Liberty Tax Service Does not inform you of all "Hidden Fee's" For netspend card! Internet

As an ex-franchisee, I always told my customers NOT to use the Netspend Card. When they would ship a box to our stores, they went right into the trash after being cut with scissors. Liberty Tax use to run contests to see how many we can get to use this garbage product. I refused to participate knowing the headaches.

You may find it interesting to know that besides the kickbacks Liberty Corporate would get from selling this product, the now own the MetaBank which this product is associated with. Liberty purchased it last year. So perhaps the kickbacks are much larger but the service is the same.

Liberty Tax should focus on service of tax preparation to the client IMHO. They have many lawsuits about hidden fees, racketeering, and an IRS and DOJ investigation regarding their sleazy sales tactics pending at this time. Check unhappyfranchisee as well as the head Investigator at the Raleigh NC IRS center named Jerry Arrington. This company has many problems and with reports like this they will not be growing. Thanks for letting the public know what franchisees are not allowed to say when they are under contract with what we describe as a cult-atmosphere rip off of an investment. Most owners pray for a way out of their franchise agreement. They recently has a product similar to the now dead Rapid Refunds. Now that he owns his own bank, he decided to have a product called ICA (Instant Cash Loans), however, it got shut down a few weeks ago for not disclosing hidden fees as well. The CEO is no longer showing he cares about tax preparation. He cares about every penny he can make over the top of the HIGH fees to charge to the poor in Jan and Feb for those who are emotional and need their money fast. One client paid $410 for a simple w2 and a form 8863 for school credit with one dependent. This was a Corporate owned store! Many more similar stories out there and their retention is down this year. All preparers know that lady required very few forms and a 10 minute job even with printing. The argument stands that Liberty does not charge by the form, they charge by how much the refund is and what they can get from you and will overide if you attempt to walk out or pull out a coupon to keep you in the door. The $50 cash they give you is added right on your invoice and it was suppose to be an even $50 but the Area Developers were instructed by John Hewitt to charge an extra $10 on top of it which is interest and acting as a bank. Their excuse was to make up for all the "non-pays" that get the free $50 and then Liberty does not get paid from the IRS if the client has back debt, school loans or child support that eats their entire refund. So basically everyone else pays a little extra to make up for other losses. That was not how the program was originally designed, they got greedy by each year. It has been a ridiculous growing problem with this Company and the CEO, John Hewitt as the "godfather of tax industry". He was fired from Block and from his own company Jackson Hewitt many years ago.

The correct way to get the status of your refund is to use irs.gov and click "where's my refund". Check it daily for updates by entering ssn, filing status and refund amount.

Do check all Liberty tax Complaints. They are also being looked at for possible leaking people's ssn to fraudsters in several states, yet they try to combat that with telling media they are the ones who turn people in with a tip off. How do people in Miami get hundreds of people's ssn from Liberty's previous client base in past years and suddenly their identity theft appears that someone has filed under their name, ssn and had their childrens name dob and ssn? Why does it always turn out that most are Liberty Tax clients? Not hard to see why the DOJ is involved with the investigation on several levels but that is not made public. They have a RICO case in South Carolina. They have just lost a California case for not disclosing fees with their bank products and the list goes on. This company is a scam and the franchisees are in the middle of devastation handed down by the franchisor, John Hewitt which makes the owners very broke and powerless. Franchisees do not profit. They are promised to get to sell their stores for the equity they build but that is false dreams after they get about 5-7 years of free labor from owners.

-Just saying...Thanks for bringing awareness to the fact that they sell horrible products with no concern for anyone. A walmart money card has a routing and account number and why not endorse them since they now have kiosk offices in many Walmarts? Just greed, pure greed.

We would appreciate the opportunity to assist you with these fees.  Please provide send your information to feedback@netspend.com and we will look into this for you.

Thank you,
NetSpend