“JPMorgan Chase’s decision to pull out of the refund anticipation loan (“RAL”) business, along with a growing list of others in the financial services industry, will ideally herald the ultimate and long-overdue demise of these predatory and unnecessary loans,” said Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz.  “In New York, our enforcement agents find year after year that tax preparers generally need to lie about these terrible loans to sell them, misrepresenting them as “rapid refunds” rather than costly loans that drain much-needed dollars from those who can least afford it.  And because these high-priced RALs go to low-income wage-earners, it siphons taxpayer dollars away from the Earned Income Tax Credit, which Congress specifically intended to help working individuals with low and moderate incomes.  It’s time to ban these loans once and for all so taxpayers get every penny of the tax refunds our elected officials intended them to receive.”