The problem is that $10K isn’t what it used to be. Cars, pins, home renovations and so on are all way more expensive now and I find myself needing more than $3K cash all the time.

It’s impossible to do anything spur of the moment anymore when you have to give three business days notice to get cash.

You can get 5k at the inside ATM at my bank

Correct. I had the account when it was washington mutual whom was bought by Chase shortly after I moved to TX.
Chase is the arsehats with that policy.

I should just move my checking to Austin Telco where I have my refi-ed Truck loan... but alas, they know I'm lazy and they haven't pissed me off enough yet to make the jump.

The id thing pissed me off at the time... but the more concerning matter is that with my local branch; i have to be careful about using the lobby during "quiet periods" because they have too many "personal bankers" whom run interference for the sole purpose of trying to ensure I have all the product they can offer me. It very much feels like a used-car-salesman atmosphere.
Hasn't happened since Covid started; but if it returns... that might be the straw that forces a change.

It's a 52 year old law that requires a bank to inform about $10,000 transactions when the maximum non taxed gift amount is $20,000? In other words, the government needs to know that you have family, friends, or whatever that are generous and need a form filled out.

There's also the whole "war on cash" thing, and there is a lot of political momentum behind forming a digital currency. Seems like a terrible idea to me.

What could go wrong?

Well you should always have pin monies ready to go at your house for hen a quick sales comes up; that's just pin101.
I always have around 10K stashed around the house. I mean I should. Fuck....where the hell did I hide it this time.

Yup - they want notice for large withdrawals.. so they aren't depeleted.. especially if you want large denominations.

Tip: If you will take $20s they tend to have far more on-hand.. because that's primarily what the ATMs use.

My bank basically asks for notice for more than about 7k withdrawals so they can order cash in.

Ignore that macro topic - the issue is at the branch level. "Wells Fargo" may have millions in cash in your region, but your local branch doesn't keep that on-hand. They literally order inventory to keep cash on-hand.

You can often goto several branches to get more money - but the basic holdup is a local branch doesn't retain a large amount of currency for obvious security reasons. Much easier to limit their exposure and deal with large amounts on a speciality basis.

Anybody who buys or sells pins often probably should have a 5 digit pinball slush fund at the house at any given time. Good idea to have a small safe.

I ditched Wells Fargo years ago. The bought up my bank (First Interstate) and immediately The were tying to nickle and dime me with service charges for the most petty things. And their ATM's rarely worked or didn't have all functions working (couldn't get cash, couldn't make a deposit, wouldn't print a receipt or account info).

I worked as a teller many years ago and worked the drive-thru every chance I got. No CTRs, money orders, or official checks. It was an awesome job as a college student and I miss interacting with customers.
Back on topic ... If you move more than 10k cash at a time, expect questions. Remember, It's no fun for teller either.

Bad idea to be talking about any of this stuff online or anywhere else information can be harvested from. Advertising you keep large piles of cash at your house isn't a great idea unless you are looking to help your wife out with a large insurance payout when someone comes and puts a gun to your head for that money.

Years ago I always kept cash around "just in case". These days that is just getting too risky. I keep cash on hand in case I need it quickly but I don't keep it anywhere associated with me.

And as far as advertising publicly online that you are doing something that could be considered illegal again isn't really the smartest thing to do.

Bottom line "cash is king" but remember talking about it isn't smart. Kind of like carrying a gun - no one needs to know you have it until you need to use it.

I keep all my cash in various places in my house so Johnny law can’t find it.

Cash. Is. In. My. House.

I keep mine in other peoples houses. They'll never think to look there.

Just a comment about TD Bank, I was not an account holder but went in to break up a $20. Needed fives and ones. Nope, sorry. Bank customers only.
Then the teller proceeded to get me to open an account. Nope, sorry, bye.

You really should have gone here:

That’s my favorite SNL skit ever!

I still say ‘We make it up in volume’ when someone is doing something stupid and no one gets it.

After a long holiday weekend, the retail and restaurant customers were swarmed with cash. I'd have hundreds of thousands of dollars laying around the commercial window (drive up only) because I couldn't catch a break to check it into the vault. Funny thing is, after handling so much cash it lost its mystic (just looked like work when I saw it stacked up or when it came in with a large deposit).

The magic amount is $10,000 before the bank has to report it. I now see jamesmc stated that also.

But I wouldn't only get $9,999 as that would raise suspicion also. I bought a rental property and had a down payment of over $10,000 down and had to wire it into their account as the bank that owned the house would not accept a check or money order including a bank one.

Kids today don;t even remember what banks were like in my day

They are but merely Babylonian magic squares after all.

My bank in Canada seems to only ever have $3K max to give out when I need to purchase a pin unless you give them days notice. Even then they seem to put you through the ringer.

Strange they don't seem to have a problem accepting as much as you want to give them, but when you want it back, even when they have done a big song and dance to prove who you are, they pretend the safe is empty.

I can appreciate some level of security, but two of the last three times I have tried to withdraw a large amount of money it has been a major hassle.

One of the better comments the teller made was "this is an unusual withdrawal based on you account history". When literally my account history is saving up some cash and blowing a massive stack on a new pinball every year or two. I did not feel like arguing with her as she was just trying to do her job, but I thought it was funny.

That is a great SNL with Eddie Murphy as a dressed up white guy. Wait should I be insulted???

Ha we weren't then, but probably should be now. Strange times.

On topic:

I just wish there was a widely accepted safe digital way to conduct pinball transactions without the risks of chargebacks, bounced checks, or exorbitant fees. I don’t want to handle that much cash as a buyer or seller. It’s a pain in the ass with or without the bank.

Surely there must be some other solution the community can get behind. PinEscrow or something.

Wow thanks everyone for this thread and info!

I work for a bank. Not as a teller or in deposit operations, but in IT. So I get nuggets of information here and there from different departments. One of the top people in risk management was saying on the phone one day "We have to aggressively start going after deposits." Now, that doesn't mean "bail-ins" where the bank can legally seize a portion of depositors' money. What he meant was marketing to new customers to get "new money" on deposit in the bank.

One of the big reasons why banks give you so much trouble with cash withdrawals is they don't want that money to leave their balance sheet. There is a figure called LDR, or loan to deposit ratio. It's the amount of liquid cash the bank has vs. the outstanding loans it is collecting monthly payments on. If someone defaults on a loan, it can use a portion of its deposits to continue funding the bank. That is called fractional reserve banking, which is different from a bail-in. With fractional reserve banking your money is still available to you but they will fight you tooth and nail on large withdrawals. With bail-ins, as a last resort, the Dodd-Frank Act permits them to permanently take a portion of your balance out of your account to improve their liquidity if the bank is in danger of collapse.

I can fix that problem. Tell him to stop offering 0.3% in interest.

Much agreement. My current "escrow account" via a well known internet bank offers 3.5% apy. They get all my savings funds.

That seems to be written poorly. They can't seize funds from your account. Right?!

My bank only started asking me about a year ago, why I was withdrawing large sums of money and inquiring about large deposits, whenever I bought or sold a pin. Prior to that, I don't recall anyone ever asking. Of course, those withdrawals and deposits are much larger these days, then they were initially.

I may get blasted for this line of thinking, or called a conspiracy nut, but here goes:

In 1960, the national debt was less than half a trillion dollars and still less than one trillion in 1979. At the end of 2008, the national debt was 10 trillion dollars. Just 15 years later, the national debt is now 31.5 trillion dollars and, as anyone watching the news knows, the debt ceiling is about to be raised yet again.

Two years ago, the current administration was pushing for a massive increase in the IRS budget, to improve outdated equipment AND TO HIRE THOUSANDS OF MORE IRS AGENTS. We were told that those agents were going to chase down all of those Billionaires who are hiding their money. You know, those guys who have an entire army of Tax Attorneys and CPA's on their payroll. No doubt thousand of new IRS agents were going to be needed to try and squeeze more money from the Bill Gates, Elon Musks and Warren Buffets of the world. They certainly wouldn't be hiring all of those new IRS agents to chase down us working class and middle class folks. I'm sure that couldn't be the true reason they were hiring all those new IRS agents. Surely, people in government wouldn't lie to our faces about their motives. No!

I was led to believe, years ago, that any deposit of $10,000 or more was reportable (for all of the reasons already pointed out in this post). However, the current Administration requested that the reportable amount be lowered to just $600. Seriously, this is surely all about identifying those nefarious types who are making cash deposits of $600!

Yesterday, I read an article that discussed how the new legions of IRS agents will be monitoring sales of everything on the Internet. No doubt they are trying to catch all of those billionaires who aren't reporting profits that they are making from selling their old electronics and kids toys. Surely, this isn't all about going after working class people to squeeze us for more tax dollars. This can't possibly have anything to do with a government that spends money like it grows on trees and is now desperate to increase tax revenues to pay for their recent spending sprees.

13% of every tax dollar goes to pay Interest alone, on our national debt.

I am going to start requesting a bill of sale whenever I purchase a pre-owned pin. I will also keep receipts and records of all mods and maintenance done on my pins.

When I sell one of my pins and deposit the cash in the bank, I will have a record showing that I made little to no profit from the sale. Without this proof, the newly beefed up IRS (to chase down those billionaires) can demand taxes from the sale of the pin.

So, go ahead and call me crazy or call me a conspiracy nut. Time will prove whether or not I am correct about the government's motivation for lowering the reporting threshold on bank deposits, monitoring sales on the internet and hiring thousands of new IRS agents. Do you honestly believe that all of this is being done to chase down billionaires and crime lords?

Yes they can, it's legal, and the banks don't require customer consent or court approval to do so.

Full text:
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-111publ203/html/PLAW-111publ203.htm
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Federal government bail-outs are a thing of the past. That money now comes from you. These people are so arrogant they literally use the term "haircut" in the bill multiple times.

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I think you got your stories crossed.

Yes, it's true about the 10k deposit reporting to the IRS. But this has been around forever. The questions from the bank have also been around for long before the recent 'IRS growth'.

The $600 number comes from the reporting threshold for income reporting from ebay, paypal, etc. This is more about trying to close the holes the 'gig economies' have run away with. People earning their income through non-payroll transaction. Not about your bank deposits.

The current administration also snuck in a requirement where you need to report transactions more than 600 dollars to vendors including nanny, Gardner, pool guy etc. They are certainly interested on what and how we spend our money so Uncle Sam gets his cut. Unprecedented.

As flynnibus mentions.

I actually do appreciate that clarification. Though, it doesn't entirely dispel the feeling that I have that the government (who has tripled the national debt in just a decade and a half) is eager to find any and all means that they can to find additional ways to tax me.

That being said, your point is well taken.

You are not wrong, that is exactly what it is and when you don’t fall in line, it will be easy to find a infraction to convince you to fall in line. Any home/car maintenance these days exceeds $600 unless you do it yourself.

Hopefully your tin foil hat meme is sarcastic. Because people are right. The gov is not hiring 87,000 new IRS agents to go after billionaires. It's to go after thousandaires that buy or sell a couch and a lamp on craigslist. Or a pinball machine or two. If you can't document purchase price, cost of maintenance and repairs, and selling price you will be paying taxes on the reported sales price, and all those new agents will make sure you pay every last dollar.

Frankly, many of us own things we purchased 5, 10, or even 15 years ago or more and we have absolutely no proof whatsoever of what we paid or how much we put into it over the years. Good luck negotiating with your local auditor after you sell it. I hear they are known for their friendly and understanding manner.

Start "trading pins" for gold.

Made me LOL! (Also, went to Pottstown HS in the late 70's. Can still picture the endless line of trucks hauling in those pumpkins for Mrs Smiths Pumpkin pies, and me cutting through the Hill School property - - had to hop a fence, in order to walk home after school. Good times!

Back to the topic at hand, this could be a good argument to start doing more trades and fewer outright sales.

We're back on the army of 87k irs agents again eh? Well, the new debt ceiling deal apparently eliminated a ton of IRS funding so hopefully that can soothe your conspiracy rash some.

Just mark this thread and let me know when you get audited over a couch on Craigslist.

I don't do politics talk at all, so I'll just exit stage right and go back to pinballing but I do want to mention one thing many banks do when you are withdrawing cash, even in smallish amounts, is they ask what it's for because so many old people are being targeted by relative scams where they're being tricked into sending cash to a fake relative or something. It's been discussed amongst some older folks I know and really rubbed them the wrong way... And I can see that until it saves someone they know from being fleeced.

Alright... Back to it.

This is the part I don't get. It's as if the default assumption is that you paid $0 for the item you sold and you are on the hook for tax on the full selling price. Then the burden of proof is on you to get that amount reduced, but what proof could you possibly provide for an item that you have owned for many years? In most cases there never was a receipt. Even if there was, should we really be keeping receipts for everything we ever purchased going back to infinity, from a desk lamp to an action figure? Is there no accounting for inflation, as well? Sounds like a nightmare.

Just an FYI on the $600 reporting thing, it was put on hold for 2022 at the last minute for your 2022 taxes. (December the decision was made)

"The IRS is delaying lowering the threshold for Form 1099-K reporting by a year. The $20,000 and 200 transactions thresholds remain in place through December 31, 2023."

As you can imagine it was not welcomed by the masses when they tried to put it through. They say they will re-visit the change for next year.

Personally I hope it never comes to fruition.

You’ve always owed that tax, you just haven’t been paying it.

It’s actually not. Just report the expenses associated with the sale as best you can (cost of the game plus all maintenance over the years), and you’ll be fine. Your audit risk is next to nothing on a transaction like that.

Haven't people done that with Gold Eagles or other coins already?

In before the lock!

Just going to say, while I think the tracking of money has gone too far, it is also powerful tool that enables cops to go after drug traffickers, terrorists, organized crime and so on. You get rid of it, you gain more privacy (and an easier time breaking income tax laws), but the flip side is that all your criminal elements get the same benefits as well. You don't get one without the other.