# Where Can One Keep Money If You Hate Banks **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861 "2012-07-20T15:17:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/41 "2012-07-21T02:46:49Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Would this work? I got the idea from an MMO > > Keep your money in limbo through the post office. Send it to yourself, then reject the letter and put return to sender, then send it again. If you have insurance on the thing for what its worth, and usually insurance is pretty cheap relatively, couldn’t you tie up your money forever in the mail and ensure that its safe? Unless you’re sending the cash by registered mail, they’ll insure only up to fifteen bucks. On the other hand, you could insure up to $25,000 if you send it by registered mail. Cite [here](http://faq.usps.com/eCustomer/iq/usps/request.do?session=%7B9fb63770-d2dd-11e1-ced6-000000000000%7D&event=1&view%28%29=c%7B5bdc5470-301b-11de-c81c-000000000000%7D&objectId=&eksObjectId=&objectType=Case&isJumpEnabled=false&isContentJumpEnabled=false&vendorKey=&objTitle=&versionId=9083&searchProperties=type:natural&naturalAdvance=false&allStr=&phraseStr=&anyStr=&noneStr=&keywordStr=&tTitle=&topicFromSub=&topicsORSubUrl=&report%280000%29=p%7Bfd8043a0-6973-11dd-e6c4-000000000000%7D&bcobjectId=%7Be4ae5a10-6973-11dd-e6c4-000000000000%7D&search=insured%20mail&topicAndSubtopic=About%20USPS$ALL#limit). But given what it would cost you to send cash via registered mail, you might rather just accept the tiny amount of interest you’d earn by leaving the money in a bank. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/42 "2012-07-21T03:25:51Z")
I have a nice big safe, two police dogs, and a nice big deputy sheriff at my house. Your money would be perfectly secure here, and I wouldn’t even charge a fee for investing it in the local economy on your behalf. The mechanic might even put you on his Christmas card list after I invest in that new transfer case for the truck next week! ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/43 "2012-07-21T04:17:50Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > [Here ya go.](http://www.depositaccounts.com/checking/reward-checking-accounts.html) > > Please note that (almost) all of these types of accounts have a maximum balance limit, so don’t plan on investing hundreds of thousands of dollars unless you are prepared to make hundreds of debit card purchases per month and keep track of dozens of accounts. Thanks. And I only wish I had the problem of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mostly it’s a matter of a few thousand that accumulates right after the tax season, but will need to be available later in the year to carry us through leaner months. ---
**Author:** ![listedmia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@listedmia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/listedmia)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/44 "2012-07-21T06:25:28Z")
Don’t do what I did once: in a fit of paranoia, hiding $2,000 from a tip-intensive job in an old purse in the closet, and then discovered it months later when I was donating things to Goodwill. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/45 "2012-07-21T11:31:56Z")
[Credit Union.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_union) > [@](#): > > A credit union is a member-owned financial cooperative, democratically controlled by its members, and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members.[1][2][3] > > Many credit unions also provide services intended to support community development[4] or sustainable international development on a local level,[5] and could be considered community development financial institutions. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/46 "2012-07-21T14:21:16Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > See [U.S. plan to hunt tax cheats could burden Canadian banks - The Globe and Mail](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/us-plan-to-hunt-tax-cheats-could-burden-canadian-banks/article1361283/) That would only have relevance to an American who has income from Canadian sources and seeks to evade taxes on that income, but this thread is not about that. It is simply about situating your funds in a safe place that is not a bank. Canadian banks and investment houses do not ask Americans their SSN, so there is no way for the US authorities to verify what an American has in a Canadian vault. More importantly, there is no way that a US court can place a lien on or otherwise confiscate funds that are held in Canada. Nor, in most cases, even determine that an American has funds in Canada, unless they are generating significant income. ---
**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/47 "2012-07-21T20:41:55Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > [Credit Union.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_union) This is a good example of why any cite from Wikipedia should be treated as suspect. You’ll probably note the links referenced to as cites in that article are dead, yet Wikipedia continues to offer them anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/48 "2012-07-22T21:44:26Z")
You could overpay a utility bill. Go ahead and send a check to your phone company for $2,000 more than the actual bill. They’ll happily take it and never mention it to you; they’ll just keep applying it to future balances until you look at your next bill and have a _WTF_ moment. Sadly, I know this from experience. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/49 "2012-07-22T23:17:51Z")
Low interest rates being offered in the U.S. is more a function of the Federal Reserve policy than your local bank’s offerings. They’re not making much on loaning out your dollars either these days, but that’s the whole purpose of the banking system. Now if you put it in your mattress or under your pillow, and your home is burgled or burned down, most homeowner’s policy’s have a $200 coverage limit for cash lost. So if your put more than $200 under your Sealy posturpedic and it dissappears, say goodbye for good. But at least in the bank, it’s insured up to $250,000. Keeping your excess cash out of the bank will hardly teach them a lesson, but it is a lot more risk to you. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/50 "2012-07-23T00:03:19Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > What are the requirements for the “Premium”? Wells has started charging for their regular checking unless you do direct deposit of a certain amount each month or have a $1500 average balance. And I don’t think i get any interest. I got the letter from WF that they were going to start charging me a monthly fee of, I think $12, just to hold my money. I went in there to close it and it turned out that I had “the wrong kind of account” and a half hour later I had “the right kind (no fees) of account”. It helped that my wife had about $70K of CDs that she was about to cash. Note that the letter informing us of the new fee structure had said quite explicitly that other holdings in WF could not be used to make the minimum balance. But it sure helped in setting up the “right kind of account”. In other words the bastards will get what they can from you until you scream at them. I had inferred that we were too small too interest them. Not at all. We seemed to be quiet enough to try to screw. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/51 "2012-07-23T00:53:12Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > But at least in the bank, it’s insured up to $250,000. Keeping your excess cash out of the bank will hardly teach them a lesson, but it is a lot more risk to you. Know who has access to your bank account without your permission? The IRS. No amount of federal insurance will prevent that. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861/52 "2012-07-23T04:01:25Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > In a brown bag in the fridge. So… in times of need… you’ll have a ready supply of…[snip] > > Cold Cash! > > 😃 In college I put a lot of cash in my freezer for some stupid reason, no bank account or something, fear of being robbed, etc. You know how on rare occasions a bill will fall out of a book, because you forgot you had placed it there for safekeeping? About three years later I defrosted the freezer, and to my surprise found about $700 of cold, wet cash. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-can-one-keep-money-if-you-hate-banks/628861.md?page=2)