Yes, cash really does still exist. It may have been some time since you've seen any, but, some people still like to use it.
In a thread below I mentioned taking 32 fifty-dollar bills to my bank. Others added comments about taking too much cash to a bank at any one time. There is also a daily limit. A few months after doing a survey for a business woman, she made front page news of the local paper when the police were called when she attempted a second deposit for the day at her bank. Both deposits were all cash and totalled, I believe, in excess of $10,000. She ran a business that buys wrecked cars from insurance companies and others, hauls them to their central location, then holds a massive car auction once every 90 days. Many of their buyers are "cash only" type people. They will not participate if other forms of payment are required.
Has anyone here had some experience with this category of problem?
No. Any cash just never seems to get to the bank. Problem solved!
In 1998 I sold my house for around $110K. It seems that my buyers were totally anti-government people and never had any bank accounts or credit cards. Sort of the "straw man" ideology. They were paying cash. Which was fine by me, as there was no lender BS involved.
The title company would not accept cash, only certified checks, or money order. Not wanting to deal with the banking process, these folks instead went and got it all in money orders. It seems the maximum amount of a money order is $1,000. There was quite a stack of them, from an assortment of locations (post office, Walgreens, etc).
The TC was not amused, but we closed. I don't know where he got his money and never asked. But they'd been saving for their dream home for quite awhile, and this secluded home on 10 heavily wooded acres fit the bill.
Nowadays, I'm sure HLS, ATF, FBI or somebody would be contacted. But with his straw man philosophy, he was unconcerned.
I think a $10,000 transaction triggers additional paperwork requirements.
I bought a 2007 Tacoma about a 2 years ago and the guy wanted cash. We met at my bank and with some discussion I wrote a $20,000 check to the guy and he cashed it on the spot. The banker forgot to do his paper work and need the guy's signature, I got calls for over year, don't think he ever got it.
Two sad (and frankly troubling) passages:
> On October 26, 1986, with the passage of the Money Laundering Control Act, the right to financial privacy was no longer an issue.
> Informed individuals who structure their transactions at an amount near, but not over $10,000 could have their accounts closely monitored by tellers and bank staff to see if a pattern emerges that could warrant the filing of a SAR.
my bank charged me a service fee one month for depositing too much cash. i don't remember the specifics but it was a cumulative amount for the month not a single transaction. i think i deposited like $15k in cash that month and they charged me a fee of like $5 for going over their preset limit. i complained and they removed it 'this time as a courtesy'. bullcrap.
Can't beat it.....a fee to deposit cash.:-P
See what you get for dealing in LEGAL TENDER?
I've had some contractors I've hired that only would work for cash. Never made it on their statements of course.
I've also haggled with people about cash vs. check and gotten some deals when there wasn't much of a paper trail.
You have to be carefull about it, but you can theoretically live off the grid on cash if you work for the right folks.
I've had problems with banks and cash.
One problem is the hold they put on deposits. Even though the check clears over night they will put a hold on it for five days. So I used to take client checks to their bank and cash it for CASH. Then I would take the cash to my bank and deposit it and thus no hold.
One time when my bank was taken over by a big national bank we had all kinds of problems. They started putting holds on all deposits regardless of the amount. I thought I was good and wrote a bunch of checks on a deposit that I didn't realize had a hold. I got about $300 in overdraft fees and they sent all the checks back. I went nuts. I had several accounts in different branches. I went to the first branch and closed an account that I had withdrawn all but about $5. When I got done with the closing the lady wanted to give me the $5 in cash. I got up, told her to keep the money as they had already helped themselves to over $300 and another $5 didn't make any difference to me. She chased me out of the bank trying to give me the money but I got in the car and left. When I got home I later found out they had transferred the $5 into my wife's account.
I then when to the other branch where I had two business accounts. The one I needed to cover some bills and the other had some funds that had cleared the 5 day limit. I closed the one account and made the guy give me the cash at his desk (several thousand). I then asked him if the bank would pay my checks if I deposited this cash in my other account. He said yes so I got up and went to window and deposited it. I left him instructions to close the account after my checks had cleared.
So then later we needed some money to pay something just under $10,000 and do it quick. We decided to go get the cash out of a savings account. My wife went into the bank and asked to take out the money and they wouldn't give it to her. You have to call the day ahead to take out something more than a couple thousand or so in cash. She went nuts and had left me out in the car. I couldn't figure out what was taking so long but had seen a bank guy come out and survey the parking lot, maybe they though we were trying rob the place. Any way after a few minutes she came out of the bank. She only had about $5000 in cash and it went all the way down to a bunch of five dollar bills. She had a cashier check for the remaining half. What a joke!
No love lost for banks in our family. I'm surprised the government hasn't outlawed cash altogether so that there couldn't be any transaction that they don't know about.
Yeah, and if you are reading some financial news. The countries biggest banks are trying to persuade the Federal Reserve to go along with negative interest. The result be some bonds that when you bought them instead of getting interest you would have to pay. This would lead to savings accounts in banks where you had to pay the bank to store your money. If this isn't a RED FLAG of problems down the road I don't know what else would be! Greed has no limits.
I understand the frustration, but there isn't anything in your post that isn't generally standard operating procedure at most bank branches. For example, even local bank branches here in NYC require advance notice if large amounts of cash are going to be withdrawn.
And, I'd be willing to be that somewhere in all the statements they have sent you, all these policies were clearly laid out as terms of your account. For sure when your bank was taken over by the larger bank, they issued a notice about any changes in the terms of your relationship.
A lttle planning ahead could probably have solved any of the problems mentioned.
The $10,000 limit was put in place years ago. Just inflation should have made it up to $20,000. The way things are going the $10,000 limit wouldn't allow you to buy a tank of gas five years from now.
I expect that as things progress there will put in place a tax on any transfer of money. If you deposit money in the bank the government will get say 5% and the bank their cut. When you withdraw in any manor they will get 5% and the bank their cut. Then with the inflation it will be declining in value by about 50% every four years or so. So holding cash, even over night might cost you big. Better hold and own something real and limit cash holdings to a minimum. Of course at some point they might decide to help themselves to your real property also to keep the extend and pretend policy going for a bit longer. Savers of money are going to have everything taken from them in one way or another. What you were taught about saving (money) is turning into a disaster.
The only cash (money) we have in institutions is retirement funds we can't get out of the system. I hope it lasts but have the feeling that it is all going to be wasted away by the system.
Kris
Get a money order and do not write anything on it.
Give it to the person to cash.
BTW, it is against the law for businesses to say
they won't accept $50's or $100's.
Read the bottom-left of the bill. It says "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private."
as exbert posted, "Note is legal tender for all debts, public and private."
It is not longer "cash" and hasn't been since Roosevelt confiscated all the gold and the treasury quit issuing gold and silver certificates. What people call cash is not cash. It is a bunch of IOU's. Ergo the word "Note" on it.