On Your Side
Ron Burley
Get the value you deserve
and never get ripped off
Respond
Ignoring a notice
invites penalties and
interest, liens, and
garnished wages.
No-Account
Accountants
COMPANIES THAT help people in
distress must hew to the highest
standards. This is true whether it’s a
hospital or...a tax consultant. That’s
why I was shocked by a letter from
Mary Burkett of Oklahoma City.
Mary and her husband, Larry, had
fallen behind
on a payment
agreement with
the IRS and
wanted help re-
negotiating their
$40,000 debt.
They’d seen TV
ads from a Hous-
ton company,
TaxMasters, in
which founder Patrick Cox promises
to “get between you and the IRS”
to “solve your tax problems.” Mary
called TaxMasters and—assured
she’d get quick help—paid $4,500
by credit card for services to be ren-
Consider a pro
If you need help, stay
local. Find a CPA,
attorney, or
Enrolled Agent to
represent you.
How to Grab a Lender’s Attention
Want your mortgage refinanced? To get fast action from a beleaguered banker,
leave a single phone message saying exactly what any lender needs to know:
1 23
Your current interest
rate “If it’s 6. 5 percent,
that speaks volumes to me,”
says longtime Virginia loan
officer Phil Grisdela, “because
you’re clearly a good candidate;
it’s less clear at 5. 75.”
That you’d like an ap-
pointment to talk, even if
just by phone. Follow up with an
e-mail if you can, and be ready
with proof of income and assets
so the deal can move forward
quickly. —Caroline E. Mayer
The house’s value, the
balance on your current
loan, your credit score “You
need to have equity and a score
of 740 or higher to get refinanc-
ing,” says Grisdela. “If you don’t,
there’s not much we can do.”
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT: JILLY WENDELL; RICK GAYLE STUDIO INC./JUPITERIMAGES (PHOTO MANIPULATION BY DIAN HOLTON); ICONS BY RICHARD MCDADE ( 3); ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPH NIEMANN
Get results
Pay for services only
after they have been
performed. Tax con-
sulting often costs
$75 to $250 an hour.
THE COMPANY:
TaxMasters
THE COMPLAINT:
“I paid upfront—
for nothing!”
AMOUNT
RECOVERED:
$4,500
dered. But by the time TaxMasters
got rolling, two months had passed;
the IRS had garnished Larry’s Social
Security check and put a lien on the
Burketts’ home. A lot of us might have
sued the company. Mary just wanted
a refund—and was refused.
I got nowhere with customer
service—no callback, two hang-ups.
I faxed them. No response. Then
I wrote about the Burketts on my
AARP blog. That brought forth TaxMasters media director Lee French
with the promise of a full refund.
End of story? Not quite. Days later
company attorney Michael Wallace
informed me the Burketts would get
only $2,250, because in an October
letter Mary asked for “at least half my
money back.” She also wrote: “This is
a nightmare paying $4,500 for nothing.” After a week of back-and-forth,
French reinstated the full refund.
All Mary really wanted was for
Patrick Cox to keep his promise. ;
Ron Burley has a new On Your Side column every two weeks at aarp.org/money.
