Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

April 11,
*** ** ***
*** *** **
*** ** ***
class="MsoNormal">Dear Ms** ***,
This is in response to your complaint filed again** Santa
Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the Revdex.com on April 3,
In your complaint, you stated that after filing your
tax return, there was an issue with your account numberYou spoke with TPG’s
representatives regarding the status of your refund after it was rejectedYou
were given different time frames for when to expect your tax refund but still
was unable to receive it
In the scenario described in your complaint, you have chosen
a do-it-yourself (DIY) tax preparation software package such as Intuit’s
popular TurboTax productIf a taxpayer enters a bank account that will not
accept the refund deposit, the transaction is rejected by the receiving bank
Often time this occurs because the taxpayer has entered incorrect bank account
information or the account is closedIn 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 fundsOnce
TPG receives the rejected refund, the company has the option of making a second
attempt to disburse funds to the customer or simply return the funds to the
IRS
TPG mailed your tax refund as a Cashier’s Check after the
transaction was rejected by your financial institutionYou were asked to wait
up to business days for the check to reach you per banking requirementsUnfortunately,
you did not receive the checkAfter the days, you were asked to fill out an
Indemnity Bond to authorize TPG to stop payment on the original check and to allow
TPG to reissue a new Cashier’s Check
TPG received the Indemnity Bond and reissued a new Cashier’s
CheckAs a courtesy, TPG also remitted the $reprocessing feeOn April 7, both
checks were mailed to your address on recordPlease allow up to days for
your checks to reach you
Thank you for taking the time to communicate to us why our
service did not meet your expectationsIf you have any other questions or
concerns, please feel free to contact me at 877-908-7228, Monday through
Friday, 7am to 4pm
Sincerely,
*** ***
Compliance Analyst

*** ***
** *** ***
*** *** *** **
***
RE: Case ***
Dear R*** ***,
This letter is
in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group to
the Revdex.com on March 6, regarding service issues
In accordance
with your online contract, a temporary account was opened to receive and
process your income tax refund and pay your tax preparation fees from your
refundUpon review of your record, The IRS funded your federal return on
February 24,
Controls are
in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraudWe requested
forms of identification based on these controlsYour statement on the
complaint confirms this event
IRS has
requested your refund to be returned back to them for further evaluationTPG
has begun the process of returning your funds to the IRSThis process can take
up to business daysPlease be advised that once we have returned funds to
the IRS it can be several weeks before they acknowledge receipt and post to
your accountWe 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
It is
recommended that you contact the IRS at 800-829-for further detailed
information
Please feel
free to contact me at ***, Monday through Friday am to pm if you
have any further concerns or questions regarding this complaint
Respectfully,
*** ***
Compliance
Analyst

February 24, 2016
*** ***
*** ** *** *** ***
*** ** ***
class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Dear Ms***,
This is in response to your complaint against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group
(TPG) through the Revdex.com on February 16,
Your complaint stated that you filed your taxes on
January but since then have not received your refundYou had contacted TPG
on February to find more information about your refund and why it was
initially rejected
Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was
chosen when your taxes were prepared through *** ***. On February 9, the IRS funded your
federal return; fees were deducted to pay your *** *** user fees and an
additional Bank processing fee for the RTThe balance was deposited to the
account instructed on the *** *** Refund Processing Agreement. Your financial institution rejected the funds
and declared the account an R03/ “No Account/Unable to locate account”. You may contact your financial institution
and provide them with trace number: *** for further details
regarding the rejection of fundsThe funds were returned to TPG on February 11,
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 closedIn these cases the receiving bank
“rejects” the transaction, and returns the funds to the sender, in this case
TPGTPG has nothing to do with incorrect account information entered by the
taxpayer or the receiving bank’s decision to reject the fundsOnce TPG
receives the rejected refund, the company has the option of making another
attempt to disburse funds to the customer or simply returning the funds to the
IRS
TPG was able to verify your information and
release the hold on your accountOn February 20, TPG issued a check for your
refund and mailed it to your address on recordPlease allow up to days for
the check to reach your address
Sincerely,
*** ***
Compliance Analyst

February 18,
*** ***
*** ** *** *** *** *
*** *** ** ***
Dear Mr***,
This is in response to your complaint filed
against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) through the RevDex.com on February 12,
Your complaint
stated that you were unable to
receive adequate answers regarding the hold on your accountYou also stated
that you had an unpleasant encounter with one of TPG’s Customer Service agents
Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was
chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On February 9, the IRS funded your
federal return. Your bank rejected the
funds and declared the account “No Account / Unable to Locate Account”. You may contact your bank and provide them
with trace number: *** for further details regarding the rejection
of funds.
If a taxpayer enters a bank account that will not
accept the refund, the transaction is rejected by the receiving bankOften
times this occurs because the taxpayer has entered the wrong account
information or the account is closedIn these cases, the receiving bank
“rejects” the transaction, and returns the funds to the sender, in this case,
TPGOn February 18, the rejected funds were reprocessed and converted
into a checkThe check will be issued within the next hoursPlease allow
up to days for the check to be received at your address of record
On behalf of TPG, I would like to formally
apologize for the manner in which your inquiry was handled by our Customer
Service agentsThe customer agent you named has been reminded of their
obligation to always process customer inquiries in a respectful manner
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel
free to contact me at ***, Monday through Friday, 7am to 4pm
Sincerely,
*** ***
Compliance Analyst

Santa Barbra Tax Group is saying that they contacted me about my account being on holdThis is falseI never got an email from themI had the IRS trace were the check was sent toAll my identity was verified with the IRS and Turbo TaxThis is hold of the Federal Return check is happening to just not me They hold up the money to collect interested. SBTG is only suppose to take the Turbo Tax Fee

Maryanne
[redacted]
 
Re: Case [redacted]
 
September 22, 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 September 18, 2015...

regarding
service issues
 
Upon
review of your record, a Refund Transfer (RT) was chosen when your taxes were
prepared through Turbo Tax. 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 [redacted] Company Refund Processing Agreement. Your Bank rejected
the funds and declared the account an R02 “Account Closed”. The funds were returned to TPG on April 23, 2015.
 
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, was returned to our office on June 5, 2015 as “undeliverable”.
 
No interest is earned on your deposit and
your deposit is not being used by any financial institution during the
processing of your refund. Since we could not proceed any further in our
efforts, 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 June 11, 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 thank
you for the inquiry. If you have any further concerns or questions regarding
this complaint, please feel free to contact me at 877-[redacted], Monday through
Friday 7 am to 3 pm.
 
 
Respectfully,
 
 
[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 April 16, 2018.   To give you some background information and help you appreciate our role in your complaint, we would like to explain...

TPG’s relationship with [redacted] Bank (Bank). TPG is a third-party processor for the Bank. Through this relationship, [redacted] can offer tax products which are sold through TPG through independent tax professionals and online tax preparation services. The product you have used through TPG, called a “Refund Transfer”, allowed you to pay for your tax preparation fees and RT processing fee directly out of your tax refund. This service is optional. This saved you the difficulty of paying these fees upfront to the software provider.   In the complaint received, you state there have been issues regarding the receipt of you refund. You believe this is a scam and TPG is holding on to your refund to receive additional payments. To resolve your issue, you would like your refund without additional fees.   To help you understand our process we have listed out the events associated with your account as follows: According to our records, on March 21, 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 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.  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 26, 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 April 10, 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 April 17, 2018, TPG received your submission. Unfortunately, TPG was not able to validate and authenticate the documentation received and you were asked to resubmit. On April 20, 2018, as a courtesy, your case was escalated to TPG’s Risk Department to conduct a manual review. At that time, TPG was able to validate your identity, released the account hold and began the process to disburse funds via direct deposit to the account designated on your return. Please allow 48 hours for your financial institution to receive and post to your account.   TPG is very sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced. TPG has provided the service which we were contracted to provide per the online agreement. You electronically agreed to these governing terms and conditions through the software application, therefore we must deny the reimbursement of the RT fee. 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

March 7, 2017 [redacted] Dear Mr. [redacted], We are writing in regards to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against [redacted]) on February 28, 2017. Your account was placed through enhanced due diligence at [redacted] to protect your account from fraud.  Please understand that as a financial services business we are required to perform reasonable monitoring procedures to ensure fraud, such as ID theft, has not occurred through our business processes. Certain factors in your tax return caused your account to be flagged as potentially suspicious.  [redacted] notifies the customer, through email, before funding, in order to process authentication and allow the refund to be deposited into the account once it is funded by the IRS without any further delays. We do apologize if you did not receive this email. We appreciate your patience in regards to our process of verification and releasing holds. According to our records, as of March 3, 2017, [redacted] validated your identification and issued a direct deposit to the account on file. [redacted] performed 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, but as a courtesy to you, [redacted] decided to reimburse you the Refund Transfer fee. Once again, we are very sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced. Please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, [redacted] is required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact [redacted] at [redacted], Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST), or you may utilize our live customer support chat by logging onto https://help.sb[redacted].com/hc/en-us/requests/new, Monday through Friday between 6:00am to 6:00pm (PST).   Respectfully, [redacted]

Dear [redacted], This letter is in response to the complaint filed against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group through the Revdex.com on May 25, 2017. On behalf of TPG, I would like to apologize for any trouble or inconvenience you may have experienced with receiving your refund. Customer service is an extreme priority for us. In this case, TPG attempted to send your refund to the account listed on your 2016 Tax Return. 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. As we previously explained, there was a discrepancy between the account number listed on your 2015 return versus the one submitted for 2016. There is a “1” listed in the beginning of your 2015 tax return where your refund successfully deposited, whereas it is missing this year for 2016 return. This may be the reason your financial institution rejected the deposit as “unable to locate account”. Since TPG’s first attempt to make a deposit was rejected by your financial institution we had the option to make a second attempt to disburse your funds. Please reference the client letter and RT Application and Agreement sent to the address on record on May 31, 2017 for account designation, tracking and contact information for the ACH Department at [redacted] to confirm details regarding this rejection. On April 27, 2017, TPG delivered your refund, minus applicable software and RT fee, through an alternative delivery method, which was a paper check. As of May 24, 2017, TPG has record that the check was negotiated at a financial institution. As a courtesy to you, on May 31, 2017, TPG mailed a $20 refund in the form of a check to the address on record. Please allow up to 10 business days to receive your check. If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact TPG at 877­-908-7228, Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST). Sincerely, [redacted] Compliance Analyst

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

[redacted] to file your
taxes, you expected your refund to be deposited by February 9. Once you contacted
your bank, you were told to contact TPG. Unfortunately, you were unable to get
in contact with a representative at TPG to learn more about your account.
TPG contacted the receiving bank, [redacted] and spoke to a representative, who confirmed that the saving
accounts changed from letter specific (SX) to a different account number as of
September 2015.  He stated that all
account holders were notified in writing of this change. 
When your funds were directed to this account they should
have been immediately rejected, however per your TPG account status, no funds
have been received back at TPG. [redacted] representative, requested
that you personally call the Bank to locate your funds. Please contact your
Bank’s ACH Department at [redacted] and follow the prompts to reach a live
agent to receive resolution.  Use
tracking number: [redacted], deposit date of 2/9/16, and amount $2534.19
to help assist them in locating the ACH deposit. If you are having an issue
resolving your case directly with your bank, please feel free to contact me so
that I can assist in providing any additional details they may need via conference
call with all three parties. 
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

February 24, 2016 
[redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted],
This is in response to your complaint against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group
(TPG) through the Revdex.com on February 16, 2016.
Your complaint stated that...

you filed your taxes on
January 24 but since then have not received your refund. You had contacted TPG
on February 16 to find more information about your refund and why it was
initially rejected.
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; 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.  Your financial institution rejected the funds
and declared the account an R03/ “No Account/Unable to locate account”.  You may contact your financial institution
and provide them with trace number: [redacted] for further details
regarding the rejection of funds. The funds were returned to TPG on February 11,
2016.
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. Once TPG
receives the rejected refund, the company has the option of making another
attempt to disburse funds to the customer or simply returning the funds to the
IRS.
TPG was able to verify your information and
release the hold on your account. On February 20, TPG issued a check for your
refund and mailed it to your address on record. Please allow up to 7 days for
the check to reach your address.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Compliance Analyst

[redacted]
 
RE:
     Case [redacted]
 
August 12, 2015
 
Dear
[redacted],
 
This is in response to the complaint filed
against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) to the Revdex.com on
August 9, 2015 in...

regards to service issues.
 
Upon review of your record, a Refund Transfer
(RT) was chosen when your taxes were prepared through Turbo Tax. On March 13,
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 Sunrise Banks N.A. Refund Processing
Agreement. Your Bank rejected the funds and declared the account an R03 “No
Account / Unable to Locate Account”. Funds were returned to TPG on March 18,
2015.
 
TPG
has nothing to with incorrect account information entered by the taxpayer or
the receiving bank’s decision to reject the funds. 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 is
a paper check mailed to the taxpayer address of record. The address provided to
the Revdex.com is different than the address designated upon filing. Our attempt to
deliver the cashier’s check on March 18, 2015 was returned on April 13, 2015  to our office as “undeliverable”.
 
Since
we could not proceed any further in our efforts, TPG returned your funds to the
IRS on May 1, 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. 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
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,
 
 
[redacted]
[redacted]
Compliance
Analyst

Below is my rebuttal statement to TPG w/attached documents:The IRS has been contacted several times since 5/1/2015 and as of today's date has no record of receipt from TPG of my refund return.  It has been 16 weeks well over the estimated 12 weeks stated by TPG and the IRS has not received my funds back from TPG.TPG has stated they are not responsible for incorrect account information, however, I contacted them several times prior to 5/1/15 and my address was corrected and reported to them yet they refused to re-mail my check using the correct information claiming they were unable to do that yet  they managed to mail me a letter instead!  As a result of their refusal to re-mail my check to the corrected address, additional charges were incurred needlessly to send my funds back to the IRS and to add insult the funds have been delayed in delivery an additional 16 weeks as of today's date.  The letter mailed me is attached claiming TPG deposited my funds electronically to the IRS on 5/1/2015.  Therefore, that is why I am requesting that TPG refund any and all fees for their inability to deliver my funds to me as stated.  Also, I am requesting TPG provide me with a batch number or check number of the electronic deposit they claim was sent to the IRS on 5/1/15 that allegedly includes my funds.  I will need to provide this information to the IRS in order for them to effectively investigate if said funds were ever sent by TPG.  Sincerely,[redacted]cc:Revdex.com and [redacted] M. [redacted]

Revdex.com:
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.  As a note, I would ask TPG to consider the information given out on their website versus the information given out by customer service representatives. For example, their website said a check had been printed and mailed out to me on Feb 3, 2016. However, in speaking with 3 different customer service representatives, I was told there was a delay in printing the checks - this was on Feb 4 and Feb 5, 2016. No one knew what the delay was, which would've been helpful to know so that we as customers could have a better understanding. The first representative I spoke with actually told me that the IRS was trying to get a hold of me by phone to verify my bank information. I knew that could not be true because the IRS does not call people for information, especially financial information. I do know that TPG has no control over the direct deposit procedures of my bank. And that is not my complaint. The nature of my complaint has to do with the information given out on the website that wasn't true as well as customer service reps not being able to tell customers what the delay was about in printing and mailing checks. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.Regards,
[redacted]

February 22, 2017 [redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted], [redacted] Dear Miss [redacted], We are writing in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on February 14, 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] 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, 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 we received, it was stated that there were issues surrounding the receipt of your tax refund. Additionally, it was mentioned that you were unaware of your agreement with TPG when you filed with [redacted] Tax. To address your complaint we have listed the timeline of events below: According to our records, on February 11, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted]. This means that you utilized tax software to prepare your tax return and elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. Due to certain fraud filters, your account was placed on hold on February 11, 2017. Please keep in mind that this hold was placed before the IRS funds your return. To elaborate, as of February 17, 2017, the IRS is still in possession of your refund. However, once the IRS releases it to TPG, the funds are deposited in a non-interest bearing account where the hold on your account will remain in effect. In order for his hold to be released, we must first verify your identity. You may submit your valid government issued photo ID at [redacted]. The enhanced due diligence is part of routine audits we undertake in cooperation with the IRS, funds are held in order to verify the identity of each record holder and request the necessary documentation to confirm the tax return in question before releasing any funds.  These controls are in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud. Please understand that when TPG places a hold on the account it is for the benefit of the customer as it allows TPG to verify their identity, remove the hold from the account and release the funds to the lawful owner. TPG notifies the customer, through email, before funding, in order to process authentication and allow the refund to be deposited into the account once it is funded by the IRS without any further delays. It is the industry standard to reject the transaction which cannot be authenticated and return it to the originator, in this case the IRS. If the funds were returned directly to the IRS, the refund would be delayed for an extended period of time. TPG is providing the service which we were contracted to provide in deducting the applicable fees and depositing the funds into the account which you directed on the online agreement; therefore, we must deny your request for your fee reimbursement. Please reference the enclosed Refund Transfer Application and Agreement sent to you via USPS. We are very sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced. Please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, TPG is required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact TPG at [redacted], Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST), or you may utilize our live customer support chat by logging onto [redacted], Monday through Friday between 6:00am to 6:00pm (PST).   Respectfully,Santa Barbara Tax Products Grouo

February 27, 2017           
[redacted]
[redacted] Dear [redacted], We are writing in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products...

Group (TPG) on February 18, 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. In the complaint received, it was stated that there were problems surrounding the receipt of your tax refund as well as issues contacting customer service at TPG. To address your complaint, we have listed the timeline of the events below: According to our records, on January 31, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted]. This means that you utilized tax software to prepare your tax return and elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. TPG received the data file and no monies were transferred. Due to certain fraud filters, your account was placed on hold in a non­interest bearing account for additional verification. On February 14, 2017 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees and an additional Bank processing fee for the RT. On February 18, 2017, TPG was able to validate your identification and the hold on your account was lifted. On the same date, funds were sent out via ACH as directed by the RT application from [redacted]. As of February 21, 2017, your financial institution rejected the funds and declared the account a R03 / “NO account/Unable to Locate Account”. TPG verified this information with [redacted]. Please contact [redacted] at [redacted] and provide them with trace number enclosed in your personal detailed letter for further details regarding the rejection of funds. The funds were returned to TPG and a Cashier’s Check was issued on February 25, 2017. TPG mailed the check on February 27, 2017.     The enhanced due diligence is part of routine audits we undertake in cooperation with the IRS, funds are held in order to verify the identity of each record holder and request the necessary documentation to confirm the tax return in question before releasing any funds.  These controls are in place to protect our customers from identity theft and fraud. It is the industry standard to reject transactions which cannot be authenticated and return them to the originator, in this case the IRS. If the funds were returned directly to the IRS, the refund would be delayed for an extended period of time. Please understand that when TPG places a hold on the account it is for the benefit of the customer as it allows TPG to verify their identity, remove the hold from the account and release the funds to the lawful owner. TPG notifies the customer, through email, before funding, in order to process authentication and allow the refund to be deposited into the account once it is funded by the IRS without any further delays. We do apologize if you did not receive this email. Per our phone call discussion, details of the hold were explained, confirmation was communicated that your identity was verified, and the hold on your account has been released. The refund was disbursed as a bank printed check on February 27, 2017. 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 other questions or concerns, please feel free to contact TPG at 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST). Respectfully, Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

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

that you after filing your taxes, you
learned that your refund was rejected due to an issue with your [redacted]
account. After contacting the IRS, they explained that it will take 8-10 days
for [redacted] to send you a new check. It wasn’t until February 19, you learned that
your refund was processed through TPG. After uploading your identification, you
still haven’t received your return.
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 2,
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 [redacted], We are writing in response to your complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 16, 2017. TPG understands your frustration with our verification process. We are very sorry for any inconvenience you have experienced. Please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, TPG is required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. According to our records, on February 7, 2017, you were sent an email to the address on record to inform you of a hold placed on your account. TPG notifies the customer via email on how to release account holds. We notify the customer before funds are received from the IRS to allow the customer enough time to upload an ID before the money is received from the IRS.  In most cases, customers are able to release their account hold before any funds are received from the IRS and they have no delay to receipt of their funds.  We do apologize if you did not receive this email. On February 22, 2017, TPG received payment related to your 2016 federal tax refund. These funds were held in a non-­interest bearing account for additional verification. On March 10, 2017, TPG was able to validate your identification and released the account hold. On that same day, TPG deducted the Turbo Tax software fees and the RT fee and made a payment to the account indicated on your tax return. 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. Sincerely, [redacted] Compliance Analyst

March 3, 2017 [redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
Dear [redacted], We are writing in response to a complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on February 28, 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 February 13, 2017, TPG received your electronic filing record from [redacted]. This means that you utilized tax software to prepare your tax return and elected to initiate a Refund Transfer to pay your software fees. TPG received the data file and no monies were transferred. Due to certain fraud filters, your account was placed on hold in a non­interest bearing account for additional verification. On February 22, 2017 the IRS funded your federal return; fees were deducted to pay your [redacted] user fees and an additional Bank processing fee for the RT. To remove an account hold, we ask customers to simply provide us a copy of their unexpired government issued identification, such as a driver’s license or passport. This allows us to verify your identity and remove the hold from your account. On March 1, 2017, TPG was able to validate your identification and released the account hold. Your account was placed through enhanced due diligence at TPG to protect your account from fraud.  Please understand that as a financial services business we are required to perform reasonable monitoring procedures to ensure fraud, such as ID theft, has not occurred through our business processes. Certain factors in your tax return caused your account to be flagged as potentially suspicious. We are very sorry for any inconvenience you may have experienced, but please understand that with the heightened fraud in the tax industry, TPG is required to set up processes to protect our clients and help limit identity theft. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact TPG at 877­908­7228, Monday through Friday between 7:00am to 4:00pm (PST), or you may utilize our live customer support chat by logging onto https://help.sbtpg.com/hc/en-us/requests/new, Monday through Friday between 6:00am to 6:00pm (PST).   Respectfully, Santa Barbara Tax Products Group

Dear [redacted], We are writing in response to your complaint filed through the Revdex.com against Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) on March 10, 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 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, 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. To help you understand our process we have listed out the events associated with your account as follows:  ·        According to our records, on February 7, 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.·        Certain factors in your tax return caused your account to be flagged as potentially suspicious.  Therefore, 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. 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 7, 2017, you were sent an email to the address on record to inform you of the account hold. This email gave instructions on how to release the hold. ·        On February 22, 2017, TPG received payment related to your 2016 federal tax refund. ·        On March 10, 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 detail client letter sent to the address on record for 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 877-908-7228, Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. Sincerely, [redacted] Compliance Analyst