H R Block Inc

H&R Block Inc., the world's largest tax preparation company, said it will offer online trading and some mortgage services as part of its Internet operations. The Kansas City, Mo.-based company also will expand the number of its U.S. financial services centers, which offer mortgage services, investment advice and tax preparation, for a total of 94 this year. E-Loan Inc. is working with H&R Block on providing mortgage rates for its online service.

H&R Block Inc. says it is looking to sell its Irvine-based wholesale mortgage unit, Option One, in an effort to focus on its retail businesses. Option One, founded in 1992, specializes in mortgages to customers with bad credit, originating about $3.6 billion in loans in the last year. That makes the company--which employs 1,500 people nationwide--slightly larger than Orange-based rival Long Beach Financial Corp.

H&R Block Inc. reported lower-than-expected tax preparation revenue and said its e-commerce operation sustained losses for the year. The Kansas City, Mo.-based firm, which in mid-June will report its results for its fiscal year ended April 30, said preliminary figures for Jan. 1 through April 17 show tax preparation fees rose 13.2% to $1.082 billion from a year ago. Fees in franchised offices increased 10.7% to $589.2 million, for a total $1.671 billion, or about 12.3% up from a year ago.

H&R Block Inc., the world's largest tax preparer, has shut down its online filing system after discovering that some people's financial information may have been mixed with that of other people. H&R Block identified fewer than 50 people affected among more than 300,000 tax returns, but it expects the program to remain shut down until the weekend while it makes sure no other people are affected, spokeswoman Linda McDougal said.

The growth strategy of tax-preparation giant H&R Block Inc. is rankling some of its oldest and largest franchisees, prompting them to go to court. In a lawsuit filed in a Kansas circuit court, 24 franchisees claimed that Kansas City-based H&R Block is unfairly competing with them and breaching long-standing contractual agreements by distributing tax-preparation software on the Internet and through retail outlets.

California's attorney general has settled a lawsuit against H&R Block Inc. over a widely used loan program that gives the nation's largest tax preparer a chunk of customers' tax refunds. Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said Friday that the $4.85-million settlement would stop H&R Block from offering high-cost loans it had marketed as early tax refunds. Former Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer sued H&R Block in 2006, adding California to a long list of others that sued over its "refund anticipation loans."

H&R Block Inc. will post $29 million more in pretax losses from sub-prime mortgages than first reported last month, and the company's third-quarter regulatory filing will be delayed. H&R Block, the nation's biggest tax-preparation company, said Feb. 22 that it had a net loss of $44.7 million in the quarter ended Jan. 31. Since then, the Kansas City, Mo.

Securities regulators have accused H&R Block Financial Advisors of fraud in selling customers nationwide some $16 million of Enron Corp. bonds in late 2001 and touting them as a safe investment when the energy-trading giant had begun to collapse. The NASD, formerly the National Assn. of Securities Dealers, announced its complaint Monday against the investment division of the world's largest tax preparer, H&R Block Inc., which denied the allegations.

Tax preparer H&R Block Inc. agreed Wednesday to pay $62.5 million to settle a number of class-action lawsuits dealing with its use of refund anticipation loans. A Circuit Court judge in West Virginia is scheduled to consider the settlement Friday. If approved, it will resolve four class-action suits filed in West Virginia, Ohio, Alabama and Maryland, as well as claims pending in 22 other states and the District of Columbia.

H&R Block Inc. said Monday that it was "evaluating strategic alternatives" including a sale for its Irvine-based Option One Mortgage Corp., which has turned unprofitable amid intense competition in its shrinking business -- higher-cost "sub-prime" mortgages to borrowers considered risky because of low credit scores or insufficient income or home equity. H&R Block, the Kansas City, Mo.