<body><p><em>RALs are high-cost loans on  tax refunds targeted at low-income families.</em></p>
<p>Refund Anticipation Loans  drain the assets of those least able to afford high fees. What's more, most  RALs go hand in hand with the Earned Income Tax Credit. The EITC is an  excellent program, but RALs thwart its inspired and well-implemented mission to  reward work and support low-income households.<br />
<p>&nbsp; </p>
<h3>Fast Cash, Less Filling: Refund Anticipation  Loans in North Carolina</h3>
<p> <strong>March  24, 2009:</strong> This report documents  the impact of RALs in North Carolina. We show the most affected zip codes in  the state, the communities with the highest rates of RAL usage (both in terms  of all residents and low-income households), as well as the impact of the EITC.  Our paper includes a set of easily actionable policy ideas that would alter the  scourge of RALs in our state.</p>
<p>Read the <a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/2009%20NC%20RAL%20report%20Fast%20Cash%20Less%20Filling.pdf">full  report here</a>.</p>
<p>Read the <a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/Fast%20Cash%20Executive%20Summary.pdf">Executive Summary here</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp; </p>
<h3>More CRA-NC research on RALs:</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/Mystery%20RAL%20Shopper%20Report%20final2.pdf">Mystery Shopper Test Exposes Refund Anticipation Loan Abuses in Durham and Philadelphia </a>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/2006%20RALReport.pdf">2006 RAL Report</a>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/2010%20ral.pdf">2009 RAL Report</a>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/2010RALSfinal.pdf">2010 RAL Report</a>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/CRANC%20FINAL%20Comment%20Letter%20on%20RALs.pdf">CRANC Comment Letter<br /></a>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/LMIrals.pdf">RAL Usage prevalent in Low Income Zones (MAP)</a>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/raloffices.pdf">Refund Anticipation Loan Offices in North Carolina (MAP)</a>
<li><a href="http://www.cra-nc.org/files/Download/RALminority.pdf">RAL Usage Often Highest in Minority Zip Codes (MAP)</a>
</li></ul>
<p>&nbsp; </p>
<h3>Latest News on RALs</h3>
<p><strong>JP Morgan Chase</strong> exited the refund anticipation loan (RAL) business this  spring.Chase supplied refund anticipation loans to approximately 13,000  independent tax prep firms. Junk fees, where the tax preparer adds their own  additional charges on to the price of the RAL itself, mean that those consumers  pay a high price to file their taxes. Chase' partners included Mo' Money Taxes.  </p>
<p>CRA-NC's advocacy ultimately led the North  Carolina Attorney General to force <strong>Mo' Money</strong> to  withdraw their refund anticipation loan license. </p>
<p>The OCC asked <strong>Pacific Capital</strong>  to cease its funding for refund loans in January 2010.</p> 
<p><strong>The EITC, often sapped by RALs,  can be an effective means for savings. </strong>CRA-NC  supports the <a href="http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=157853,00.html">split  refund</a>, a new rule by the IRS that allows filers to allocate portions of  their refund to different accounts. </p>
<p><strong>Deceptive Marketing: </strong>Would you get  medical advice from a baseball player? No! <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/jackson-hewitt-teams-up-earvin/story.aspx?guid=%7BE4E8E9AE-55AC-4CDD-936E-D7373A0B242D%7D">Don't  let a basketball player</a> tell you where to get your taxes done. Especially  if that player is <a href="http://www.bloggingbuyouts.com/2007/09/05/magic-johnson-joins-fight-against-higher-taxes-on-private-equity/">more  worried about tax treatment</a> on<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1632222220080416"> his  hedge fund investing</a>. </p>
<p><strong>TARP funding for RALs?</strong></p>
<a href="http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/01/bailout-money-b.html">MSNBC calls out Pacific Capital Bancorp (PCBC)</a>, having found that <a href="http://thisismyhomebook.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/bank-using-tarp-money-for-refund-anticipation-loans/">TARP funds will provide liquidity for its Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs)</a> </p>
<p>&nbsp; </p>
<p><h3>Our partners in the fight:</h3>
  <table width="747" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td width="396" align="left" valign="top"><ul>
          <li><a href="http://www.consumerlaw.org/">National Consumer Law Center</a>
          <br /><br />
         <li> <a href="http://www.ncjustice.org/"> NC Justice and Community Development Center</a>
          <br /><br />
          <li><a href="http://www.affil.org/">Americans for Fairness in Lending</a> 
          <br /><br />
          <li><a href="http://www.calreinvest.org/">California Reinvestment Coalition</a>   
          <br /><br />                
        <li><a href="http://www.ncidacollaborative.org/">The IDA and Asset Building Collaborative of North Carolina</a> </td>
        <td width="37" align="left" valign="top">&nbsp;</td>
  <td width="314" align="left" valign="top"><div>
            <ul>
<li><a href="http://www.eitc-carolinas.org/">EITC Carolinas</a>
          <br /><br />
          <li><a href="http://carolinajustice.typepad.com/ncnaacp/">NC NAACP</a>
          <br /><br />
          <li><a href="http://www.nclabor.com/">North Carolina Department of Labor</a>
          <br /><br />
          <li><a href="http://www.ci.durham.nc.us/">The City of Durham</a><br />
<br />
          <li><a href="http://www.co.durham.nc.us/">The County of Durham</a>
      </tr>
  </table>