How Our Tax Return Ruined Our Family Vacation
In January of 2010 my husband and I found out that we were expecting our second child. We knew big things were coming that Summer and decided to take a family vacation before the birth of baby number 2. Texas was on our mind, so we started to make plans for our trip.
January seemed to be perfect timing for the news. Baby was coming in the Summer, it was early enough to get some awesome sale prices for the Spring and we had planned to get our tax return back just in time to pay for it.
But it didn’t work out that way. We filed our tax return as quickly as possible and were told that our refund would be back in a matter of 2-3 weeks. So I thought everything was great and went home to plan our family vacation. A baby was coming and we knew that if we wanted to have a vacation then getting sales on travel and lodging was a must.
Weeks went by and we were getting antsy as our tax return still hadn’t arrived. Each day went by and I was getting nervous that we would not get our family vacation booked in time to get the early bird discounts.
Then we found out that our tax return was lost in the mail. I don’t know how many calls we made to try and get things resolved, it was so frustrating! If only we had known about other options to get our tax return back, like loading our money onto a Visa Prepaid card. If we would have chosen that option then the funds would have automatically been loaded and the money would have been in our hands.
Beauty of hindsight right?
We did make it down to Texas, but due to the delay in receiving our tax refund our trip was cut short and we definitely didn’t save the money that I wanted to.
This was definitely an experience that changed the way we file our taxes. A Visa Prepaid card makes it so much faster and easier to get the money back into our hands.
Using a Visa Prepaid card is a great way to get your tax refund back in a hassle free way. Not only is your refund loaded directly onto the Visa Prepaid card, Visa has a zero liability policy that makes sure your refund is safe, even if your Visa Prepaid card is lost or stolen.
How to use a Visa Prepaid card for your tax refund:
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I am blogging on behalf of Visa Prepaid and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Discover more at http://www.VisaPrepaid.com or join the Visa Prepaid community at http://www.facebook.com/VisaPrepaid.
I didn’t know that was an option. It’s one I’ll be considering for my taxes this year. Does it cost to have it done that way?
Filing online and having Direct Deposit works well for me. No fees.
Yes, as other commenters said previously – do direct deposit next time and avoid the fees!
Thanks. I’ve thought about using the prepaid card refund but I always like getting the checks and depositing them in my account but I’m scared that what happened to you would happen to me now so I’ll definately do the card load option since I have a baby now and can’t afford to not have that extra tax money in my hands asap. Thanks for sharing & I also entered the visa prepaid game, wish me luck! :)
I really don’t handle the tax stuff but this seems like a great option as long as it doesn’t cost too much extra. Thanks for the info, I’ll pass it onto the boss (my wife)!
That’s one reason why we always do direct deposit. :)
taxes can be so great, but also a nightmare! thanks for sharing your story!
Why not just have it direct deposited??? I got the Visa Card 1 year when I filed my taxes and I will NEVER do that again! The fees that they charge are crazy outrageous! And, why would anyone mail in their return? I use turbo tax every year, e-file and have my refund directly deposited into my bank account. Cost me less than $100, and my money is always available in less than 10 days. The 1 time I chose the Visa card, I spent about $250 in fees.
I had no clue that option existed! Nice to know! Glad you made it to Texas anyway… a pre-baby vaca is always called for!