertainty as to what agreement authorized TPG to run the credit check and why you were allowed to opt in to the program initially.   According to our records, on December 14, 2016, you opted in to SimplyPAID in-season advance via our website. A system-generated denial was automatically triggered via website. TPG ran a standard credit report through Experian which resulted lower than our accepted threshold.   On January 25, 2017, TPG received your call in which you appealed the decision and asked for reconsideration. It was escalated for reconsideration and approved on January 29, 2017. Please allow up to 48 hours for the funds to reflect in your personal bank account.   Additionally, please see enclosed SimplyPAID In-Season Advance Agreement for the terms and conditions of the in-season advance. Moreover, we have included screenshots of our website where it is disclosed we will obtain credit history for eligibility. Opting in simply requires confirmation of your office information and completion of TPG compliance requirements. However, upon a credit check and several other factors, it will be determined whether you will be approved or denied for the in-season advance.   Eligibility requirements for the FastCashADVANCE differ from those of the SimplyPAID. The FastCash ADVANCE is available to new and existing TPG clients. A prior year product volume of applied Refund Transfers with a positive funding rate is required to participate in the FastCash ADVANCE program. Your current status qualifies your office to offer this advance program to your clients.   We appreciate your business and thank you for your inquiry. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact TPG at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm PST.   Respectfully,      [redacted] Compliance Analyst

February 26, 2016
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your
complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the
Revdex.com on February 18, 2016.
In your complaint you stated that
on...

February 10 your tax return was sent back to TPG. After sending TPG your
identification, you were given a different number of days when your account
would be released from the hold. You tried contacting TPG’s customer service
but were unable to reach an agent.
If a taxpayer enters a bank
account that will not accept the refund deposit, the transaction is rejected by
the receiving bank. Oftentimes this occurs because the taxpayer has entered
incorrect bank account information or the account is closed. In these cases,
the receiving bank rejects the transaction, and returns the funds to the
sender, in this case, TPG. TPG has nothing to do with the incorrect account
information entered by the taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to reject
the funds. Once TPG receives the rejected refund, the company has the option of
making another attempt to disburse the funds to the customer or simply
returning the funds to the IRS.
Controls are in place to protect
our customers from identity theft and fraud. TPG has requested you to provide
your state license and social security number in order to verify that you are
the correct account holder. Your identification was then successfully verified
and the hold from your account released. On February 20, TPG processed your tax
refund as a check and mailed it to you on the same date. Please allow up to 7
days for the check to reach your address listed.
If you have any more questions or
concerns, please feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through
Friday, 7am to 4pm.
 Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst