I’d guess that in that area with that person, it WAS an EITC check and I’ll bet it was on the order of about $5000...
Clarification, not over an EITC check. Over a Refund Anticipation Loan based on turning over the EITC refund to Tax City for preparation and loan costs. They weren’t gonna cut a loan check until her refund cleared, I’m guessing.
Years ago, a buddy of mine and me were in rural Alabama and he had to stop in one of these old shotgun general stores that backed up to a defunct rail line. All the shotgun shops along the rail line had a loading dock to unload from the cars.
Anyway, we were there for an hour, and we must have seen at least 50 people, nearly all poor black residents who came in with a government EITC check. He’d take the check, go upstairs to a huge safe and bring down WADs of cash to them. I’m guessing that he took a hefty cut for cashing them.