Rapid refunds target Indians in Montana, South Dakota

Thursday, March 15, 2007  

Indians in Montana and the Dakotas take out high-interest tax refund loans far more often the non-Indians, an analysis by Gannett News Service shows.

On Montana's seven reservations, an average of 21 percent took out the "rapid refund" loans. But the state average is only 8 percent.

The four counties with the highest tax refund loan rates in the nation were on or near reservations in North Dakota and South Dakota. On the Pine Ridge Reservation, 62 percent owed money on their tax refunds.

"What does that tell you? We're targeted," Rodney Bordeaux, the president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, told Gannett.

The loans promise people a quick return on their anticipated IRS refunds. But they come with high interest rates

Get the Story:
Tax refund anticipation loans prevalent on Indian reservations (Gannett News Service 3/14)

$rl National Consumer Law Center - http://www.consumerlaw.org
Internal Revenue Service - http://www.irs.gov