Spike Lee Would Be Proud: H & R Block "Does the Right Thing" on Tax Anticipation Loans

H & R Block announced that they were implementing a plan to provide greater disclosure relating to tax-related debt and the cost of tax refund anticipation loans. Additionally, they announced that a new H & R Block Master Card could be used to reduce costs of tax anticipation loans. Specific items implemented will be a "debt alert" which would indicate to potential refund loan clients the impact of prior tax debt and tax preparation fees, a comparison chart indicating filing options, fees and anticipated time to receipt of refund and a H & R Block Advantage Report providing tax, banking and government benefits information.

I have criticized H & R Block several times over the past year. In this case, however, there is absolutely nothing "blockheaded" about this announcement--unless you count the dubious statement by an H & R Block spokeswoman that the changes were not inspired by litigation.