I was always wondering, what exactly are the rules for getting your money in cash if you’re rich.
I was watching the Beverly Hillbillies and Granny wants the 100 million dollars Jed has “In cash.”
Now I know you just can’t walk into a bank and demand millions of dollars, even if you have them, you have to give the bank a chance to get the money. No bank is gonna keep that much on hand.
First question is, in general, how much money do banks keep on hand. And two how long do you have to wait to get the money in cash?
So what happens if Jed wants his money “in cash”? (and according to the plot the money the oil company pays Jed is cash. He started out with 25 million in cash and ended the series with 100 million in cash.
So if he wants to take out all his money, would the bank just fail and Jed would be out all the money except whatever amount was insured by the FDIC (in the late 60s / early 70s)
You would also probably pique the interest of certain govt officials as to what you needed so much cash for. Not that there’s any restriction on that per se, but if you also happened to book a private round-trip filght to and from Colombia, Iran, or the DPRK they’d probably detain you upon your return…
US currency bills are 2.61 x 6.14 x .0043 inches (new). Doing the math, 1 million $100 bills would be 39.8 cubic feet. Double that for packaging, and you get a cube 4.4 ft on a side. Unwieldy, but hardly pallet sized. It’ll weigh a metric ton too.
Triple the size, not double it, because you’re never going to get that kind of cash in all new bills. Most of them will be used, and therefore take up more space, even when packaged. So…almost a pallet-load.
If the bank is ordering the bills from the Fed, it will most likely get new bills. They’re already pre-packaged, too, to make them easier for shipping to the bank. So even double is an exaggeration.
The other thing is, nobody in the world has 100 million dollars in their checking account. Even if you wanted your portfolio to be extremely liquid there are better ways to keep your money. Even Bill Gates couldn’t walk into the bank and get 100 million in cash, even if the bank could call the Fed and arrange the cash in advance. Bill Gates could come up with 100 million in cash but he’d have to liquidate something to do so, even if that’s something as simple as selling treasury bills.
Very similar to what I was pondering the other day.
Hypothetical of course, there’s a yaught or vintage car or something that I want to buy and part of my strategy is that I want to approach the seller with 100,000 cash in a take it or leave it proposition.
How much hassle do I get from the bank when I walk in and say that I want 100 grand in cash from my savings account? What questions are they going to ask and what questions am I required to answer.
Theoretically I know it’s my money and I owe them nothing beyond proving that I’m who I say I am and am therefore entitled to walk out with my money. Practically though, we’re living in a post 9-11 world and some actions are going to rate a hairy eyeball.
Any banker or rich types in here with factual answers?
If you ask for a large amount of cash at a bank, the bank will probably file a Suspicious Activity Report to cover themselves even if they have no reason to suspect that you intend to use the cash in the commission of a crime. They won’t (and can’t) tell you that they are filing the report. Then they’ll give you the money (assuming arrangements have been made to have the money on hand).
When it’s windy, is there a draught on your yaught? Fear naught!
Antinor01, a prosecutor friend of mine knew of a drug dealer who would walk into car showrooms with a huge wad of cash and offer to buy a car on the spot with cash, laying hundred-dollar-bills down on the table, one after another. If the salesman started mumbling about filling out a form for the Feds about big cash transactions, he would silently start picking the money back up again. Most, if not all, of the salesmen “forgot” to file the Federal paperwork.
The question was about the bank, not a salesman. That doesn’t surprise me at all on the sales side, but a bank would be in serious shit if they did that.
Nitpick: “in silver!” Granny didn’t trust those Yankee greenbacks.
As the entire series made clear, the Clampett money was the backbone of Drysdale’s bank, and losing their account would have crippled, if not ruined, his bank. Mr. Drysdale went to insane lengths to prevent that.
They’re required to file a “CTR” [1]. They may or may not actually bother with a SAR, depending on whether or not their compliance folks are doing their job, and your reputation in the community.
