For everyone right now its hard for them to save. Saving is good, but if you have credit cards with high balances and debts that need to be paid off. Saving will not work for you, the best thing for the consumer to do is pay off any debt they have before saving. Credit cards have high interest rates in the teens i.e 15-23% APR. Saving accounts pay interest between 2%-3%. Putting your income tax check in a savings account when you have large credit debts defeats the purpose of saving. You are actually losing money. Best advice is pay all your credit card debt down with that tax refund. This is a sure thing for boosting your credit rating. Once you paid off your credit card debt, then use the extra money to put in your savings for an emergency fund. Please don’t chance your finances!!!