Banking & Credit

Consumers at Risk from Tax-Time Financial Products and Unregulated Preparers

The tax-time financial products market is evolving after the departure of bank RALs. Tens of millions of taxpayers continue to be sold RACs, which can be subject to significant add-on fees and may represent a high-cost loan of the tax preparation fee. A few payday lenders and other non-bank businesses are making non-bank RALs, which may be more expensive but are also far less prevalent.