Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Review: I used TurboTax to do my taxes. TurboTax uses this firm for the processing of fees and correspondences. I filed my return in May 2015 it's now September 2015 and I have yet to receive my refund. In the mean time this company has taken additional fees for sending my refund back to the IRS. I did contact the IRS and they are saying they have yet to receive my funds, so they can refund my funds to me in a form of a check. When I contacted the IRS, they explain to me that they need a transaction sheet to verify the refunds were return to them. I called this firm for that information and they only have a confirmation number and no paper verification. All they send was a letter with my name and address. There wasn't a account number a case number of anything to prove it was my case. I'm very hurt and dissatisfied with the tone and unprofessionalism I receive from [redacted]. I did notify them I was filing this complaint. Thank you. [redacted]Desired Settlement: I would like a refund all fees taken from my refund, because it's been over 4 months of being patient about receiving refund.

Business

Response:

RE: Case [redacted]

September 17, 2015

Dear

[redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com on September 16, 2015

regarding service issues.

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your

taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On May 27, 2015 the IRS funded your

federal return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user fees. The balance

was deposited to the account instructed on the Sunrise Banks, N.A. Refund

Processing Agreement. The Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an

R03 “No Account/Unable to Locate Account”. The funds were returned to TPG on May

29, 2015.

On June 22, 2015 you explained that the routing transit

number (RTN) was wrong on your tax return. If a taxpayer enters a bank account

that will not accept the deposit, the transaction is rejected by the receiving

bank. SBTPG charges a processing fee of $20.00 to process the rejection of the

funds. SBTPG provided the service which we were contracted to provide in

deducting the applicable fees and depositing the money into the account which

you directed on the online agreement.

Most banks typically charge between $25 and $35. Please

review the application and agreement for full disclosure. A sample of the

online agreement has been attached for your review.

Our regulators require that we follow Customer Identification Program

(CIP) and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, which are part of the statute of

the USA Patriot Act. Due to our regulatory obligation to protect every consumer

there are times when enhanced due diligence is required. On June 22, SBTPG began the process of

returning your funds to the IRS. This process can take up to 15 business days.

TPG returned funds associated with your tax return filing back to the

Internal Revenue Service, specifically the RICS/IVO Division of the IRS in

Fresno, on July 10, 2015. The funds were sent back electronically via the FMS

ACH Credit Gateway process. Please allow approximately 10-12 weeks from the

date for the IRS to acknowledge receipt of 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.

We hope this satisfies your inquiry. Please feel free to

contact me at 877-[redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm, if you have any

further questions or concerns regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Review: Misappropriation of tax return. Failure to provide rapid refund. Fed. Return issued deposit Feb 10, 2015. They kept my money with out any communication with me. March 27 the IRS PROVIDED me the number to contact them. They returned my money that day minus 77.74 turbo tax fees, 34.99 for rapid return, 20.00 for returned irs check, 25.00 for investigation (to what?)as of today I have not received my money. IRS WONT RELEASE IT UNTIL THEY FIND OUT WHY SO MUCH WAS REMOVED. Is apologies not enough. I lost my car and consequently my job. I was relying on this moneyDesired Settlement: I want the 77.79 in bogus charges plus 1[redacted].00 for the loss of my car. I would only dream of $12,000 in lost wages.

Business

Response:

Ave

[redacted] OH [redacted]

Re: Case [redacted]

May 21, 2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the

complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the RevDex.com of San Diego on May 19, 2015 regarding service issues

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was

chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 10, 2015

the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax

user fees and an additional bank deposit product fee. The balance was deposited

to the account instructed on The Citizens Banking Company Refund Processing

Agreement. Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an R02 “Account

Closed”. The funds were

returned to TPG on February 13, 2015.

TPG notifies the customer,

through e-mail, at the time of funding, that the refund has been received and

will be deposited into the bank account.

The customer is given the TPG website and phone contact information if

they have any questions or concerns. TPG allows taxpayers the opportunity to

correct their initial mistake and avoid reprocessing until the item is

reprocessed, which may be several days or several weeks. Customers may utilize the TPG website to

change their account information.

However, no attempt was ever

made relating to your account.

In regards to fees, TPG charges a commercially reasonable

processing fee to cover the expenses associated with reprocessing these items.

Most banks typically charge between $25 and $35 for return item fees. In this

case, you were charged a $20.00 reprocessing fee for the rejection of funds and

an additional legal processing fee of $25 to return funds back to the IRS. No

interest is earned on your deposit and your deposit is not being used by any

financial institution during the processing of your refund. This process along

with the associated fees is disclosed in 4 different sections of the Turbo Tax

Refund Transfer application.

TPG has returned funds

associated with your tax return filing back to the Internal Revenue Service,

specifically the RICS/IVO Division of the IRS in Fresno, on March 26 2015. The

funds were sent back electronically via the FMS ACH Credit Gateway process.

Please allow approximately 10-12 weeks from the date for the IRS to acknowledge

receipt of funds. It is recommended that you contact the IRS at [redacted]

for further details.

Please feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through

Friday 7 am to 3 pm, if you have any further questions or concerns regarding

this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Consumer

Response:

First and for most thanks for trying to help. I have 2 letters from the IRS Advocate for taxpayers, one dated May 2, 2015 the other dated May 22, 2015 both letters state clearly that they gave not received a returned check of any amount from the bank. I'm not giving into this line if crap and will make sure this scamming company shuts down. Thus will be broadcasted over the internet via every social network available to me. I'm also going to ccontact a lawyer

Review: On Feb 12th I filed my taxes with Tax Slayer.

Because my credit [redacted] used a very different account number for my savings account than my checking account my Electronic Refund was returned and the matter was turned over to SB TPG to issue a check.

No notification was sent to me advising me of the situation nor was I given any opportunity to request they try the checking account instead of the savings account.

When the check finally arrived the teller at the credit [redacted] was unable to get the check to validate. Several attempts were made and I was told to take it to [redacted] and they told me to take it up with SB TPG.

Apparently once a teller hits a wrong key or doesn't get all the information, the check becomes invalid - no one can validate it again.

Called customer service and their only response was to send them the check, copies of my IDs (SSN and DL) and they would reissue.

Was called later and told they needed my WIFE's IDs too since she's on the taxes... Get this and before I get it faxed to them I get an email (march1st) saying my check is in the mail and it will arrive in 7 business days.

I fax this information to them anyway (just in case) and get a fax receipt. On the 11th it will have been the 8th business day. Call, spend 40 minutes on hold and that's about all I can spend (calling on my lunch hour)

repeat for 11th, 12th and 13th.

While waiting I fill out the online form, which of course requires I log in to come up with a cr that only shows up there.

At this point I've given them everything including a full copy of my last tax return and I still have no idea when the check will arrive IF one has even been cut.

They tell me to call them and when I call them I wind up on hold forever.

I just want my tax return... on a check... that I can cash...Desired Settlement: I just want my tax return... on a check... that I can cash...

Business

Response:

RE: Case [redacted]

03.27.2015

Dear

[redacted],

This is in

response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG)

to the Revdex.com on March 17, 2015 regarding check cashing issues.

Upon review

of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared

through [redacted]. On February 10, 2015 the IRS funded your federal return;

fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees. The balance was

deposited to the account instructed on [redacted] Refund

Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an

R03 “No Account/Unable to Locate Account”. The funds were returned to TPG on

February 11, 2015.

A Cashier’s

Check was mailed on February 12 and verified by your bank on February 18. You

stated in your complaint that “the

teller at the [redacted] keyed in wrong information and verified the check

and when you took it to [redacted] they could not validate it again”. This check

is a negotiable instrument and you may cash it at any participation financial

institution. Controls are in place to protect our customers from identity theft

and fraud. Once a check has been verified we do not allow a second verification

for the protection of our customers.

Our

regulators require that we follow Customer Identification Program (CIP) and

Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, which are part of the statute of the USA

Patriot Act. We apologize if our attempts at obtaining your personal

information were perceived as rude, but please understand it is our obligation

to investigate these matters thoroughly to ensure the money is forwarded to the

lawful owner. Once you and the secondary taxpayer were verified as the lawful

owner of the funds, a second refund check was released on March 19, 2015 and as

a gesture of goodwill mailed the check certified to the address on record.

Please

feel free to contact me at ###-###-####, Monday through Friday 7 am to 4 pm if

you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Consumer

Response:

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.

Complaint detailed several times the arbitrary willingness of SB TPG contacting me via phone and email, but unwilling to follow up, or as the case was when I finally got in touch with them, that they did not document contact with me, yet processed the request for a replacement check. Furthermore Given the nature of the validation system, it seems that it would not be difficult (I work in IT for a major communications company, so I'm very familiar with CPI and other standards) that you could allow someone to "reset" the validation once proving you've talked with the customer and the check has not been cashed.

Review: this company has been holding my income tax return and have made 2 attempts as of june and july to send my money to my [redacted] card on july 27 santa barbara tax products group says they will send my refund back to my account at [redacted] however my account at [redacted] had an issue recieving ach payments which now the [redacted] bank company says they have cleared up all issues and now my account is ready to recieve the ach as of july 29 please have this company resend my money to my card. I have been waiting far to long and I need my money I am very sick and need my return. if santa barbara has further issues I request a check directly from them thank youDesired Settlement: I want this company to send me my money. the amount of $3272

Business

Response:

Review: I used TurboTax to file my 2015 taxes. The IRS sent my refund to them via their bank, SBTPG. After not receiving my refund I contacted SBTPG to find out where it was. They informed me they had tried to deposit the money to MY bank, who has no record of anything being sent to my account. They are making me go through a process of verifying my identity before they will release a paper check to be mailed to me. As a matter of fact, the person I talked to today literally said the funds were "lost in cyberspace" but as soon as my identity was verified they'd release a check within 24 hours. But how can they send me the money if, according to her, they don't even have it? Who does have it and why can't they give me more specific and TRUE information? Can they LEGALLY hold my money like that?Desired Settlement: I want my tax refund sent AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

Business

Response:

February 26, 2016

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 after filing your taxes, your taxes were sent to TPG. You contacted TPG’s

customer service and TPG asked you to verify your identity. After successful

verification, your check would have been sent by mail.

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 was able to verify your

personal information after you uploaded the appropriate documents to TPG’s

website. Please allow up to 7 days for TPG to process and mail your check to

your address on file.

If you have any other questions

or concerns, please feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through

Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

Review: I made contact with Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on 02/10/2016 for instructions over how to receive my federal tax refund. On 02/10/2016 I went online to TPG's website and uploaded front and back copies of my driver's license. I called TPG's customer service the next day 02/11/2016 (as requested by representative) and I was informed by a rep and her supervisor that it takes 2 business days for my documents to be reviewed and someone will contact me. I called back 02/12/2016 and the representative told me she was unable to confirm if documents were received and the hold remains on my account. I have submitted 2 online contact forms and no one has contacted me.

My complaint is that TPG has instructions/procedures posted online and their customer service agents will note my account, but will not note when they have reported to me each time I call, and provide different responses to the same question ("have my documents been received, when I should call back, and when will my check be mailed"). Also, I'm not sure if it's their phone or the phone system that hangs up while on hold for 15-20min each time.Desired Settlement: TPG should give their representatives more information to relay to customers since the representatives cannot transfer/or let the customer speak directly to the verification department. They should give representatives access to the online system where customers are asked to upload documents so that customers will know that the documents were received. Both end can be proactive by taking action before a determination is made.

Business

Response:

February 18, 2016

Dear Ms. [redacted],

This is in response to your complaint filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on February

12, 2016.

Your complaint stated that you contacted TPG’s customer

service numerous times regarding your tax refund. You were inquiring when the

hold on your account would be lifted in order for your check to be processed,

but had difficulty receiving an answer. Thank you for your feedback and

valuable input.

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 an 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.

On February 18, I was able to speak with you directly to

explain that the hold was released from your account. The check will be

processed within the next 24 hours and expect about 7 days for the check to

reach you at your address on record.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to

call me at [redacted], Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm.

Sincerely,

Compliance Analyst

They have been holding my check for a month in a half ..... And still have it ... They keep telling me to call this day and then another day... I told them I had a lawyer and that I was taping there convocation and no they refuse to talk to me .... This the first time this has happen and I will never in my life use them again

Review: My name is [redacted]. My tax prepared used turbo tax to do my taxes. The IRS deposited my tax.return into the wrong account on Feb 19 2014. I sent copy of my is social security card and voided check by fax to have my refund re deposited. Feb 21st 2014 ever since then sbtpg has held on to my return. lied to me saying the IRS had it. hung up on me. they will not release my refund back to the IRS or to me. they have stolen my money. I have a baby I am gonna.be homeless. Give me my money. I have called numerous. times and left messages. when I do get somebody its a different story. every time. suppisively as of March 31st my money was sent back to the IRS minus sbtpg. fees which I want back. as of April 8 I had the IRS start a trace to find a get my money from these people!Desired Settlement: Send me my money all $2554.00 now!

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted],

My sincere apologies, the information you were given should have been consistent. I reviewed your case with the Manager and the team in order to clarify procedures and provide further training. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention and thank you for your input and feedback.

Review: The IRS deposited my tax refundto my account at Santa barbara tax product group on the 3/4/13 I contacted santa barbara tax product group one of their representative told me they suspected identity thef so they asked me to faxed my drivers license, w2 and social security I did all what they said on 3/12/13 I called them the next day they told me my information is correct and they will deposit my refund the next day into my checking account I check with my bank the money was not there I called santa Barbara bank they told me that the irs asked them to return my refund back to them I check my status on the irs website it shows that they deposited my money have been waiting for months now for my refund so I called them last Wednesday they told me again that the irs have my money so I decided to check my account status on their web site them it shows that they issued me a check 5/8/13 have been waiting for the check but didn't received it I called them again yesterday and they told me that irs asked them to returned my refund whiles their wedsite and automated teller is say that they have mailed me a check am so confused I need help my refund has been with them for so long now I have copies of all what I have faxed to them certified mail receipt for a letter I mailed to their ceo appeling to him and print out of my account status on their website my contact number is [redacted] and other email address [redacted]Desired Settlement: They need to refund my tax refund

Business

Response:

May 28, 2013

Dear Mrs. [redacted],

Thank you for your recent

inquiry regarding your 2012 Federal Income Tax Return. TPG has been

contacted by the IRS and instructed to return any funds which may have been

deposited on your behalf. We are currently working to comply with that

request; we expect to have the funds returned to the IRS by the end of next

week. You should know that once we have returned funds to the IRS it can

be several weeks before they acknowledge receipt. The IRS does not

typically give reasons for these types of requests, but we welcome your

inquiries. Please contact our Risk Analysis Department at (800)814-0401

between 7am and 4pm PST if you would like to discuss this with a

representative.

Per your complaint, you

stated that after being told by our Customer Service Department that your funds

were in the process of being returned to the IRS, you received information from

our website stating that the funds were being mailed directly to you. Your funds

are currently in the process of being returned to the IRS (See Enclosed Check

Copy). We apologize that our website did not provide you with the most accurate

information regarding the status of your account. This issue was brought to the attention of

our system developers and the matter has since been corrected. You may now

access our website for the most up-to-date information regarding the status of

your account.

Thank you for the inquiry.

If you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint, please

feel free to contact me at 800-901-6663, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm

PST.

Respectfully,

Compliance Assistant

Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

[redacted]@sbtpg.com

Review: I used Turbo Tax to do my taxes and was to get a credit card sent to my home in the amount of $453.02, after fees were paid from the original $523.00 refund. TPG used [redacted] Bank of [redacted], to deposit my refund there and then it was sent to [redacted] in [redacted], to an account # [redacted], routing #, [redacted] and this is NOT my account and I did NOT give an account # to Turbo Tax or anyone else for a direct deposit. I bank with [redacted]Desired Settlement: I want my $453.02refunded to Me and the jerk that took it to be prosecuted

Business

Response:

Review: This company contracts with TurboTax to take my federal tax refund, convert some of the money to an Amazon gift card, then it is supposed to send me the remaining amount.

The data I supplied was accurate, without question. There was no difficulty receiving my state refund. However, they sent the remaining refund amount to my bank account (according to their records; I do not know for sure) and they record it was returned to them. They charged $20 for the returned check fee and $25 for another "legal" fee. They never contacted me. Their notes state they sent the remaining $75 back to the IRS. I cannot find the money. They still have my $120.

This company is purposefully systematically arranging to send faulty information to the bank, charge extra fees, with no notice to the consumer.

This practice must stop immediately. I want my money back.Desired Settlement: Stop this consumer ripoff. Send me my full $120.

Business

Response:

[redacted] E [redacted] CA [redacted]

RE:

Case [redacted]

06.05.2015

Dear

[redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed

against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group “TPG” to the Revdex.com on

June 2, 2015 regarding fees.

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer

(RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. When the

taxpayer selects an RT, they direct the IRS to deposit their tax refund into a

temporary account at the Bank and the State return to be filed directly to the

State. When the Bank receives the IRS refund (usually less than 21 days from the

filing date), the Bank makes deductions from the refund per your Sunrise Banks

N.A. Refund Processing Agreement. Turbo Tax software requires that the taxpayer

identify a bank account number where the customer wants the refund

deposited. The taxpayer is entirely

responsible for the information provided to the software including the

disbursement account where the refund will be deposited.

TPG also notifies the customer, through

e-mail, at the time of funding, that the refund has been received and will be

deposited into the bank account. The

customer is given the TPG website and phone number if they have any questions

or problems. TPG allows taxpayers the opportunity to correct their initial

mistake and avoid reprocessing until the item is reprocessed, which may be

several days or several weeks. Customers,

who choose to do so, utilize the TPG website to change their account

information. However, no attempt was ever made relating to your

account.

On

February 6, 2015 the IRS funded your federal return; $120 deposited into the

bank account per Sunrise Banks N.A. Refund Processing Agreement and $1,100.00

to Amazon. Your bank rejected your funds and declared the account an R03/”No

Account/Unable to Locate Account”. You may contact your bank and provide them

with trace number: 096017411131469 for further details regarding the rejection

of funds. The funds were returned to TPG on February 10, 2015 where the $20 reprocessing

fee and the $25 account research and legal processing fee was charged. The

remaining $75 was returned to the IRS on March 26, 2015. Please allow

approximately 10-12 weeks from the date for the IRS to acknowledge receipt of

funds. It is recommended that you contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 for further

details.

As

a courtesy, the reprocessing fee of $20.00 and the account research and legal

processing fee of $25 will be remitted back to the IRS for processing. This may

take several days to several weeks and is dependent on IRS processing times. Please feel free to contact me at

877-[redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm, forfurther details relating

to the refund and return transaction.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.

Regards,

Review: I filed taxes through the Intuit [redacted] product in August 2015. I requested $1000 to be refunded via [redacted] gift card. However, I subsequently got a letter in the mail from the IRS stating that my account refund was adjusted from $1000 to $1021. Because of this Intuit said that I would not get the [redacted] gift card and would instead get the standard deposit into my account. The IRS mentioned in its letter to wait 4-6 week. Today is 10/19/2015. It specifically stated to wait 4-6 weeks for my refund. It is now 7 weeks. I called [redacted] which stated that the Santa Barbara Tax Product Group had put a hold on my money. I called up Santa Barbara Tax Product group and they stated that they had flagged the transfer and since no one had responded they had sent back the refund on the first week of October. I asked why they did not contact me. They said that they have too many clients to call any any individual entity. The problem is that they held the money without contacting me and since I didn't contact them (no way to know who was handling my money, was told to wait 4-6 weeks) they had sent it back. They sent it back PRIOR to the time the IRS told me to wait for my funds. Any other company that puts a hold on a transfer sends an email or a phone call out why. I am still awaiting a phone call back from a supervisor. I am still awaiting my refund.Desired Settlement: $1021 to the designated bank account as originally scheduled before the flag. This money to be deposited in 5 business days.

Business

Response:

[redacted]

RE: Case [redacted]

October 26, 2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint

filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the RevDex.com of San Diego on October 19, 2015 regarding service issues.

TPG,

on behalf of our 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

out-of-pocket costs. When you prepared your tax return through Turbo Tax, you

chose to deduct fees from your refund. When the taxpayer selects our bank

product, 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 fee.

In

your complaint you asked why TPG never contacted you. TPG notifies the

customer, through e-mail, at the time of funding, that the refund has been

received. The customer is given the TPG website and phone contact information

if they have any questions or problems.

Controls

are in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud in

cooperation with the IRS. According to the contract, funds are held to allow

the customer ample time to contact us regarding their refund and to verify

their identity in order to release the funds through another disbursement

method. Since the funds went unclaimed, TPG is obligated to forward monies back

to the IRS. TPG has returned funds associated with your tax

return filing back to the Internal Revenue Service, specifically the RICS/IVO

Division of the IRS in Fresno, on October 9, 2015. The funds were sent back

electronically via the FMS ACH Credit Gateway process. Please allow

approximately 10-12 weeks from the date for the IRS to acknowledge receipt of

funds.

Please

feel free to contact me at 877-[redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm if

you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Review: The Santa Barbra Tax Group handles the federal tax refunds for Turbo Tax. I was supposed to receive my refund April 22 according to both the Turbo Tax website and the IRS representative I spoke to, through direct deposit. The banking information is correct on both my printed out of tax return, and on the Turbo Tax website, yet Santa Barbara claims that they tried to direct deposit the $1857 refund into my account without success. My bank says that nothing was EVER even sent to them. Then S.B. Tax Group claims to have mailed a check that got returned to them. Now I have to wait 15 more days (today is May 12th) before the Tax Group can even send back the $1857 to the IRS? The person on the phone from SB Tax Group said the “mailed” refund came back to their office May 5th. I was told to call back May 26th just to make sure it even gets sent back to the IRS? On top of that then the IRS has to reprocess this, and then I want receive my refund for 2-3 more months. The entire purpose of direct deposit, and using my refund as payment for Turbo Tax, was to expedite the process. So instead of getting my money back April 22, it now looks more like the end of August? Waiting four months past the projected date of receiving my refund is not in any form convenient, nor do I think I should have to pay this company when they are not able to deliver my refund (let alone the fact I am getting it 4 months past due), and instead the IRS is having to fix SB Tax Group’s mistakesDesired Settlement: That it not take 4 months past the projected date to get my tax refund. Also a refund from the company, I paid this company money for convenience and yet I have had to either call or go up my bank, the IRS, Turbo Tax, and now them, just to hear it will maybe be another 4 months before MY refund actually gets to me.

Business

Response:

RE: Case

May 21, 2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in

response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the

Revdex.com on May 12, 2015 in regards to service issues.

Please allow me to explain the role of TPG in

this matter and clarify the information provided to you by Turbo Tax. TPG, on

behalf of the 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 costs.

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 in your case a personal bank account.

Please see enclosed SAMPLE screen shots which demonstrate how the RT

product (‘Pay with your federal refund’) was selected and how you agreed to

this service via the Agreement provided on the Turbo Tax software program.

On April 21, 2015 the

IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your Turbo Tax user

fees and an additional bank deposit product fee. The balance was deposited to

the account instructed on The

Citizens Banking Company Refund Processing Agreement. Turbo Tax software

requires that the taxpayer identify a bank account number where the customer

wants the refund deposited. The taxpayer

is entirely responsible for the information provided to the software including

the disbursement account where the refund will be deposited. The

routing transit number (RTN) provided to Turbo Tax is an invalid number and

does not belong to any bank. The rejection code is R13 “RDFI Not Qualified to

Participate”.

TPG has nothing to with incorrect account

information entered by the taxpayer. Once TPG receives the rejected refund our

company has the option of making another attempt to disburse funds to the

customer or simply returning the funds to the IRS. This second attempt to deliver the refund

through an alternative delivery method, which is a paper check mailed to the

taxpayer address of record (8100

Cantrell RD Apt 906), was made on April 21, 2015. On May 5, 2015 the cashier’s

check was returned to our office as “undeliverable”. Your Revdex.com complaint address has an apartment number

306. A second cashier’s check with a FedEx tracking number 638012460353 was

mailed out on May 14, 2015. We suggest you contact FedEx for further

information.

We thank you for the inquiry. If you have any

further concerns or questions regarding this complaint, please feel free to

contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Review: In using [redacted] preparation products I was required to use this third party bank when I chose to pay [redacted] fees directly from my refund amount. My return was sent to the bank I designated through direct deposit on 2/19/2015. IT was unfortunately declined due to name discrepancies and sent back to the party named in this complaint. I have been in contact with the [redacted] over the past several months since I have yet to receive my refund. They performed a trace on my refund and discovered the funds were still being held by this third party. I was never notified by the third party that they were in possession of my money. Not until I was finally informed by [redacted] to contact the third party did I learn that they had my money. When I contacted them they conveniently state that they returned my refund to the [redacted] on 4/15/15. I spoke with the [redacted] and the third party several times on 5/8/15. The [redacted] doe not have my money, they did not receive anything from this third party. The third party also took $45 from my refund without my permission as these were additional fees that were not necessary. I want this Bank to send. They still have it according to the [redacted]. The [redacted] is a Federal agency, this is not acceptable to me that a third party bank can just hold money indefinitely without notifying a customer.Desired Settlement: I want a paper check in the amount of my original refund amount of $619 less the originally agreed upon processing fees which equals $512. This needs to be sent to me by the third party bank. The [redacted] does not have my money.

Business

Response:

[redacted] St Box **

[redacted] ND [redacted]

Re: Case [redacted]

05.13.2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the

complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the RevDex.com of San Diego on May 8, 2015 regarding service issues

Upon review

of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared

through [redacted]. On February 18, 2015 the [redacted] funded your federal return;

fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees and an additional bank

deposit product fee. The balance was deposited to the account instructed on The

Citizens Banking Company Refund Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected the

funds and declared the account an R03 “No Account/Unable to Locate Account”. The funds were returned to TPG on February 20, 2015.

In regards to fees, TPG charges a commercially reasonable processing fee

to cover the expenses associated with reprocessing these items. Most banks

typically charge between $25 and $35 for return item fees. In this case, you

were charged a $20.00 reprocessing fee for the rejection of funds and an

additional legal processing fee of $25 to return funds back to the [redacted]. No

interest is earned on your deposit and your deposit is not being used by any

financial institution during the processing of your refund. This process along

with the associated fees is disclosed in 4 different sections of the [redacted]

RT application. Please review

the attached application and agreement for full disclosure.

TPG notifies the customer, through e-mail, at

the time of funding, that the refund has been received and will be deposited

into the bank account. The customer is

given TPG Web site and phone contact information if they have any questions or concerns.

TPG allows taxpayers the opportunity to correct their initial mistake and avoid

reprocessing until the item is reprocessed, which may be several days or

several weeks. Customers may utilize the

TPG website to change their account information. However, no attempt was ever made relating to your

account.

TPG has returned funds

associated with your tax return filing back to the Internal Revenue Service, specifically

the RICS/IVO Division of the [redacted] in Fresno, on April 15, 2015. The funds were

sent back electronically via the FMS [redacted] process. Please allow

approximately 8-12 weeks from the date for the [redacted] to acknowledge receipt of

funds. It is recommended that you contact the [redacted] at 800-829-1040 for further

details.

Please feel

free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm, if you

have any further questions or concerns regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Consumer

Response:

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.

Your response states that I did not make any attempt to contact you regarding my refund. I was unaware that my money had been returned to you. I was told on February 19, 2015 that the money was returned to the [redacted]. I have spent the last 3 months trying to track my money down and finally got an answer from [redacted] that you, TPG had my money. I do not give you permission to take additional fees from my money and demand that the $45 be returned to me. There is no returned check in this mess. Everything is digital. Everything was set for direct deposit. You as a business, a bank for that matter, should have notified me when my finds were in your possession again. I had no possible way of knowing. The only thing I agreed on was to pay the [redacted] fees out of my return. You have no sense of customer satisfaction.

Regards,

Business

Response:

[redacted]t Box **

[redacted] ND [redacted]

Re: Case [redacted]

May 14, 2015

Dear [redacted],

TPG notifies the customer, through e-mail, at

the time of funding (February 18, 2015), that the refund has been received and

will be deposited into the bank account.

This notification would have been sent to the email address on record. The

TPG Web site and phone contact information is provided in the notice.

You may contact your bank and provide them

with trace number [redacted] to discuss the rejection of funds. You were charged a $20.00 reprocessing

fee for the rejection of funds as directed in section 4 of The Citizens Banking

Company Refund Processing Agreement. An additional legal processing fee of $25 was

charged to return funds back to the [redacted]. The fees are disclosed in your online

agreement; please review the sample application attached for details.

The SAMPLE

screen shots provided will establish that our fees and references to the Bank

are adequately displayed on the [redacted] application for 2015 as required by

banking regulations to ensure the customer is fully aware of all bank fees. The

customer authorizes the deduction of fees upon selecting “I Agree” to the

Refund Transfer Application and Agreement. If the customer changes their mind,

they may select the “back” or “I Don’t Agree” button to return to the payment

options page. The customer is not obligated to select the bank product: they

may choose to pay via credit card. You may refer to the screen shots for

clarification.

Please understand

it is our obligation to investigate these matters thoroughly to ensure the

money is forwarded to the lawful owner. Because we were unable to obtain the

personal information from you in order to verify your identity, we couldn’t

proceed any further and a determination was made to return your funds to the

[redacted].

Funds are

routinely returned to the [redacted] after a certain time frame due to various factors

including, but not limited to, rejected deposits. We apologize for any

inconvenience this may have caused, but please allow adequate time for the

funds to be acknowledged and processed prior to contacting the [redacted] regarding

your refund status.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Review: I filed my taxes with Turbo Tax and elected to have Santa Barbara Tax Group to take the fees out of my federal refund. The IRS sent my refund on 2/6/2015 to this bank and 2 months later I still do not got my refund. I have called several times and still do not got my refund.Desired Settlement: I need my refund sent in the next 24hr from this notice.

Business

Response:

[redacted]

RE: Case [redacted]

04.8.2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com on April 1, 2015 regarding delivery issues.

In accordance with your contract, a temporary account was opened to receive and process your income tax refund and pay your tax preparation fees from your refund. The balance of your refund was disbursed to you by way of deposit into the account you designated, RTN: [redacted] / Heartland Bank & Trust Co. The balance was deposited on February 6, 2015. Please use trace number [redacted] to address this issue further with your bank. I called Heartland Bank & Trust and confirmed receipt of the deposit.

Please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday 8 am to 4 pm if you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

[redacted] Senior Compliance Analyst

I have been waiting on my refund check since it was mailed out to me on February 28. Not only was there an extra $35 dollars taken off of the check total they gave me. After faxing in the indemnity bond ( taxpayer) paperwork 3 times. I'm being told that they never got the paperwork. I got so stressed out by dealing with these people. I had a miscarriage & they told me to have my doctor FAX in the indemnity bond paperwork. I have never been treated so bad.

Review: I filed my taxes on [redacted].net - who uses this bank as an agent to collect their fee's from processed returns.

Wondering when I might receive my refund, I went to check on my return status. The federal government website indicated the return was processed and should be in my account no later than March 18.

I went to the Tax Products Group website, to see where in the process my return was, when to my surprise, I learned that the bank account number they had on file was off by one digit.

I called immediately and was told by the first rep, that all I had to do was update my account number with the correct # and the funds would be deposited in two days.

I checked two days later, and no deposit had been made. (The 20th)

I then checked Tax Products Group page, and saw no change, the payment of my return was still listed as being deposited to the wrong account.

I waited until today (3/23/15) to check again. Now 6 days from when this issue was discovered.

I was told that I would be given a letter of research that I am supposed to give to my bank, as proof that the transfer occurred, but this was only after requesting time and time again for some method of figuring out just where my money is.

Calling my bank, their rep says the account number (the incorrect one) doesn't exist and funds would been returned within 24 hours this was after I was transferred to a supervisor.

This person who called her self "Ruby a representative of their risk department", verbally berated me, cut me off mid sentence and was incredibly rude.

When I later called back, Ruby DENIED ever speaking to me.

This conversation was had while the TCF representative was on the phone with us. .

That's correct, you were rude to your customer when a third party was listening and attempting to help resolve this issue.

The lack of professionalism shown by Ruby is astounding.

In my career if I EVER treated a customer like that I would have been terminated immediately.Desired Settlement: I have never been in this type of situation before.

I have been in the financial sector for the last 15 years and I'd never EVER dream of treating someone this way.

I demand FULL payment of my tax return. NOW!

I'd also recommend that "Ruby" and the staff there at TPG take a few classes on customer service.

Business

Response:

RE: Case

03.27.2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed

against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com on

March 23, 2015 regarding service issues.

My sincere apologies, I agree that this

should not have happened, the information you were given should have been

consistent and process defined. I reviewed your case with the Manager and the

team in order to clarify procedures and provide further training. I appreciate

you bringing this to my attention and thank you for your input and feedback.

We have spoken on the phone, and are working

together as agreed in order to find resolution to your complaint.

Please

feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm if

you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst

Review: This bank is holding my money from the irs and would not return itDesired Settlement: I would like to have my money

Business

Response:

Re: Case[redacted]

03.17.2016

Dear [redacted],

This is in

response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to the

Revdex.com of San Diego on March 13, 2015 regarding advertising.

Please allow

me to explain the role of TPG in this matter and clarify the information

provided to you by Taxslayer.com. TPG, on behalf of the Bank, offers tax

related financial products through a network of tax preparation franchises,

independent tax professionals and online tax preparation providers such as

Taxslayer.com. These products provide the taxpayer a method of having their tax

preparation fees deducted from their tax refund without paying any

out-of-pocket costs. When your taxes were prepared through

Taxslayer.com, 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. The balance of the

refund is then disbursed to the taxpayer by way of deposit to an account

designated by the taxpayer.

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 “rejects” the transaction, and 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 reject

the funds.

Controls are

in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud. Before you can

make any changes to your original record, you are required to answer a few

questions which are meant to be difficult. You may even need your records to

answer them. They are used to ensure that nobody but you can change your

personal and confidential information. Because we were unable to obtain the

personal information from you in order to verify your identity, we couldn’t

proceed any further in our efforts. Please understand it is our obligation to

investigate these matters thoroughly to ensure the money is forwarded to the

lawful owner.

TPG has

returned your funds to the IRS. Please be advised that the IRS can take several

weeks before they acknowledge receipt and post to your account. It is

recommended that you contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 for further details.

A SAMPLE

online agreement has been attached for your review.

Please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday

through Friday 7 am to 3 pm, if you have any further questions or concerns

regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Review: I do not know where to begin with this "company". I had to call them 5 days in one day. First, the answering machine said they are open at 6 am pacific time (9 am in my time zone) but I called twice at 6:05 and 6:10 and the office was still closed. They are clearly professionals here. They can't even open their phone lines on time.

Then I spoke with 3 different people in order to resolve an issue with my refund and received 3 different responses:

Sarah- "We have no idea why your bank rejected the funds.You have to go online to change your account information yourself and they will deposit the funds in the right account."

Promptly after the call is over, I proceed with her directions. Unfortunately my account is now locked, although it was active less than half an hour ago. It suggests I call TPG again.

[redacted]- "We have no record of your account and the funds are being sent to the IRS"

Me-"I just spoke to Sarah and she told me you had all my information on file"

[redacted]- "Sorry, we can't do anything about that"

I give it a few minutes and decided to try again in case there was a glitch on the website (it is known to have issues). Unfortunately, my account is still locked. I decide to call back and see if I can speak to a manager but I guess they have no manager on duty. Instead Heather tells I have to wait two weeks and call her back to see what is going on.

TWO WEEKS! To find out if they can figure out what is going on!!! They have no clue what is happening in this company and they hire the least professional customer service staff. I am not sure why they even exist since they can't even tell you what is going on and how you can resolve.

I don't know why Turbo Tax even has a contract through this terrible company. In short, because of Tax Products Group, I will never use Turbo Tax. I would rather go with H&R Block or some other professional company.Desired Settlement: I would like for a Tax Products Group manager to call me and resolve the issue.

Business

Response:

Re: Case[redacted]

March 12, 2015

Dear [redacted],

This is in response to the complaint filed against Santa

Barbara Tax Products Group to the Revdex.com of San Diego on March

2, 2015 regarding your refund direct deposit.

Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was

chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 20, 2015

the IRS funded your federal return.Your Bank rejected the funds and declared

the account an R03 “no account/unable to locate account” and the funds were

returned to TPG on February 24, 2015.

TPG allows taxpayers the opportunity to correct their

initial mistake and avoid reprocessing until the item is received, which may be

several days or several weeks. TPG

offers a Web site where customers can change their account information. TPG

also notifies the customer, through e-mail, at the time of funding, that the

refund has been received and will be deposited into the bank account. The customer is given TPG Web site and phone

contact information if they have any questions or problems.

TPG has begun the process of returning your funds to the

IRS. This process can take up to 15 business days. Please be advised that once

we have returned funds to the IRS it can be several weeks before they

acknowledge receipt and post to your account. We apologize for this inconvenience,

but please understand it is our obligation to follow these procedures to ensure

the money is forwarded to the lawful owner.

Please feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday

through Friday 7 am to 4 pm, if you have any further questions or concerns

regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance Analyst

Review: I've been dealing with this company about my tax refund since 1/30/2015 and have received nothing but the run around. I spoke to and IRS agent this morning and was informed that they never sent my refund direct deposit and when I call they tell me something different each time. They are holding my refund to gain interest which is unethical and I am now in fear that my refund will be stolen. Also I've faxed information to verify no info and still nothing.Desired Settlement: Please re-issue check out direct deposit immediately!!

Business

Response:

RE:

Case [redacted]

03.03.2015

Dear

[redacted],

This

is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

to the Revdex.com on February 26, 2015 regarding wrong account

information.

Upon

review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were

prepared through JacksonHewitt.com. On January 29, 2015 the IRS funded your

federal return; fees were deducted to pay your JacksonHewitt.com user fees and

an additional Bank deposit product fee. The balance was deposited to the

account instructed on The Citizens Banking Company Refund Processing Agreement.

Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an R04 “invalid account

number”. The funds were returned to TPG on January 30, 2015. According to your

contract, TPG issued two Cashier’s Checks on February 2, 2015 and mailed them to

the address on record. On February 16, 2015 both checks where returned to our

office as “undeliverable”. Our regulators require that we follow Customer

Identification Program (CIP) and Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, which are

part of the statute of the USA Patriot Act. Once you were verified as the

lawful owner of the funds, your refund was released. Two Cashier’s Checks have

been reissued and mailed to you per our conversation on March 2, 2015.

Please

feel free to contact me at [redacted], Monday through Friday 7 am to 3 pm if

you have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint.

Respectfully,

Compliance

Analyst