Had to get $ 4K out of my checking account. The Prius had some issues. The work would range from $ 1,500 to $ 4K all depending on some factors that would be revealed during the work. I know these guys and trust them. So, no shennanigans there.
I stopped by my branch of the bank we use. Told them I needed to withdraw $ 4,000 in $ 50s. The woman looked at me and said, “I have to ask you why you are making this withdrawl.”
I suppressed all manner of pissy retorts and told her the real truth:
" My car mechanic charges a 4% surcharge for credit card use. I cannot afford that. He told me he also accepts cash. I need the money to repair my car."
She was polite and said fine. And did the withdrawl.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
No doubt this is a requirement related to drug trafficking or other nefarious pursuits. And yet-- is it not my right to spend my money as I see fit as long as I am NOT breaking any laws? What business is it of my bank’s ???
She didn’t ask the name of the repair shop, for which I am quite grateful. It’s not my responsibility to make sure they declare cash payments for services rendered. It’s just my job to pay my bill.
Is this the norm these days? Are citizens no longer allowed to keep cash on hand? What if I want to keep a bunch of my personal savings in a shoebox in a storage locker?? Is that not permitted?
Weird. And off-putting. And NOT the reason to threaten to take our accounts elsewhere. I would guess the same rules are applied at every bank. FYI this happened in New York City.
It’s anti-fraud. And protecting you, not the bank.
So many people (especially older people) come into the bank to withdraw a wad 'o cash because some scammer convinced them to do that then give the money to the scammer so their grandson can get out of jail or the IRS will lay off them or whatever.
If you use Zelle to transfer money now they ask a similar range of questions. Trying to get the panicked senior to slow down and think about whether they really need to pay this stranger that money for this other thing right now!.
Could be trying to protect you from a scam. Far too often people get tricked into sending money to “bail out a family member” or “help out a sick celebrity”. The stories told by the scammers are very convincing and with modern AI they can spoof the voices of your family members.
Yeah, this. It also happens (at least in UK) for online transactions. I needed to pay a furniture maker by bank transfer recently, and my bank point-blank refused to process the payment because they couldn’t verify it was a proper company. I paid them from a different bank account in the end. The table they made is lovely.
You’re both spot-on. I never thought of this, to be honest. I’m 64, do not do ANY kind of money on my cell phone. At all. Period. No tapping to pay for a croissant. No tapping to get into the NYC Subway system. Nothing. I have no apps that are connected to money, except for Venmo and that is a 2-step Authenticated app.
All of this said, my Mom got hustled once. Good thing she stopped BEFORE buying Visa gift cards. Classic scammer. “Gramma?!?!?! It’s me !!” " Oh, Stevie?? What is wrong? "
I’ve dialed my outrage back to zero on this one. Honestly did not consider scam checks at all. Thank you both !
If you go to the grocery stores around here = SoFL, you’ll see the usual large display of umpteen kinds of gift cards. You’ll also see large signs warning of fraud and telling you that no government agency or legit business will ever want to be paid in gift cards. Anyone wanting that is a SCAMMER.
I’ve never tried to buy such a gift card, but I’d not be surprised to have the grocery checkout clerk at least warn about fraud potential, if not question me about my reasons for buying a gift card.
IMO that’s still CYA on the bank’s behalf moreso than protecting me from scammers. We’re all adults here, it’s none of the bank’s business why I want to withdraw MY money. Just put up Scam warning information like the stores do.
There are all sorts of scams targeting people to withdrawal large amounts of money & send it to the scammer, buy gift cards & send them to the scammer or buy crypto for the scammer. This happens often enough that banks are now asking customers about large cash withdrawals that are unusual for that customer. Anything that doesn’t smell of a scam (car repair, buying a used ___ & the seller doesn’t want a check, wedding gift, etc.) & they drop it; however, they will probably further question you on some of the more common scam reasons (bail money for your grandchild, travel expenses for your new, overseas, girl/boyfriend, whom you’ve never met in person yet to come visit you, to stop the LEO agency from coming to arrest you, etc.)
After having the balance stolen on several before we could spend them, we have stopped buying gift cards all together. People can take a stack of unused cards, remove the scratch off portion, record the numbers, apply a new coating, and put them back in the stores. Once they get activated they can spend the money. Unfortunately, neither the police nor the businesses seem interested in going after a lost $50-100.
[Moderating]
I’ve fixed the formatting in the OP. It was interpreting the dollar signs as meaning you wanted math mode. The fix is to put a backslash in front of each dollar sign.
Most grocery stores, dollar stores & even the orange &/or blue box hardware stores have gift card ‘malls’ rotating kiosk / end cap of gift cards to various stores. They are typically outsourced, & handled by an outside vendor, much like the Coke or Pepsi guy is stocking their product shelves in the supermarket, not an actual supermarket employee. I know someone who has a P/T time job refilling/maintaining them. The product (cards) get shipped to the store & then she goes at the appropriate time, while wearing a company shirt & goes to the store manager, “Hi, I’m ___ from ___ card company to do my task, please give me my boxes” whereupon they given her whatever was shipped to the store & sitting in the stockroom & she either restocks or resets according to her instrux. I believe, just like in the supermarket shelves that prime real estate (eyeball level shelves) cost more but that’s handled at the corporate level & she just knows that The Gap cards go here, the Amazon ones go there, & the ___ restaurant chain ones go on this peg, etc.
What policies / procedures probably vary by where you buy them & probably by amount, too, & even time of year. Buy a single $50 GC, no one’s going to say anything, buy $500 one store might, while another chain might not question anything under $1000. A bunch of $50 or $100 cards bought in Dec with an explanation of employee/client gifts will also probably be easily approved/ignored as reasonable & not heading off a scam.
My bank told me it was their duty of care. I appreciate where you’re coming from, but people do get scammed frequently. Whilst I’m reasonably confident in my own abilities to sniff out fraud, the scammers are increasingly clever and it heartens me that the banks are looking out for us.
That offended you?! You should be thankful they give a damn because it is HIGHLY unusual, especially considering the fact that you could have created a check for that amount or, perhaps, done a wire transfer.
Also, it’s much easier for them to duck the IRS when doing a cash transaction like that.
There’s no duty without the ability to enforce it - banks have a duty to ensure the transaction/withdrawal is being done by the actual owner of the account - if they suspect a fraudulent transaction is being made by someone other than you, they can block it. If you walk into a branch and provide identification proving you as the account owner, there’s no duty beyond that point. So what if you DO want to withdraw $4k to send to some shady person. Or you want to withdraw it to spend it on hookers and blow during your trip to Vegas, and you tell them as much. What are they going to do, say “well SanVito, in that case no, you can’t have your money”? Clearly not, the most they can do is warn you that what you are about to do is a bad idea. They can accomplish the same thing by putting up signs warning their customers to be mindful of common scams.
There’s nothing unusual about paying a few thousand in cash for skilled services. I’ve paid as much - in cash - to my mechanic for car work. And also my contractor for a bathroom remodel, new driveway, etc.
You’d assume so, but a friend of mine got flatly refused permission to make a- 100% legal- purchase a few months back. He was planning on taking his assorted siblings and niblings on a big Disney trip- hotels, flights, the lot. He can afford it, so why not?
Because it was so many people, he wanted to make it all one booking. This is from the UK, so £££££.
First the bank refused the card online, because it was well over the limit. When he called to authorise it, they said they couldn’t do it over the phone either, because it was too much. He went into the branch, ID in hand, to authorise the payment, and they said they couldn’t do it there either, as it was over the limit they could authorise. When he asked how we was supposed to actually use the money right there, in the account, to pay for the thing he wanted to pay for, they told him there wasn’t actually a mechanism to authorise a payment that large to a company of that nature, maybe he could split it into smaller bookings?
Anyway, he transferred the account to a saner bank- and told literally everyone about it, because like you, he’d assumed that once they had proof of who he was, it was his money so they couldn’t refuse.
I would hazard a guess that the number of trips around the sun you’ve taken also went into the cashier/teller’s calculus. If you were in your 20s or 30s, she may not have batted an eye, but those that are more experienced at life tend to be subjects of financial scams like this.