HOUSTON – It's tax season and many of us are looking forward to the day we get our tax refund.
"I got my income tax this morning," said Amber Calzada who had her refund deposited into her Walmart Money Card account. But she said when she went to the gas station later that day, her card was declined.
To clear things up, Calzada said she called the phone number on the back of her card.
"I get ahold of a supervisor and she tells me basically there's nothing they can do," Calzada said. "I have to wait 10 business days to access my money."
KPRC2 also called Walmart to ask about the hold up. But a spokesperson said Walmart has "nothing to do with" the Walmart Money Card available at their stores. We were referred to Green Dot, the bank that issues the card.
Calzada said the company told her she needed to fax them her driver's license, social security number and other forms of identification before the money could become available. A process we were told can usually take a couple of days to complete once the tax refund appears in an account."
A Green Dot spokesperson apologized for the confusion but said the company needed additional verification for deposits that are "larger than usual."
"But income tax returns are larger than (my usual deposits)," Calzada said when told about the delay. "They should have had something implemented already stating there's gonna be abnormal amounts placed into accounts. All (the card's) advertisement is simply and clear: Direct deposit with us and have it whenever it's ready. That wasn't the case for me."
Calzada, a single mother of two young boys said she was counting on her deposit to be available when it appeared in her Walmart Money Card account.
"I was going to use that money to get my inspection sticker," Calzada said. "But I can't do that now. So now I'm going to have to borrow a car. Then rent's coming on the 3rd. It's just a real bind."
Shortly after this story aired on KPRC2, Green Dot Bank released the following statement:
"Green Dot Bank works diligently to protect the US Government and innocent tax payers from being victimized by tax fraud and stolen IDs. As such, Green Dot regularly monitors all its accounts for unusual activity that indicates potential tax fraud. When such an indicator is triggered, the account is blocked until a Green Dot fraud specialist makes contact with the account holder to verify the legitimacy of the deposit. Once we determine that the refund deposit is legitimate, the account is immediately unblocked, as was the case for Ms. Calzada's account. Each year, Green Dot saves states and our federal government millions of dollars in fraudulent tax refunds and protects millions of Americans from being victimized by stolen IDs."