Green Dot Announces Tax Return Promotions Including Free Refund Advance
Green Dot and subsidiary Santa Barbara Tax Products Group (TPG) have announced a pair of promotions to make this time of year less taxing on consumers while helping independent tax preparers get more customers coming through their doors. One of the promotions involves up to a $750 free advance toward consumers’ tax returns.
Tax promotions are nothing new for Green Dot, but offering an advance is. Partnering with 1st Money Center Inc., TPG’s new PreFUND program offers taxpayers a free advance loan of up to $750 the day they file their returns at participating tax refund locations. The loan is loaded onto a Green Dot prepaid card and the taxpayer then chooses how to receive the remaining refund, such as on the Green Dot card, direct deposit to another account, check or by using Walmart Direct2Cash, which enables customers to receive refunds up to $7,500 in cash at Walmart stores.
Although PreFUND advance proceeds are loaded onto a Green Dot card, the card is not involved in the repayment of the advance, according to Green Dot. The advance is paid off from the refund before the refund balance is loaded on the card or other disbursement option chosen by the taxpayer. Also, PreFUND is a non-recourse advance; if the refund is less than the advance, the taxpayer is not responsible for paying.
In addition to offering an advance on federal tax returns, Green Dot is holding a sweepstakes in which Green Dot will double one consumer’s federal tax refund up to $15,000 if the refund is directly deposited onto a Green Dot prepaid card. Consumers can earn nine additional chances to win the grand prize by making cash reloads or direct deposits of $10 or more per load, excluding reload fees. The promotion goes through April 29.
“We wanted to offer tax-time products and promotions both through TPG’s network of tax preparers to help them grow their businesses and direct to our Green Dot GPR customers who may file their returns themselves or via preparers not using TPG’s services,” Brian Schmidt, TPG’s chief legal officer, tells Pay News.
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