It’s tax time, and for thousands of income taxpayers in Houston, that means a refund.

But at what cost?

How will people like Anita Robinson, with very modest incomes, end up spending hundreds of dollars just to get their refunds?

“By telling they can have their check in about five minutes, no W-2s, no nothing,” said Joe Ann Ladner with the Electronic Tax Center.

Ladner has been doing people’s taxes for nearly 20 years and knows about “refund anticipation loans.”

They’re available at the biggest tax preparation chains as well as mom-and-pop outfits that advertise with signs like these: “Up to $7500 Same Day Get Paid Now.”

Just bring in a paycheck stub, and they’ll give you an instant loan based on the amount you expect in your tax refund.

“Well I can get them a loan in about five minutes, but we don’t recommend that,” Ladner said.

Why not?

“Because they pay extra money for it,” she said.

Kara Bostan is a lawyer who used to work for the IRS.

“It’s a huge amount of dollars that’s just being sucked out of the local economy,” she said.

In some of Houston’s poorest neighborhoods, people are spending the most to get their refunds back faster. By one estimate, Harris County’s working poor are spending millions of dollars on refund loans.

A list of area ZIP codes gives more insight into the disparity in who uses the refund loans. The top five ZIP codes correspond to areas with many low income households.

Number One: A community on the southwest side where 3,800 taxpayers spent nearly a half million dollars in refund loan fees, on average about $130 per taxpayer.

By contrast, people in wealthier neighborhoods spent next to nothing, rarely using the loans, like in one part of Kingwood where just 129 taxpayers used them.

“But they prey on the poor --  the poor get poorer,” Robinson said.

Robinson said she shelled out upwards of $400 to pay for the loan, the preparers’ fees, even a charge to cash the refund check because she didn’t have a checking account.

But she vows never again. She now comes to the anti-poverty group ACORN.

It’s one place where low to moderate income people can get their tax returns prepared for free.

They’re also told: Why pay for a loan when most refunds now come back electronically in less than two weeks?

“So just wait a few more days, and keep that money in their pocket,” ACORN President Toni McElroy.

There are other reasons to be wary.

That former IRS lawyer? She now works for ACORN. She said some unscrupulous tax preparers try to maximize your refund by simply not following the rules, claiming deductions and credits you’re not entitled to: mistakes the IRS can catch.

“And it really puts the taxpayer in a bind because when the IRS comes for that money, they’re not going to the tax preparation agency, they’re coming to you,” Bostan said.

So they say go to reputable tax preparer and wait or your refund.