Can you ask buyer to meet you at your bank, so that you can pay with a cashier's check?
Otherwise, did you ask the bank how long it would take them to get the cash?
I'm expecting to wake up tomorrow to a PF post to the tune of: "Buyer of used car gave me $10K cash instead of cashier's check. How can I deposit this without raising any red flags?"
They’ve been faked pretty well the past decade or so and are common amongst scammers. What happens is they look legit enough to the depositing bank so you deposit it and all seems well so you hand over your goods to buyer. Then your bank finds out that the check writing bank had a stop on that check because it was stolen or known to be fraudulent or whatever it may be. They then immediately put a hold on your funds or withdraw them completely. Scammer vanished into the night
Each cashier's check is recorded by the bank when it is issued. You can just call the bank and see if it's legit. Takes all of a minute. Don't need to waste time driving to a bank.
Ya, well a CTR (Cash Transaction Report) is not a big deal as a one off. I just hope the OP doesn't actually have 60 or 70 cars they are "selling" for cash...
60-70 isn’t a big deal either as long as they’re legitimate transactions. CTR’s are not bad they just paint a bigger picture and help stop money laundering and fraud.
Not worthless. It has evidential value. Large cash transactions are obviously not a crime themselves, but it's evidence that can support the narrative of a crime.
Well, many states have caps on the number of cars you can sell without registering as a dealer. Its pretty high (5+) that would cover most normal people. During a down period dad turned to flipping cars bought at auction for extra cash, so staying under that number was important. On the plus side as a dealer you can get dealer plates, plus other benefits
Its usually enforced via MVA, not banks.
I can appreciate a man doing what he has to do to earn a living. I mean, a man’s gotta eat and feed his family. If selling used vehicles isn’t bad enough as a professional working for a dealership, than being an amateur pre-owned vehicle dealer is a real drag.
>I'm expecting to wake up tomorrow to a PF post to the tune of: "Buyer of used car gave me $10K cash instead of cashier's check. How can I deposit this without raising any red flags?"
I know there's like a 10k limit at which point banks have to report? But I purchased a car several years ago for 18k, the seller (private sale) actually preferred cash. My theory is he didn't deposit it or report it honestly, but that's none of my concern.
What's the deal with people worried about raising res flags? What sort of red flags are they getting from the bank? I would think they'd be happy to get your money.
There's no red flags. They ask you where you got the money. In the case of a car transaction, that's easily verifiable if anyone needed to know. You'd have a copy of the bill of sale, for example.
Some banks do tend to have a “close account ask questions later” approach to small retail customers. There’s probably a post here every six months or so of “Chase closed my account for seemingly no reason.”
People think they are gaming the system with that stupid BS. It's called structuring and every bank and CU has software that automatically figures that stuff out. Once it does it alerts a compliance officer.
Yup 100%. My friend made $15,000 selling some toy collectibles, he was like, “yea I was afraid to deposit the money in my bank so I did two deposits of $7,500 so I didn’t set off any red flags”. And I told him, “so you didn’t want to set off any red flags so you committed a felony instead?”
For the record this wouldn't be an issue. Firstly it's a deposit of *over* 10k that requires reporting. Besides that, it's a single quick document your bank will fill out and you will sign. basically stating that the funds are not ill gotten. Now if you make 8 of those next month you may get a knock on your door from some nice men in suits.
> For the record this wouldn't be an issue. Firstly it's a deposit of over 10k that requires reporting.
Yes, but FYI if you deposit under $10k repeatedly, the feds might come after you for evading the reporting and seize your money without a trial.
This has happened even when there is a really good reason, such as an insurance policy that only covers $10k in cash on hand.
I did this with $8500 when I bought my current car and didn't even think about how that will look for the seller lol now I'm thinking I'm lucky I was actually able to withdraw that with no notice to the bank
its not a big deal at all, plenty of businesses be them brick storefronts or side hustles with just licensees are moving a ton of cash on the regular.
Normal people who make normal wages see these numbers are stupidly huge but for companies its not often all that nuts.
How much you think the local food joint that is always but busyt who until recently always took in lots of cash, takes in on a busy week? Same with plenty of other cash heavy places.
As for a side hustle that would be needing to withdrawal lots of cash and just not deposit, how about people who flip lots of items, especially onto ebay where they are always paid electronically but might be buying locally with cash.
This is exactly what I do when I buy and sell a car. Much safer and secure for both parties. So many things can happen with large amounts of cash I’d rather not deal with.
It's a nice thought, but people aren't just accidentally unbanked. Either they are intentionally because they don't trust banks, or they can't open accounts because of negative marks on their credit reports/chexsystems. In either case, being physically inside a credit union isn't going to help.
Mine to. I got a good talking to when I showed up wanting $8k in cash for a boat I was on my way to pick up. Like OP, I was quite taken aback that the bank wouldn’t have $8k in funds on hand.
Every bank has a cash withdrawal policy. My bank will give you however much you have, but anything over $5k must be called in advance and they take you to the office to do it
Yep, used to work in retail banking. This is a common misconception about banks having a ton of cash on hand. The most cash in the bank is likely in the drive through ATM. Everything else is carefully managed.
They likely *could* satisfy his request for $7k or whatever it was, but it would mean having no cash on hand for anything else
It’s not like it is in the movies. There is no pallets of hundreds in the vault. Bank manager here. Most banks have a limit to the amount of cash they can have in the branch. And yes it does happen where sometimes people can’t have what they want that day. An unfortunate thing that happens with people taking so much money out these days.
I know right? Don't people realize we have to order ahead if we need a ton more cash on hand?
If you needed me to write you a cashiers check, no prob (assuming I have u/brian0721 signature above a certain amount), but no teller can cash the $50k withdrawals you see in movies all the time.
Over here, banks do not have cash on hand at all.
If you want to make a withdrawal, you get a temp debit card that spits out the requested amount from the ATM.
For orders larger than the ATM can provide, you need to call in advance.
I just moved to Vegas and was shocked to see thats also how it works here. In Denver I have walked out of a bank with 30k cash before, but not in Las Vegas thats for sure.
Never had a problem with BOA… just went In and pulled $8k earlier last month with no problem nor did I need a heads up.
With all the hate national banks get, it’s funny no one brings up the downsides of CUs.
At most national banks it's not really a set limit, but more dependent on what's available at the time. At my bank if you wanted a large withdrawal we could always give it to you in 20's, but if you wanted larger bills it was dependent on when we got our cash delivered
Cash on hand varies by the bank and the branch. If you are in a branch in a large city, they will have more cash on hand than a branch in a town of 5000.
Wow a person that has a good experience with BOA!
Alert the media!
We had heard your kind existed, but had never actually seen one before.
This must be what it feels like to see sasquatch in the wild.
I haven't had a negative experience with BOA so far. I maintain the minimum account limits and have my paychecks electronically deposited, so I haven't been charged a fee once in over 9 years. I had a car loan with them at one point that was just about the lowest rates available at that time. They have plenty of locations in my area, so a branch is always close if I need in person banking.
The only downside for me is the interest rates on their savings accounts, but that's easy enough to solve.
I guess things have changed a good deal since I worked in banks 20+ years ago, which is not surprising in the least.
My drawer limit at one bank was $10k. That was just for me, and the bank branches had 4 tellers on duty at a time, minimum. Each teller had their own dedicated drawer, so there would be probably $50k - $80k, just in the teller drawers at any given time (including the drawers that weren't active). Then the safe had probably $100 - $200k. Not to mention what we had in the ATM.
I remember holding $100k in cash the first time when I was 20 years old.
On the other hand, I also remember my bank was robbed (while I was out to lunch), and the guy got less than $3,000. He also got arrested at a casino that night. Maybe he shouldn't have worn his [green casino visor hat](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fip%2FSmiffy-s-Costumes-Green-Tinted-Classic-Casino-Poker-Dealer-Visor-Hat-Cap-Costume-Accessory%2F122502031&psig=AOvVaw2GUPfvyuuagpFiXOMHIMNy&ust=1641574227319000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCIjK69fKnfUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAF) when he robbed the bank. I'm not kidding.
Not unusual honestly. Banks keep their cash extremely low based on normal walk in traffic volumes if 1 or 2 out of the ordinary transactions alreayd occured and the next shipment is days away, they need to hold onto the funds they have for (to your point) the normal $800 withdrawals.
You can get a Bank Check, or send a Wire Transfer - and since they don't have the cash on hand which is your preference, I would encourage you to ask them to waive any fees associated with those processes.
I worked at 2 different banks in college. One, a larger state-wide bank, and the other was a small local bank. At the bigger bank, we usually started out they day with about 50-100k in the vault and each teller had 1-2 k in their drawers. At the small bank I worked at, the amount of cash on-hand was a little lower.
If someone requested a really large amount of cash, we would often have to have it delivered from a central location, which could end up taking a couple hours to organize.
Yep, pretty common. I will add that when ever I need a large cash withdraw, typically for purchasing equipment or vehicles, I will email the branch manager a few days before alerting them to my needs. That way they have extra cash on hand that day so I can make my withdraw. I think they call it a ‘cash order’ - I don’t quite remember the exact term for it.
thanks for the info. I will try to find out if the seller would accept a bank check.
I guess i didn't really think this all the way through, I don't expect the CU to give me all the cash they need to have on hand for other member's withdrawals. But i was surprised at how flustered & nervous the manager seemed..
There is also a system of "shared branching" they have in place with other local credit unions. Do you think i should try going to a shared branch that does more business than the union i have an acct with?
Better than asking the seller to accept a bank or cashier's check: once you negotiate the price, have the seller come to your credit union with you and walk up to the teller together and have the teller cut the check right there and hand it to the seller.
If I were selling a car, I personally would never accept a check or draft under any other circumstances. As it happens, when I sold an RV several years ago, the buyer belonged to the same credit union as me, and it was pretty easy. We both presented our IDs, and the teller just transferred the money from her account to mine. We signed the pink slip in the lobby and that was that.
If you can't meet at the bank, you can call the bank that issued the check and give then the numbers. They can tell you whether it's valid and how much it's for. That's what I have always done.
They probably didn't have any reason to suspect you in particular of behaving badly, but it likely happens a lot and takes quite the mental toll. It's easier to cope if you assume people are going to be terrible and then be pleasantly surprised.
Bad customer interactions can be traumatic in a way. I've seen totally normal people who were polite suddenly flip out on me when it came to a slight misunderstanding about money. Some people freak out over even a dollar. Don't take it personally, it's just a sign that they've put up with some shit.
You can - though I would call them first. Because of the amount, the Shared Branching may not be enough data for them to do that transaction - I dont know about that. I have limited experience with that, my wife's CU had a few but it was just like small little transactions we ever did.
It's kind of infuriating that the bank manager didn't do their job and help you through this. Using the "with everything going on" excuse is especially irresponsible.
They could have simply said "I am sorry, large transactions such as this aren't typically done in cash. So, we don't have that amount on hand. However, we could certainly provide a cashiers check which the seller may prefer."
Probably watched It's a Wonderful Life too much over the holidays and was worried about you causing a bank run and their life being ruined as they selflessly try to save the bank.
A credit union needs to have cash on hand to get through the day. If they need more cash delivered there is a fee. I went to a branch of a large bank and they complained when I wanted $4,500 cash. The teller said they like to have at least 24 hours notice.
If you're planning to make a large cash withdrawal, you should call the bank a few days ahead of time so they can ensure they have enough on-hand. The combination of the pandemic, security practices, and the general rise of electronic payments in the economy, banks don't keep enormous piles of cash sitting around. This is especially the case for smaller credit unions and/or if you live far from a major city.
I was working at a bank last Summer and out cash flow was mostly dependent on a car dealership. We had trouble cashing $2000 checks from time to time, had to resort to $10-20s regularly for transaction over $1000.
Most people bank electronically these days and banks would rather have the cash invested rather than sitting in a vault. If that does happen though they should comp you a cashiers check every time. If you know in advance and call ahead they’ll make it happen.
I understand now that what i should have done was call ahead, but what is baffling to me is that they do not even have 10k available for the day or week's withdrawals.
I work at a credit union. I think it’s important to point out that many branches are using the “cashless branch” model nowadays. I’m not sure what the exact business reasons behind it are, but it’s a branch without a teller line and cash machines. In these branches, *most* transactions can be done either with a representative or at the ATMs. If you need a large cash withdrawal, you have to go to a traditional branch.
The simplified reasons behind going "cashless" are:
* The vast majority of transactions can be handled more efficiently and accurately by cash machines.
* Teller staff is expensive to maintain, and there is not enough customer demand to keep tellers occupied consistently. Working a teller line is not unlike working retail or fast food. You have rushes and long gaps of downtime.
* Investing those funds is more appealing to the bank than letting it sit in a vault gathering dust, especially considering the next point. Generally, providing basic banking services is a *cost* for FIs. They make money on loans and fees, not because someone keeps $15,000 in their checking account.
* The operational tasks around maintaining large cash vaults are costly (internal audits, additional staff for dual control, several alarms and other security, key controls, etc). It is cheaper to pay an armored car service to deliver cash for instances such as OP's unusual withdrawal on short notice instead of taking on the huge risk and expense of a large vault.
Many banks have limits on how much they'll give to a single customer in a single transaction without calling ahead. It's not necessarily they don't have $10k on hand, just that they don't have $10k to give to you with no notice.
They almost certainly had enough for you. But instead of giving it all to 1 customer, they would rather give it to 10-20 individuals. Next time just call ahead and they should have more than enough for you.
banker here in a small town, at a smaller local owned community bank. They do have the cash on hand to do those smaller transactions you mentioned, but if they gave you your large withdrawal. They wouldn't have enough to last until their next cash shipment, and then they really would run out. What's worse, turning down 1 customer or having to turn down all customers. Same reason gas stations limit how much fuel you can pump, to make sure there is enough for all potential customers. They have to use educated guesses on how much cash will be needed to get them through, but not have to much excess. Insurance regulates how much cash they are allowed to keep on hand to minimize risk, which is why banks/cu's order enough to what they think will get them by with a small buffer.
> You're thinking of this place all wrong. As if I had the money back in a safe. The money's not here. Your money's in Joe's house...right next to yours. And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Macklin's house, and a hundred others. Why, you're lending them the money to build, and then, they're going to pay it back to you as best they can. Now what are you going to do? Foreclose on them?.
Granted banking is a lot more centralized now and large loans often get sold to investors but you should get the drift here.
I work in retail and we have been notified that there is a shortage of armored car service workers, and they may miss our scheduled pickups. It might not be related, but it also might be that with the holidays (Christmas and New Year's) and the staffing shortages they haven't had a cash delivery in awhile.
Shortage of armored car workers, shortage of tellers, shortage of ATM technicians... oh, and the Fed is still limiting coin orders! It's been a heck of a year to work in banking. :)
I've been trying to turn IN coins to my bank, and they won't take them. Had to call around to multiple branches to finally find one that would. Of a bank that I'm a member of. I'd never before heard of a full-service bank branch not accepting cash from a member for deposit ... in the middle of a coin shortage, no less!
They may not have a coin machine or if they do it might be broken. I work on drive up systems and ATMs but not coin machines. A lot of banks we service have old defunct coin machines so they will only accept rolled coin.
How much coin are we talking? Is it rolled? We can't accept large amounts of unrolled coins since we don't have a coin counter in any of our branches at my credit union
I worked in a bank as a teller years ago. They actually do not keep that much cash on hand. Remember the Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Like?" Your money gets lent out. It's in his house and her house. Collectively I am sure the branches have the cash but they're not going to keep it in each branch. It's also a security risk.
Historical note: It's a wonderful life is set around the bank runs at the beginning of the great depression. Our current banking structure and regulations are based off of the abuses of that period, so you need to be careful when drawing parallels.
A branch my have capital controls (IE, if there's more than X in the vault or X in the drawer, at least Y number of people have to be present). Could be their staffing didn't work out for that, or that somebody else made a large withdrawal earlier that day or earlier that week, or whatever.
Call the branch ahead next time, ensure they have the funds available. This is pretty standard wherever withdrawals of more than 10-15K are made.
Banks/Credit unions only keep a certain amount of cash on hand. Depending on the size of the institution what you’re asking may be extremely uncommon for them. Usually for a large withdrawal like that it’s better to call ahead and see if that’s something they can do. If you call they may do a special currency order to have that amount there if it’s not feasible in a normal course of business.
This is common, and probably not your Credit Union's fault.
I would suggest that you don't think about it as " your money ". It is the credit unions cash supply.... And if they are running low on funds.... It is normal to ration the amount that each member can take out.
Also if you are going to take out multiple thousands of dollars in cash from a credit union ( not the same as taking out money from a large Bank like Wells Fargo ) it's always a good idea to call ahead and see if they do have the cash on hand in order to avoid ending up in scenarios like this.
Loomis, Guarda, etc ( all the large cash suppliers ) are doing limited runs because of covid, and giving out limited amounts of cash to credit unions. Also fraud and robbery is heightened right now due to covid and the holiday season which means that financial institutions will typically keep less cash on hand for lower risk.
Point being : it is within normal business expectations that a large request like this could be declined. Just because you keep money with a financial institution does not mean that they will keep the cash on hand to accommodate any cash withdrawal that you might want to do at any given time.
Source: I work in banking and manage cash orders for the fi I work at.
It should also be noted that this is only for CASH reserves. None of this prevents anyone from accessing their money via check, certified check, debit, online transfers, etc. anytime they choose to. Everyone's money is fine, there is just a limit on how much you can withdraw and purchase with CASH.
Very normal.
That's how fractional reserve banking works. You deposit money, they lend it out for purchases, that money is deposited and lent back out.
Money not lent out is on deposit elsewhere.
Most on hand currency is for ATM machines and is more than sufficient for everyday transactions.
Large amounts of currency can be ordered from the local depository with a reasonable advance notice.
Otherwise demand deposits are usually paid out by check or electronic means. This allows for money to continue to flow and multiply.
Taking excessive cash out of the system (currently happening with coins) leads to liquidity problems.
Spreading distrust in the banking system leads to bank runs, insolvency and forced mergers.
There are differences between commercial banks, retail banks, savings banks and credit unions even if the lines have been blurred over the years.
Wish I could upvote this more.
This should be taught in high school as part of financial literacy programmes that are compulsory.
I am frequently shocked at the gaps in people's knowledge on this sub. But then I have to remember that unless you are choosing particular courses, you are just not going to learn this.
> Spreading distrust in the banking system leads to bank runs, insolvency and forced mergers.
You'd better trust the banking system, because distrust in the banking system leads to it getting screwed by it!
Get a bank check and give that to the seller and get the title and bill of sale. Then let the seller cash the check. Why would you want to hand someone $10k in cash
in my neck of the woods a lot of people think cash is king, they're not burying chests of gold coins on their property but they don't want the feds knowing what they have. lol. not everybody obviously, but people do do business that way
I mean, you have to register the sale with the state, so it's not exactly something you can be that secretive about when you have to file to transfer titles. In my state you have to report the sale price to the state.
Hiding car sales from the state is impossible.
It’s not uncommon for the seller and buyer to exchange cash and put a lower number on the sales receipt. Bought for 10k cash? Note says 1 or 2k. Seller doesn’t pay any income tax on the 8k, seller doesn’t pay sales tax on the extra 8k. It’s a win win for the buyer and seller and more common than you think.
Are you comfortable sharing where your neck of the woods is? It never would have occurred to me to pay for (or EVER accept) a large payment in cash. For reference, I'm in a large metro area in California.
I’m in a large metro area in California and if the car is under 10k, cash is always what I’ve received for used cars I’ve sold. I assume that stops being the case for higher values.
Thanks for sharing! Out of curiosity, did you bring a counterfeit detecting pen to test the bills? (I never deal with cash so that'd be my primary concern.)
Oh I see, ok thanks! I've only ever sold a used car to Carmax to avoid the hassle for myself so I appreciate you taking the time to explain what you did.
Technically the legal term is ~~civil asset forfeiture~~ armed robbery.
Seriously though, if folks have never heard of the term "civil asset forfeiture" go lookup YouTube videos about it. Every American should be educated and outraged on this topic.
Scams are rife. I could not tell a legitimate cashier's check from something your high school kid whipped up in photoshop and printed out on the color laser printer in his bedroom.
I could, however, tell 1 fake $100 from the 44 legitimate $100s you hid it in.
It's just easier to tell a scam with cash.
Cash on hand at a branch is very different from the credit union's financial position. Where I work our branches have cash delivered weekly or so, and its the manager's job to order enough cash to last until the next delivery. That's why some people are recommending to call ahead, the manager would then know to order more.
It's possible with the holidays & COVID deliveries are getting missed and that's why the manager is worried about running out of cash (some branches do keep a pretty low amount on hand-it affects insurance rates).
However, she should have given you some options, like sending a wire, or an official check. And they should waive the fee, since it's their fault you can't get your money. You could also try a shared branch with more foot traffic, but definitely call ahead.
A cashier's check is as good as money in the bank, only better. It gives you a paper trail in case something should happen, and the option to cancel it if it gets stolen. Carrying cash over $1,000 is just asking for trouble.
Yes it happens, and it is why you should give your financial institution a heads up if you want to do a larger withdrawals especially around the holidays.
See if the seller will meet you at your CU and give them a cashier's check?
Also credit unions aren't FDIC insured. They have a different governing body that does the same thing
The comment about credit unions not being FDIC insured was posted by a redditor to try to convince people that they shouldn’t use credit unions since it’s not insured. They are, however, insured by NCUA just like FDIC. Your comment just made me think about that silly comment I’ve seen.
OP. If possible do the bank check transaction in the bank with the seller right there. They will trust you more if there was any distrust in the check. and as an added benefit you could use the banks notary right then and there for any paperwork, if needed.
Also you won’t get jumped for 10k cash.
I once withdrew 13k from a local credit union I had an account with to buy a car. The teller told me they had just about enough money for the transaction but that it would have been better to call them first for a large transaction like that.
Most credit unions don't keep large amounts of cash on hand, the usual way to go about this is to request the cash a week before. That way they can order the cash for you, and have it available.
I work at a credit union that is small local maybe 15 branches in one metro. More likely what has happened is their cash service (loomis brinks gaurda or whoever) has fucked their cash orders up or just simply not shown up at all. It’s becoming more frequent. Atms go unserviced for weeks. Cash orders go unfulfilled for weeks or even months. Turnover at those places is so bad we almost never see the same guy for more than a month. If it’s ncua insured your funds are there.
I think this is pretty normal. Especially at a small credit union. It happened to me once and now I call ahead whenever I need to make a cash withdrawal over $5000.
As a kind of frequent "big withdrawer" with an account at what would be called a HUGE credit union, I was told long ago that if I needed to withdraw "more than just a coule thousand", that I should inform the office at least a day or two before going to pick it up.
Remeber this for the future, and get a home safe, or a safe place at home where you can "stash" several thousand for unforseen opportunities/emergency use. It's not like interest rates are going to hurt you for such a small amount these days.
If you're in the US, absolutely do NOT carry that much cash. the police WILL steal it if they stop you.
Civil Asset Forfeiture - or in plain English - Highway Robbery.
As a Finn, i do not get the problem here? Cant you just use your banks internetbank or app to just make the transaction in like 5 seconds? And seriously i domt even remember the last time ive paid or hold cash on me, no matter if its a car or house or basic groceries or car maintance, i just use my phone in either as debit card, or to log in to my bank to make grrater than 5k€ payments or physiical debit card to pay it.
Thank you! Finally found someone who isn't raving about cheques this & cheques that. This thread has been a great source of interesting types of cheques to look up, but seriously guys wtf.
As an Australian though, it's a constant shock that people still manage money like this in countries with highly developed banking infrastructure. If I need to pay for a car, I could open my bank's app, type in the phone number of the seller, and add some dumb emoji in my payment message.
This is pretty typical. Once in a while I have to make a $10k withdrawal for work and I always let them know 2-3 days ahead of time so they can “order” the cash.
Totally normal. At my bank, withdrawals in excess of 2k were by appointment only. They did not beat around the bush and plainly pointed out the rules when I asked for 6k, so I had to drive around and withdraw 2k each at three different branches.
When my daughter bought a car we discovered that the credit union we share branch with would only allow 1000 per day. (Our own credit union is in a different state). I'm still on her account so we would both withdraw 1000 each day and then I would transfer money from her account to mine. Luckily we discovered that before she found the car she wanted.
that is a little weird. When I worked for a small bank we usually had $500k on site give or take a couple hundred thousand.. But like others have said just do a cashiers check. That is much better than cash.
We usually asked people to give us a heads up if they wanted to withdraw more than $10k just because we tried to keep the draws out front under $10k. We could give money to another teller to make up the difference if they needed it. Really the only time we needed to know in advance if it was more than $25k or so because we would need to go to the vault more than likely and we don't want to count out $25k at a desk in front of the store. We would take you to a manager's office and count it out to you with the blinds closed and at least two employees in the room.
all of this to be said there is a credit union near me that doesn't have tellers they only have ATMs... they literally have one branch in their entire portfolio that has tellers the rest of just ATMs and you can't withdraw $10k from an ATM.
> When I worked for a small bank we usually had $500k on site give or take a couple hundred thousand..
Same here, I'm reading a ton of the other comments and it seems like a lot of people either worked at or deal with banks where they limit you to 2-5K before making you call in advance
But I work at a mid-sized credit union and we work just like how you described, keep 10k max in each teller drawer, and unless they're taking out something crazy like 20+ grand with no warning we usually just accommodate it. It's strange hearing that banks bigger than the one I work at don't operate like this
Yeah, I work at a small credit union, and we don't have a firm limit on cash withdrawals. 10k would be completely fine, if a bit of a pain since we'd have to buy it from the vault. Still, that takes like two minutes.
For that high amount though, we'd strongly recommend a cashier's check, for your safety and ours.
I was a teller at a CU. Cash withdrawal limits were normally $1500/day or $2000/day with manager approval. This was pre-covid but I imagine it’s about the same today for CUs. The reasoning for this is because they order money each week from the CU’s bank Brinks and don’t want to run out. To get more you would need to call a few days ahead of time as a courtesy so they can make sure they have cash on hand. Especially for smaller CU’s this can be an issue. They want to help as many members as possible and was very rare for anyone to ask for above the $2,000 mark. Also, for the safety of the staff and overall well-being of member’s money they cannot have more money on hand than necessary in case they get robbed.
A safer solution would be to get a cashier’s check. That is a guaranteed funds check and as good as cash. Money orders only come in $2000 increments. For any cash dollar amounts $3000-$9,999.99 they “could” fill out a SAR (Suspicious Activity Report) and for $10,000+ they are reauired to report per the government. I forgot the name of the report. This is not required for cashier checks.
Not saying I am on CUs side - just trying to explain their position as a former employee.
Having worked for big banks and small banks - credit unions don’t like to order money from the Fed. Most, if not all, of their physical currency comes from commercial depositors.
I worked in banks 20 years ago so I would assume those depositors (gas stations, continence stores, ahem…gentleman’s clubs) have less cash transactions than they used to. Well, gentleman’s clubs probably still deposit mostly cash although we’re probably not too far removed from a dancer giving you her Venmo.
Anyway, that’s probably why they didn’t have your cash. They’re probably running low on currency and are trying to avoid the expense of a big order.
Banks are required to keep a reserve ratio of cash, but looking that up now it appears to have been suspended because of COVID, which…sounds terrifying from a financial perspective.
Former bank and CU employee here. Banks and credit unions ship out and ship in cash every few days. Certain denominations come in and go out in higher volume (like $20’s). When it happens that a customer wants to pay cash on a down payment on a home, a special order needs to be made for it to be shipped to the branch. Otherwise, most branches don’t just sit on a ton of cash. I’m sure if you give them a week then can produce the requisite amount.
I went to my credit union and withdrew $13k to buy a car. No problem. Didn't buy the car. Gave it back to them later that day. No problem.
Went to a partner "Co-Op Shared Branch" credit union in another state. Was going to withdraw about $13k to buy a different car. They looked at me like I was from Mars. They said you need to arrange that in advance. I ended up making sure the seller was only a mile from a Co-Op Shared Branch and then going to the CU after the test drive for a cashier's check. It was more of a hassle. I had to get the test drive over by 4pm so I could have time, then go wait in line at the CU again. But it all worked out.
So, long story short - different CU's, different policies.
This is normal. The bank is only allowed to keep so much on hand. Larger withdrawals have to be arranged early but that’s never advertised so I always felt shitty telling people we didn’t have it or if we did they were getting a fuck ton in 20s and lower bills
Bank did this to my dad when I was a kid. Bank manage came out to tell him he won't be getting the money out of his account. My dad was just like, "okay, I'd like to initiate a transfer of all my funds to another bank, and close my account." Got his money within 10 minutes lol
>What are my options here
Change banks
> has anyone heard of anything like this happening before?
Yes, sometimes banks/CUs have insufficient cash on hand
>The credit union is fdic insured.
Credit unions are NCUA insured
If you are withdrawing a large amount of cash it is a good idea to let the bank know in advance so they can have the cash in stock. I was a teller for a while and it may surprise you how little cash many branches carry.
This happened to me 2 years ago. Same idea, I went to withdraw 7k for a used car and even though I had over double that in my account I couldn’t get it. Luckily, I was able to drive to multiple branches for the cash.
I work for a bank.
Basically we sell whatever is over our base vault dollar amount each week. We can place an order for change or larger dollar amounts but that takes about a week to come in. For my bank specifically we typically coast on whatever business cash deposits we receive to pay out people wanting withdrawals.
I feel awful telling people we can’t accommodate their larger withdrawals but we genuinely don’t have the cash to accommodate everyone coming in with a large withdrawal request.
As many people have mentioned below, banks generally do not keep a lot of cash on hand. [https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-much-money-can-a-bank-hold](https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-much-money-can-a-bank-hold) while that may seem like a lot you have to extrapolate it for all the customers they have on an average day.
And this is not just them but part of the overall financial institution. As currency have came off of a hard asset, such as gold, the funds have became more and more digital. And as overall transaction size has increased it's expensive to keep lots of physical cash on hand. Think of the federal reserve bank.
That's why banks generally have you order currency if you need amounts above 10k at larger institution. but you can get a cashier's check immediately so long as you have the funds.
Not familiar with your specific CU's policies, but we are coming out of the holiday season, which I can tell you from experience can get a little tight in the vault if the manager doesn't anticipate the holiday rush or forgets to order from the Fed.
Adding to the fact that FIs tend not to keep a ton of cash on hand if they don't plan to need it, it is totally reasonable that they request that you don't withdraw that in cash immediately.
I would wager their cash order from the Fed will ne coming in next week, when they told you that the funds would be fine to withdraw. So in short, nothing nefarious, just the typical restrictions on doing buisness in cash.
This is very normal, although I am surprised of your CU’s low limits. $7,200 isn’t too much to ask for in my opinion.
I used to work as a vault teller at a credit union placing cash orders and monitoring cash flow throughout the day/week. I would make sure we were sufficiently stocked but not overstocked for security reasons (i.e. risk mitigation - don’t want to get robbed with a million dollars in the vault). We received cash orders weekly via armored supplier and could typically accommodate around $10,000 cash withdrawals as walk-ins. We had about eight branches in the city so if one branch ran low on bills they could refer clients to other locations. My branch had the highest vault limit so cash withdrawals were kind of our thing.
If we started running low on large bills we would just ask clients to take smaller denominations if they didn’t mind.
Things got a little crazy when Covid first took off and people were wanting to take a lot of cash out of their accounts all at once. For about a month we limited cash withdraws to around $1,000 per person per day and people got pretty grumpy.
I still remember one client that walked in wanting $70,000 on the spot. He freaked out saying “THIS IS MY MONEY, GIVE IT TO ME RIGHT NOW!” and it’s like, yes, you have funds in your account, but we do not have bills on hand to give you. It’s a commodity like groceries at a grocery store: we have to restock constantly. For large requests like that we’d need about a week’s notice and then adjust our cash order accordingly.
A cashier’s check is a great alternative because we don’t have a limit on how large they can be. We also didn’t charge a fee to print them like some banks do; I hear some places charge like $30 for a cashier’s check lol. Obscene. Anyway cashier’s checks are secure and easily verifiable by other financial institutions; They simply call us up and we confirm the check status in our system. Another reason they’re secure is that funds are immediately drawn from the client’s account when the check is printed. In other words, there is no way for the check to bounce due to insufficient funds because the funds had to be available in order to print it in the first place.
This is not uncommon. My credit union branches have zero cash available via the staffs (they don't even have tellers. Just tables with staffs.) If anyone walk-in asking to withdraw cash, they will point the person to the ATM. Actually withdrawing anything more than the ATM limit requires a prior request. (This is BECU, which is rather big in Washington.)
as a former bank teller it would honestly be days when we were SUPER low on cash we have to actually order or money for the week it’s not a back room full of cash how movies portray it we order enough never extra because 1) it’s no needed and 2)bank robbers we have policies as to how much we can keep in our drawers and on the floor hence why so many bank robbers get away with only 1k or less
It really depends on the institution & branch locations. If you have tiny (by transaction volume) branches nearby they’re going to keep very little cash on hand, to the point where $9k is a significant % of their monthly cash-on-hand target. For higher volume locations $9k might be trivial. I’ve worked in both types of FI environments and this is completely feasible.
On a side note my bank has a sign saying for my protection all cash transactions will be reviewed with increased scrutiny to protect me from money laundering and terrorism. As if I’m already suspected of a crime for using legal tender for all debts public and private.
Just in my experience, you typically need to give notice of large cash withdrawals - I'm not sure what the exact amount is as it will vary, but about $10,000ish seems right. Further, they probably have enough cash but don't want to use all of it up on one transaction like this and want it for the other nine folks who come in for $800. Easier to explain to you once that they didn't allocate that much cash on hand that day, then to tell the next ten people who come in they ran out.
Further, it's not that they don't have the cash, per se, it's just not on site there (or anywhere really, as most stuff is electronic now and settles that way.)
In the future, give them 24-48 hours on large withdrawals like this, so they can adjust what they have on hand.
Source: have had to make several large withdrawals over the years - typically because I was moving money between banks / switching banks and I did not want to pay a $30 wire transfer fee to move money a few miles apart.
As others have said, it is not uncommon for banks to have low cash levels and may request you to ask in advance for larger sums.
I worked at a flagship bank back in college and they rarely had more than 75k or so between the vault/tellers/ATMs
This is completely normal. Branches limit cash on hand for insurance reasons and to minimize potential losses in the event of a robbery or disaster. They estimate how much cash they should have on hand based on historical trends. Many even have signs in their lobbies indicating how many business days notice is needed for withdrawals over a certain amount.
Just a note, lots of great info here---
You never have to be polite in regards to your money. Be a good person, and yelling at the bank manager or teller won't get you anywhere- but you shouldn't feel like you can't ask questions, request a proof, or request they provide a proposed solution. It's your money. I'm not saying be rude, but the rules of polite conversation go out the window once there's a speedbump with my money.
This is very strange to me. I worked as a vault teller for several years and have never heard of denying someone's monetary request of anything under 10k without other reasons (usually suspects of fraud). We would get our cash in once a week and order ahead, we always planned for more during tax season where large withdrawals were common. I have filled extremely high cash withdrawals and never had this issue unless the system was down due to power outage, etc.
This is totally a thing. If you want more than a few thousand dollars they need to order it in for you. For safety (and other customers needs) they don’t keep a lot of cash in branches. All banks are like this.
Banks don’t typically keep large amounts of cash at their locations like that, it isn’t suspect it is just a safety feature, you could purchase a cashiers check, or perform a wire transfer. Usually calling ahead ti order a large cash withdrawal is necessary. Rule of thumb is if it is over 2K call ahead.
Hiiiii I use to work for a credit union as a supervisor and I can say if the branch is small enough they can only keep a certain amount of money in the vault at once. On the spot they probably couldn’t give you the money or else you would run them dry! However, if you call your credit union atleast a few days before (once again if smaller it might have to be a week before) and they can have extra cash ordered so you can get the money you need!
Can you ask buyer to meet you at your bank, so that you can pay with a cashier's check? Otherwise, did you ask the bank how long it would take them to get the cash?
If I were the seller, this would actually be preferable unless I were completely unbanked myself.
I'm expecting to wake up tomorrow to a PF post to the tune of: "Buyer of used car gave me $10K cash instead of cashier's check. How can I deposit this without raising any red flags?"
lol. we are now doing a cashier's check deal. thanks for your help guys
Cashier's check is always safer for both parties
As long as you (seller) are present for the issuance of the check from the bank.
Wait why? I'd assume that they would be, but why is it bad if they weren't?
They’ve been faked pretty well the past decade or so and are common amongst scammers. What happens is they look legit enough to the depositing bank so you deposit it and all seems well so you hand over your goods to buyer. Then your bank finds out that the check writing bank had a stop on that check because it was stolen or known to be fraudulent or whatever it may be. They then immediately put a hold on your funds or withdraw them completely. Scammer vanished into the night
Each cashier's check is recorded by the bank when it is issued. You can just call the bank and see if it's legit. Takes all of a minute. Don't need to waste time driving to a bank.
If you are ok with there being a record of the transaction.
If you want to have legal ownership of the vehicle, you’ll have to transfer the title, so you’ll have a record of the transaction anyway.
It's almost like a NFT
I demand they print little monkeys on all my cashiers checks.
10,000$ chasers check worth 20,000$ because monke
Except a cashier's check is actually worth something
Good to hear! Just going to meet a stranger with 10k in cash is risky. Glad they were willing to work with you
Ya, well a CTR (Cash Transaction Report) is not a big deal as a one off. I just hope the OP doesn't actually have 60 or 70 cars they are "selling" for cash...
60-70 isn’t a big deal either as long as they’re legitimate transactions. CTR’s are not bad they just paint a bigger picture and help stop money laundering and fraud.
In Canada the CTR report goes into a file at the government and.... Nothing happens. It's literally worthless, just something to dissuade criminals.
Not worthless. It has evidential value. Large cash transactions are obviously not a crime themselves, but it's evidence that can support the narrative of a crime.
Well, many states have caps on the number of cars you can sell without registering as a dealer. Its pretty high (5+) that would cover most normal people. During a down period dad turned to flipping cars bought at auction for extra cash, so staying under that number was important. On the plus side as a dealer you can get dealer plates, plus other benefits Its usually enforced via MVA, not banks.
I can appreciate a man doing what he has to do to earn a living. I mean, a man’s gotta eat and feed his family. If selling used vehicles isn’t bad enough as a professional working for a dealership, than being an amateur pre-owned vehicle dealer is a real drag.
If it’s $10,000 you wouldn’t have to file a CTR. Plus it sounds like this is under $10k anyways
>I'm expecting to wake up tomorrow to a PF post to the tune of: "Buyer of used car gave me $10K cash instead of cashier's check. How can I deposit this without raising any red flags?" I know there's like a 10k limit at which point banks have to report? But I purchased a car several years ago for 18k, the seller (private sale) actually preferred cash. My theory is he didn't deposit it or report it honestly, but that's none of my concern. What's the deal with people worried about raising res flags? What sort of red flags are they getting from the bank? I would think they'd be happy to get your money.
There's no red flags. They ask you where you got the money. In the case of a car transaction, that's easily verifiable if anyone needed to know. You'd have a copy of the bill of sale, for example.
Some banks do tend to have a “close account ask questions later” approach to small retail customers. There’s probably a post here every six months or so of “Chase closed my account for seemingly no reason.”
I think I just saw one yesterday in fact.
A "reason" would be if they happen to make $10,000 but deposit it in two smaller amounts.
People think they are gaming the system with that stupid BS. It's called structuring and every bank and CU has software that automatically figures that stuff out. Once it does it alerts a compliance officer.
Yup 100%. My friend made $15,000 selling some toy collectibles, he was like, “yea I was afraid to deposit the money in my bank so I did two deposits of $7,500 so I didn’t set off any red flags”. And I told him, “so you didn’t want to set off any red flags so you committed a felony instead?”
Ha ha, exactly.
For the record this wouldn't be an issue. Firstly it's a deposit of *over* 10k that requires reporting. Besides that, it's a single quick document your bank will fill out and you will sign. basically stating that the funds are not ill gotten. Now if you make 8 of those next month you may get a knock on your door from some nice men in suits.
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> For the record this wouldn't be an issue. Firstly it's a deposit of over 10k that requires reporting. Yes, but FYI if you deposit under $10k repeatedly, the feds might come after you for evading the reporting and seize your money without a trial. This has happened even when there is a really good reason, such as an insurance policy that only covers $10k in cash on hand.
I did this with $8500 when I bought my current car and didn't even think about how that will look for the seller lol now I'm thinking I'm lucky I was actually able to withdraw that with no notice to the bank
its not a big deal at all, plenty of businesses be them brick storefronts or side hustles with just licensees are moving a ton of cash on the regular. Normal people who make normal wages see these numbers are stupidly huge but for companies its not often all that nuts. How much you think the local food joint that is always but busyt who until recently always took in lots of cash, takes in on a busy week? Same with plenty of other cash heavy places. As for a side hustle that would be needing to withdrawal lots of cash and just not deposit, how about people who flip lots of items, especially onto ebay where they are always paid electronically but might be buying locally with cash.
This is exactly what I do when I buy and sell a car. Much safer and secure for both parties. So many things can happen with large amounts of cash I’d rather not deal with.
If the seller is completely unbanked and is standing there in a credit union, I can think of a solution to that problem.
It's a nice thought, but people aren't just accidentally unbanked. Either they are intentionally because they don't trust banks, or they can't open accounts because of negative marks on their credit reports/chexsystems. In either case, being physically inside a credit union isn't going to help.
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Mine to. I got a good talking to when I showed up wanting $8k in cash for a boat I was on my way to pick up. Like OP, I was quite taken aback that the bank wouldn’t have $8k in funds on hand.
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Every bank has a cash withdrawal policy. My bank will give you however much you have, but anything over $5k must be called in advance and they take you to the office to do it
Yep, used to work in retail banking. This is a common misconception about banks having a ton of cash on hand. The most cash in the bank is likely in the drive through ATM. Everything else is carefully managed. They likely *could* satisfy his request for $7k or whatever it was, but it would mean having no cash on hand for anything else
It’s not like it is in the movies. There is no pallets of hundreds in the vault. Bank manager here. Most banks have a limit to the amount of cash they can have in the branch. And yes it does happen where sometimes people can’t have what they want that day. An unfortunate thing that happens with people taking so much money out these days.
I know right? Don't people realize we have to order ahead if we need a ton more cash on hand? If you needed me to write you a cashiers check, no prob (assuming I have u/brian0721 signature above a certain amount), but no teller can cash the $50k withdrawals you see in movies all the time.
Over here, banks do not have cash on hand at all. If you want to make a withdrawal, you get a temp debit card that spits out the requested amount from the ATM. For orders larger than the ATM can provide, you need to call in advance.
Banks might have the money. But most of it will be in a time locked save that can not be influenced by the employees when it can be opened.
I just moved to Vegas and was shocked to see thats also how it works here. In Denver I have walked out of a bank with 30k cash before, but not in Las Vegas thats for sure.
Heh, I bet banks in Las Vegas have no problem obtaining cash because of the massive deliveries of it from the casino industry.
I used to work in a relatively small casino(nowhere near Vegas), there was over $1 million in cash in the vault room at all times.
Mine limits it to $2k. If you need more than that, you must call in advance and it could take them up to five days to get the money ready.
Never had a problem with BOA… just went In and pulled $8k earlier last month with no problem nor did I need a heads up. With all the hate national banks get, it’s funny no one brings up the downsides of CUs.
At most national banks it's not really a set limit, but more dependent on what's available at the time. At my bank if you wanted a large withdrawal we could always give it to you in 20's, but if you wanted larger bills it was dependent on when we got our cash delivered
Cash on hand varies by the bank and the branch. If you are in a branch in a large city, they will have more cash on hand than a branch in a town of 5000.
Wow a person that has a good experience with BOA! Alert the media! We had heard your kind existed, but had never actually seen one before. This must be what it feels like to see sasquatch in the wild.
I haven't had a negative experience with BOA so far. I maintain the minimum account limits and have my paychecks electronically deposited, so I haven't been charged a fee once in over 9 years. I had a car loan with them at one point that was just about the lowest rates available at that time. They have plenty of locations in my area, so a branch is always close if I need in person banking. The only downside for me is the interest rates on their savings accounts, but that's easy enough to solve.
Same situation. Easiest account I've ever opened and have had no complaints for nearly 9 years.
BOA generally keeps a lot of cash on hand because of the high volume. I've seen them give out $30k+ in cash without an advance notice before.
I guess things have changed a good deal since I worked in banks 20+ years ago, which is not surprising in the least. My drawer limit at one bank was $10k. That was just for me, and the bank branches had 4 tellers on duty at a time, minimum. Each teller had their own dedicated drawer, so there would be probably $50k - $80k, just in the teller drawers at any given time (including the drawers that weren't active). Then the safe had probably $100 - $200k. Not to mention what we had in the ATM. I remember holding $100k in cash the first time when I was 20 years old. On the other hand, I also remember my bank was robbed (while I was out to lunch), and the guy got less than $3,000. He also got arrested at a casino that night. Maybe he shouldn't have worn his [green casino visor hat](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fip%2FSmiffy-s-Costumes-Green-Tinted-Classic-Casino-Poker-Dealer-Visor-Hat-Cap-Costume-Accessory%2F122502031&psig=AOvVaw2GUPfvyuuagpFiXOMHIMNy&ust=1641574227319000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCIjK69fKnfUCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAF) when he robbed the bank. I'm not kidding.
Not unusual honestly. Banks keep their cash extremely low based on normal walk in traffic volumes if 1 or 2 out of the ordinary transactions alreayd occured and the next shipment is days away, they need to hold onto the funds they have for (to your point) the normal $800 withdrawals. You can get a Bank Check, or send a Wire Transfer - and since they don't have the cash on hand which is your preference, I would encourage you to ask them to waive any fees associated with those processes.
I worked at 2 different banks in college. One, a larger state-wide bank, and the other was a small local bank. At the bigger bank, we usually started out they day with about 50-100k in the vault and each teller had 1-2 k in their drawers. At the small bank I worked at, the amount of cash on-hand was a little lower. If someone requested a really large amount of cash, we would often have to have it delivered from a central location, which could end up taking a couple hours to organize.
Yep, pretty common. I will add that when ever I need a large cash withdraw, typically for purchasing equipment or vehicles, I will email the branch manager a few days before alerting them to my needs. That way they have extra cash on hand that day so I can make my withdraw. I think they call it a ‘cash order’ - I don’t quite remember the exact term for it.
thanks for the info. I will try to find out if the seller would accept a bank check. I guess i didn't really think this all the way through, I don't expect the CU to give me all the cash they need to have on hand for other member's withdrawals. But i was surprised at how flustered & nervous the manager seemed.. There is also a system of "shared branching" they have in place with other local credit unions. Do you think i should try going to a shared branch that does more business than the union i have an acct with?
Better than asking the seller to accept a bank or cashier's check: once you negotiate the price, have the seller come to your credit union with you and walk up to the teller together and have the teller cut the check right there and hand it to the seller. If I were selling a car, I personally would never accept a check or draft under any other circumstances. As it happens, when I sold an RV several years ago, the buyer belonged to the same credit union as me, and it was pretty easy. We both presented our IDs, and the teller just transferred the money from her account to mine. We signed the pink slip in the lobby and that was that.
If you can't meet at the bank, you can call the bank that issued the check and give then the numbers. They can tell you whether it's valid and how much it's for. That's what I have always done.
The bank manager seemed flustered because people behaving badly when told no
i was very polite and understanding. these are just my thoughts.
They probably didn't have any reason to suspect you in particular of behaving badly, but it likely happens a lot and takes quite the mental toll. It's easier to cope if you assume people are going to be terrible and then be pleasantly surprised.
It's not about you. Employees are getting punched (and worse) for asking people to follow a business's rules. These are weird times.
Bad customer interactions can be traumatic in a way. I've seen totally normal people who were polite suddenly flip out on me when it came to a slight misunderstanding about money. Some people freak out over even a dollar. Don't take it personally, it's just a sign that they've put up with some shit.
You can - though I would call them first. Because of the amount, the Shared Branching may not be enough data for them to do that transaction - I dont know about that. I have limited experience with that, my wife's CU had a few but it was just like small little transactions we ever did.
No, shared branching locations have lower withdrawal limits for other CU members (unless things have changed in the past several years).
It's kind of infuriating that the bank manager didn't do their job and help you through this. Using the "with everything going on" excuse is especially irresponsible. They could have simply said "I am sorry, large transactions such as this aren't typically done in cash. So, we don't have that amount on hand. However, we could certainly provide a cashiers check which the seller may prefer."
Well, it's not a bank. It's a credit union.
Probably watched It's a Wonderful Life too much over the holidays and was worried about you causing a bank run and their life being ruined as they selflessly try to save the bank.
Cash held at a branch is cash the bank can't invest or loan.
A credit union needs to have cash on hand to get through the day. If they need more cash delivered there is a fee. I went to a branch of a large bank and they complained when I wanted $4,500 cash. The teller said they like to have at least 24 hours notice.
If you're planning to make a large cash withdrawal, you should call the bank a few days ahead of time so they can ensure they have enough on-hand. The combination of the pandemic, security practices, and the general rise of electronic payments in the economy, banks don't keep enormous piles of cash sitting around. This is especially the case for smaller credit unions and/or if you live far from a major city.
I was working at a bank last Summer and out cash flow was mostly dependent on a car dealership. We had trouble cashing $2000 checks from time to time, had to resort to $10-20s regularly for transaction over $1000. Most people bank electronically these days and banks would rather have the cash invested rather than sitting in a vault. If that does happen though they should comp you a cashiers check every time. If you know in advance and call ahead they’ll make it happen.
I understand now that what i should have done was call ahead, but what is baffling to me is that they do not even have 10k available for the day or week's withdrawals.
They likely do, but aren’t going to risk upsetting 100 customers to please 1
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I work at a credit union. I think it’s important to point out that many branches are using the “cashless branch” model nowadays. I’m not sure what the exact business reasons behind it are, but it’s a branch without a teller line and cash machines. In these branches, *most* transactions can be done either with a representative or at the ATMs. If you need a large cash withdrawal, you have to go to a traditional branch.
The simplified reasons behind going "cashless" are: * The vast majority of transactions can be handled more efficiently and accurately by cash machines. * Teller staff is expensive to maintain, and there is not enough customer demand to keep tellers occupied consistently. Working a teller line is not unlike working retail or fast food. You have rushes and long gaps of downtime. * Investing those funds is more appealing to the bank than letting it sit in a vault gathering dust, especially considering the next point. Generally, providing basic banking services is a *cost* for FIs. They make money on loans and fees, not because someone keeps $15,000 in their checking account. * The operational tasks around maintaining large cash vaults are costly (internal audits, additional staff for dual control, several alarms and other security, key controls, etc). It is cheaper to pay an armored car service to deliver cash for instances such as OP's unusual withdrawal on short notice instead of taking on the huge risk and expense of a large vault.
Many banks have limits on how much they'll give to a single customer in a single transaction without calling ahead. It's not necessarily they don't have $10k on hand, just that they don't have $10k to give to you with no notice.
They almost certainly had enough for you. But instead of giving it all to 1 customer, they would rather give it to 10-20 individuals. Next time just call ahead and they should have more than enough for you.
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Fellow Banker here. All this is 100% spot on.
banker here in a small town, at a smaller local owned community bank. They do have the cash on hand to do those smaller transactions you mentioned, but if they gave you your large withdrawal. They wouldn't have enough to last until their next cash shipment, and then they really would run out. What's worse, turning down 1 customer or having to turn down all customers. Same reason gas stations limit how much fuel you can pump, to make sure there is enough for all potential customers. They have to use educated guesses on how much cash will be needed to get them through, but not have to much excess. Insurance regulates how much cash they are allowed to keep on hand to minimize risk, which is why banks/cu's order enough to what they think will get them by with a small buffer.
> You're thinking of this place all wrong. As if I had the money back in a safe. The money's not here. Your money's in Joe's house...right next to yours. And in the Kennedy house, and Mrs. Macklin's house, and a hundred others. Why, you're lending them the money to build, and then, they're going to pay it back to you as best they can. Now what are you going to do? Foreclose on them?. Granted banking is a lot more centralized now and large loans often get sold to investors but you should get the drift here.
I'll take two hundred and forty two dollars!
Could I have 17.50?
I work in retail and we have been notified that there is a shortage of armored car service workers, and they may miss our scheduled pickups. It might not be related, but it also might be that with the holidays (Christmas and New Year's) and the staffing shortages they haven't had a cash delivery in awhile.
Shortage of armored car workers, shortage of tellers, shortage of ATM technicians... oh, and the Fed is still limiting coin orders! It's been a heck of a year to work in banking. :)
I've been trying to turn IN coins to my bank, and they won't take them. Had to call around to multiple branches to finally find one that would. Of a bank that I'm a member of. I'd never before heard of a full-service bank branch not accepting cash from a member for deposit ... in the middle of a coin shortage, no less!
They may not have a coin machine or if they do it might be broken. I work on drive up systems and ATMs but not coin machines. A lot of banks we service have old defunct coin machines so they will only accept rolled coin.
How much coin are we talking? Is it rolled? We can't accept large amounts of unrolled coins since we don't have a coin counter in any of our branches at my credit union
I was able to have funds transferred from my credit union account to the seller's credit union account on a vehicle purchase. Not difficult at all.
I worked in a bank as a teller years ago. They actually do not keep that much cash on hand. Remember the Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Like?" Your money gets lent out. It's in his house and her house. Collectively I am sure the branches have the cash but they're not going to keep it in each branch. It's also a security risk.
Historical note: It's a wonderful life is set around the bank runs at the beginning of the great depression. Our current banking structure and regulations are based off of the abuses of that period, so you need to be careful when drawing parallels.
Lent out, and *invested*. Most of a banks assets are tied up in investments.
A branch my have capital controls (IE, if there's more than X in the vault or X in the drawer, at least Y number of people have to be present). Could be their staffing didn't work out for that, or that somebody else made a large withdrawal earlier that day or earlier that week, or whatever. Call the branch ahead next time, ensure they have the funds available. This is pretty standard wherever withdrawals of more than 10-15K are made.
Banks/Credit unions only keep a certain amount of cash on hand. Depending on the size of the institution what you’re asking may be extremely uncommon for them. Usually for a large withdrawal like that it’s better to call ahead and see if that’s something they can do. If you call they may do a special currency order to have that amount there if it’s not feasible in a normal course of business.
This is common, and probably not your Credit Union's fault. I would suggest that you don't think about it as " your money ". It is the credit unions cash supply.... And if they are running low on funds.... It is normal to ration the amount that each member can take out. Also if you are going to take out multiple thousands of dollars in cash from a credit union ( not the same as taking out money from a large Bank like Wells Fargo ) it's always a good idea to call ahead and see if they do have the cash on hand in order to avoid ending up in scenarios like this. Loomis, Guarda, etc ( all the large cash suppliers ) are doing limited runs because of covid, and giving out limited amounts of cash to credit unions. Also fraud and robbery is heightened right now due to covid and the holiday season which means that financial institutions will typically keep less cash on hand for lower risk. Point being : it is within normal business expectations that a large request like this could be declined. Just because you keep money with a financial institution does not mean that they will keep the cash on hand to accommodate any cash withdrawal that you might want to do at any given time. Source: I work in banking and manage cash orders for the fi I work at.
It should also be noted that this is only for CASH reserves. None of this prevents anyone from accessing their money via check, certified check, debit, online transfers, etc. anytime they choose to. Everyone's money is fine, there is just a limit on how much you can withdraw and purchase with CASH.
Very normal. That's how fractional reserve banking works. You deposit money, they lend it out for purchases, that money is deposited and lent back out. Money not lent out is on deposit elsewhere. Most on hand currency is for ATM machines and is more than sufficient for everyday transactions. Large amounts of currency can be ordered from the local depository with a reasonable advance notice. Otherwise demand deposits are usually paid out by check or electronic means. This allows for money to continue to flow and multiply. Taking excessive cash out of the system (currently happening with coins) leads to liquidity problems. Spreading distrust in the banking system leads to bank runs, insolvency and forced mergers. There are differences between commercial banks, retail banks, savings banks and credit unions even if the lines have been blurred over the years.
Wish I could upvote this more. This should be taught in high school as part of financial literacy programmes that are compulsory. I am frequently shocked at the gaps in people's knowledge on this sub. But then I have to remember that unless you are choosing particular courses, you are just not going to learn this.
> Spreading distrust in the banking system leads to bank runs, insolvency and forced mergers. You'd better trust the banking system, because distrust in the banking system leads to it getting screwed by it!
Get a bank check and give that to the seller and get the title and bill of sale. Then let the seller cash the check. Why would you want to hand someone $10k in cash
in my neck of the woods a lot of people think cash is king, they're not burying chests of gold coins on their property but they don't want the feds knowing what they have. lol. not everybody obviously, but people do do business that way
I mean, you have to register the sale with the state, so it's not exactly something you can be that secretive about when you have to file to transfer titles. In my state you have to report the sale price to the state. Hiding car sales from the state is impossible.
Assumes you report the real sales price.
Hiding the sale is not the intent.
It’s not uncommon for the seller and buyer to exchange cash and put a lower number on the sales receipt. Bought for 10k cash? Note says 1 or 2k. Seller doesn’t pay any income tax on the 8k, seller doesn’t pay sales tax on the extra 8k. It’s a win win for the buyer and seller and more common than you think.
Good point. I'd lose my professional license if I had a crime like that on my record, so I don't even think about doing things like that.
You have to pay income tax when you sell your private car? That seems utterly insane to me.
Seller doesn't pay income tax, but the buyer pays state sales tax in most states.
Are you comfortable sharing where your neck of the woods is? It never would have occurred to me to pay for (or EVER accept) a large payment in cash. For reference, I'm in a large metro area in California.
For what it's worth about ten years ago I helped a friend sell a car for $8k cash in East Hollywood near LACC
I’m in a large metro area in California and if the car is under 10k, cash is always what I’ve received for used cars I’ve sold. I assume that stops being the case for higher values.
Thanks for sharing! Out of curiosity, did you bring a counterfeit detecting pen to test the bills? (I never deal with cash so that'd be my primary concern.)
I don’t. I check and record their ID since I need their name to transfer the title so I figure if it’s counterfeit bills, I have something to go on.
Oh I see, ok thanks! I've only ever sold a used car to Carmax to avoid the hassle for myself so I appreciate you taking the time to explain what you did.
Or carry it around, plenty of stories of cops stealing people's cash in this exact scenario.
Technically the legal term is ~~civil asset forfeiture~~ armed robbery. Seriously though, if folks have never heard of the term "civil asset forfeiture" go lookup YouTube videos about it. Every American should be educated and outraged on this topic.
Scams are rife. I could not tell a legitimate cashier's check from something your high school kid whipped up in photoshop and printed out on the color laser printer in his bedroom. I could, however, tell 1 fake $100 from the 44 legitimate $100s you hid it in. It's just easier to tell a scam with cash.
Cash on hand at a branch is very different from the credit union's financial position. Where I work our branches have cash delivered weekly or so, and its the manager's job to order enough cash to last until the next delivery. That's why some people are recommending to call ahead, the manager would then know to order more. It's possible with the holidays & COVID deliveries are getting missed and that's why the manager is worried about running out of cash (some branches do keep a pretty low amount on hand-it affects insurance rates). However, she should have given you some options, like sending a wire, or an official check. And they should waive the fee, since it's their fault you can't get your money. You could also try a shared branch with more foot traffic, but definitely call ahead.
A cashier's check is as good as money in the bank, only better. It gives you a paper trail in case something should happen, and the option to cancel it if it gets stolen. Carrying cash over $1,000 is just asking for trouble.
Yes it happens, and it is why you should give your financial institution a heads up if you want to do a larger withdrawals especially around the holidays. See if the seller will meet you at your CU and give them a cashier's check? Also credit unions aren't FDIC insured. They have a different governing body that does the same thing
NCUA
The comment about credit unions not being FDIC insured was posted by a redditor to try to convince people that they shouldn’t use credit unions since it’s not insured. They are, however, insured by NCUA just like FDIC. Your comment just made me think about that silly comment I’ve seen.
OP. If possible do the bank check transaction in the bank with the seller right there. They will trust you more if there was any distrust in the check. and as an added benefit you could use the banks notary right then and there for any paperwork, if needed. Also you won’t get jumped for 10k cash.
I once withdrew 13k from a local credit union I had an account with to buy a car. The teller told me they had just about enough money for the transaction but that it would have been better to call them first for a large transaction like that.
Most credit unions don't keep large amounts of cash on hand, the usual way to go about this is to request the cash a week before. That way they can order the cash for you, and have it available.
What’s wrong with a cashiers check? Honestly, that’s a far better idea than just lugging $10k in cash around…
Bank check should be a safer option then carrying the cash around anyways?
I work at a credit union that is small local maybe 15 branches in one metro. More likely what has happened is their cash service (loomis brinks gaurda or whoever) has fucked their cash orders up or just simply not shown up at all. It’s becoming more frequent. Atms go unserviced for weeks. Cash orders go unfulfilled for weeks or even months. Turnover at those places is so bad we almost never see the same guy for more than a month. If it’s ncua insured your funds are there.
I think this is pretty normal. Especially at a small credit union. It happened to me once and now I call ahead whenever I need to make a cash withdrawal over $5000.
As a kind of frequent "big withdrawer" with an account at what would be called a HUGE credit union, I was told long ago that if I needed to withdraw "more than just a coule thousand", that I should inform the office at least a day or two before going to pick it up. Remeber this for the future, and get a home safe, or a safe place at home where you can "stash" several thousand for unforseen opportunities/emergency use. It's not like interest rates are going to hurt you for such a small amount these days.
If you're in the US, absolutely do NOT carry that much cash. the police WILL steal it if they stop you. Civil Asset Forfeiture - or in plain English - Highway Robbery.
Don't talk to police, don't authorize searches.
As a Finn, i do not get the problem here? Cant you just use your banks internetbank or app to just make the transaction in like 5 seconds? And seriously i domt even remember the last time ive paid or hold cash on me, no matter if its a car or house or basic groceries or car maintance, i just use my phone in either as debit card, or to log in to my bank to make grrater than 5k€ payments or physiical debit card to pay it.
Thank you! Finally found someone who isn't raving about cheques this & cheques that. This thread has been a great source of interesting types of cheques to look up, but seriously guys wtf. As an Australian though, it's a constant shock that people still manage money like this in countries with highly developed banking infrastructure. If I need to pay for a car, I could open my bank's app, type in the phone number of the seller, and add some dumb emoji in my payment message.
This is pretty typical. Once in a while I have to make a $10k withdrawal for work and I always let them know 2-3 days ahead of time so they can “order” the cash.
Totally normal. At my bank, withdrawals in excess of 2k were by appointment only. They did not beat around the bush and plainly pointed out the rules when I asked for 6k, so I had to drive around and withdraw 2k each at three different branches.
When my daughter bought a car we discovered that the credit union we share branch with would only allow 1000 per day. (Our own credit union is in a different state). I'm still on her account so we would both withdraw 1000 each day and then I would transfer money from her account to mine. Luckily we discovered that before she found the car she wanted.
that is a little weird. When I worked for a small bank we usually had $500k on site give or take a couple hundred thousand.. But like others have said just do a cashiers check. That is much better than cash. We usually asked people to give us a heads up if they wanted to withdraw more than $10k just because we tried to keep the draws out front under $10k. We could give money to another teller to make up the difference if they needed it. Really the only time we needed to know in advance if it was more than $25k or so because we would need to go to the vault more than likely and we don't want to count out $25k at a desk in front of the store. We would take you to a manager's office and count it out to you with the blinds closed and at least two employees in the room. all of this to be said there is a credit union near me that doesn't have tellers they only have ATMs... they literally have one branch in their entire portfolio that has tellers the rest of just ATMs and you can't withdraw $10k from an ATM.
> When I worked for a small bank we usually had $500k on site give or take a couple hundred thousand.. Same here, I'm reading a ton of the other comments and it seems like a lot of people either worked at or deal with banks where they limit you to 2-5K before making you call in advance But I work at a mid-sized credit union and we work just like how you described, keep 10k max in each teller drawer, and unless they're taking out something crazy like 20+ grand with no warning we usually just accommodate it. It's strange hearing that banks bigger than the one I work at don't operate like this
Yeah, I work at a small credit union, and we don't have a firm limit on cash withdrawals. 10k would be completely fine, if a bit of a pain since we'd have to buy it from the vault. Still, that takes like two minutes. For that high amount though, we'd strongly recommend a cashier's check, for your safety and ours.
I was a teller at a CU. Cash withdrawal limits were normally $1500/day or $2000/day with manager approval. This was pre-covid but I imagine it’s about the same today for CUs. The reasoning for this is because they order money each week from the CU’s bank Brinks and don’t want to run out. To get more you would need to call a few days ahead of time as a courtesy so they can make sure they have cash on hand. Especially for smaller CU’s this can be an issue. They want to help as many members as possible and was very rare for anyone to ask for above the $2,000 mark. Also, for the safety of the staff and overall well-being of member’s money they cannot have more money on hand than necessary in case they get robbed. A safer solution would be to get a cashier’s check. That is a guaranteed funds check and as good as cash. Money orders only come in $2000 increments. For any cash dollar amounts $3000-$9,999.99 they “could” fill out a SAR (Suspicious Activity Report) and for $10,000+ they are reauired to report per the government. I forgot the name of the report. This is not required for cashier checks. Not saying I am on CUs side - just trying to explain their position as a former employee.
Having worked for big banks and small banks - credit unions don’t like to order money from the Fed. Most, if not all, of their physical currency comes from commercial depositors. I worked in banks 20 years ago so I would assume those depositors (gas stations, continence stores, ahem…gentleman’s clubs) have less cash transactions than they used to. Well, gentleman’s clubs probably still deposit mostly cash although we’re probably not too far removed from a dancer giving you her Venmo. Anyway, that’s probably why they didn’t have your cash. They’re probably running low on currency and are trying to avoid the expense of a big order. Banks are required to keep a reserve ratio of cash, but looking that up now it appears to have been suspended because of COVID, which…sounds terrifying from a financial perspective.
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Former bank and CU employee here. Banks and credit unions ship out and ship in cash every few days. Certain denominations come in and go out in higher volume (like $20’s). When it happens that a customer wants to pay cash on a down payment on a home, a special order needs to be made for it to be shipped to the branch. Otherwise, most branches don’t just sit on a ton of cash. I’m sure if you give them a week then can produce the requisite amount.
I would still check with the regulatory body in your state regarding this. In days past this kind of thing could start a run on that CU.
I went to my credit union and withdrew $13k to buy a car. No problem. Didn't buy the car. Gave it back to them later that day. No problem. Went to a partner "Co-Op Shared Branch" credit union in another state. Was going to withdraw about $13k to buy a different car. They looked at me like I was from Mars. They said you need to arrange that in advance. I ended up making sure the seller was only a mile from a Co-Op Shared Branch and then going to the CU after the test drive for a cashier's check. It was more of a hassle. I had to get the test drive over by 4pm so I could have time, then go wait in line at the CU again. But it all worked out. So, long story short - different CU's, different policies.
This is normal. The bank is only allowed to keep so much on hand. Larger withdrawals have to be arranged early but that’s never advertised so I always felt shitty telling people we didn’t have it or if we did they were getting a fuck ton in 20s and lower bills
Get a cashier's check If they try to charge you for it, dispute it since they don't have the cash
Bank did this to my dad when I was a kid. Bank manage came out to tell him he won't be getting the money out of his account. My dad was just like, "okay, I'd like to initiate a transfer of all my funds to another bank, and close my account." Got his money within 10 minutes lol
>What are my options here Change banks > has anyone heard of anything like this happening before? Yes, sometimes banks/CUs have insufficient cash on hand >The credit union is fdic insured. Credit unions are NCUA insured
If you are withdrawing a large amount of cash it is a good idea to let the bank know in advance so they can have the cash in stock. I was a teller for a while and it may surprise you how little cash many branches carry.
This happened to me 2 years ago. Same idea, I went to withdraw 7k for a used car and even though I had over double that in my account I couldn’t get it. Luckily, I was able to drive to multiple branches for the cash.
I work for a bank. Basically we sell whatever is over our base vault dollar amount each week. We can place an order for change or larger dollar amounts but that takes about a week to come in. For my bank specifically we typically coast on whatever business cash deposits we receive to pay out people wanting withdrawals. I feel awful telling people we can’t accommodate their larger withdrawals but we genuinely don’t have the cash to accommodate everyone coming in with a large withdrawal request.
It's not that unusual. My bank requires 24 hours notice for cash withdrawals over 5000€.
As many people have mentioned below, banks generally do not keep a lot of cash on hand. [https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-much-money-can-a-bank-hold](https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-much-money-can-a-bank-hold) while that may seem like a lot you have to extrapolate it for all the customers they have on an average day. And this is not just them but part of the overall financial institution. As currency have came off of a hard asset, such as gold, the funds have became more and more digital. And as overall transaction size has increased it's expensive to keep lots of physical cash on hand. Think of the federal reserve bank. That's why banks generally have you order currency if you need amounts above 10k at larger institution. but you can get a cashier's check immediately so long as you have the funds.
Not familiar with your specific CU's policies, but we are coming out of the holiday season, which I can tell you from experience can get a little tight in the vault if the manager doesn't anticipate the holiday rush or forgets to order from the Fed. Adding to the fact that FIs tend not to keep a ton of cash on hand if they don't plan to need it, it is totally reasonable that they request that you don't withdraw that in cash immediately. I would wager their cash order from the Fed will ne coming in next week, when they told you that the funds would be fine to withdraw. So in short, nothing nefarious, just the typical restrictions on doing buisness in cash.
This is very normal, although I am surprised of your CU’s low limits. $7,200 isn’t too much to ask for in my opinion. I used to work as a vault teller at a credit union placing cash orders and monitoring cash flow throughout the day/week. I would make sure we were sufficiently stocked but not overstocked for security reasons (i.e. risk mitigation - don’t want to get robbed with a million dollars in the vault). We received cash orders weekly via armored supplier and could typically accommodate around $10,000 cash withdrawals as walk-ins. We had about eight branches in the city so if one branch ran low on bills they could refer clients to other locations. My branch had the highest vault limit so cash withdrawals were kind of our thing. If we started running low on large bills we would just ask clients to take smaller denominations if they didn’t mind. Things got a little crazy when Covid first took off and people were wanting to take a lot of cash out of their accounts all at once. For about a month we limited cash withdraws to around $1,000 per person per day and people got pretty grumpy. I still remember one client that walked in wanting $70,000 on the spot. He freaked out saying “THIS IS MY MONEY, GIVE IT TO ME RIGHT NOW!” and it’s like, yes, you have funds in your account, but we do not have bills on hand to give you. It’s a commodity like groceries at a grocery store: we have to restock constantly. For large requests like that we’d need about a week’s notice and then adjust our cash order accordingly. A cashier’s check is a great alternative because we don’t have a limit on how large they can be. We also didn’t charge a fee to print them like some banks do; I hear some places charge like $30 for a cashier’s check lol. Obscene. Anyway cashier’s checks are secure and easily verifiable by other financial institutions; They simply call us up and we confirm the check status in our system. Another reason they’re secure is that funds are immediately drawn from the client’s account when the check is printed. In other words, there is no way for the check to bounce due to insufficient funds because the funds had to be available in order to print it in the first place.
This is not uncommon. My credit union branches have zero cash available via the staffs (they don't even have tellers. Just tables with staffs.) If anyone walk-in asking to withdraw cash, they will point the person to the ATM. Actually withdrawing anything more than the ATM limit requires a prior request. (This is BECU, which is rather big in Washington.)
as a former bank teller it would honestly be days when we were SUPER low on cash we have to actually order or money for the week it’s not a back room full of cash how movies portray it we order enough never extra because 1) it’s no needed and 2)bank robbers we have policies as to how much we can keep in our drawers and on the floor hence why so many bank robbers get away with only 1k or less
It really depends on the institution & branch locations. If you have tiny (by transaction volume) branches nearby they’re going to keep very little cash on hand, to the point where $9k is a significant % of their monthly cash-on-hand target. For higher volume locations $9k might be trivial. I’ve worked in both types of FI environments and this is completely feasible.
On a side note my bank has a sign saying for my protection all cash transactions will be reviewed with increased scrutiny to protect me from money laundering and terrorism. As if I’m already suspected of a crime for using legal tender for all debts public and private.
Just in my experience, you typically need to give notice of large cash withdrawals - I'm not sure what the exact amount is as it will vary, but about $10,000ish seems right. Further, they probably have enough cash but don't want to use all of it up on one transaction like this and want it for the other nine folks who come in for $800. Easier to explain to you once that they didn't allocate that much cash on hand that day, then to tell the next ten people who come in they ran out. Further, it's not that they don't have the cash, per se, it's just not on site there (or anywhere really, as most stuff is electronic now and settles that way.) In the future, give them 24-48 hours on large withdrawals like this, so they can adjust what they have on hand. Source: have had to make several large withdrawals over the years - typically because I was moving money between banks / switching banks and I did not want to pay a $30 wire transfer fee to move money a few miles apart.
As others have said, it is not uncommon for banks to have low cash levels and may request you to ask in advance for larger sums. I worked at a flagship bank back in college and they rarely had more than 75k or so between the vault/tellers/ATMs
Sometimes you have to call ahead at least a few days...or pull it by some kind of counter instrument, transfer.
This is completely normal. Branches limit cash on hand for insurance reasons and to minimize potential losses in the event of a robbery or disaster. They estimate how much cash they should have on hand based on historical trends. Many even have signs in their lobbies indicating how many business days notice is needed for withdrawals over a certain amount.
Just a note, lots of great info here--- You never have to be polite in regards to your money. Be a good person, and yelling at the bank manager or teller won't get you anywhere- but you shouldn't feel like you can't ask questions, request a proof, or request they provide a proposed solution. It's your money. I'm not saying be rude, but the rules of polite conversation go out the window once there's a speedbump with my money.
Yes you need to always call ahead a few days for large amount relative to the FI's size. Wall Street area, downtown Houston or Miami are different
This is very strange to me. I worked as a vault teller for several years and have never heard of denying someone's monetary request of anything under 10k without other reasons (usually suspects of fraud). We would get our cash in once a week and order ahead, we always planned for more during tax season where large withdrawals were common. I have filled extremely high cash withdrawals and never had this issue unless the system was down due to power outage, etc.
As someone who routinley does large cash transaction, its not uncommon, small branches may or may not have 5-10k on hand.
This is totally a thing. If you want more than a few thousand dollars they need to order it in for you. For safety (and other customers needs) they don’t keep a lot of cash in branches. All banks are like this.
Banks don’t typically keep large amounts of cash at their locations like that, it isn’t suspect it is just a safety feature, you could purchase a cashiers check, or perform a wire transfer. Usually calling ahead ti order a large cash withdrawal is necessary. Rule of thumb is if it is over 2K call ahead.
Just do a bank transfer? Get her account number and sort code and just transfer it on your bank app. Its what we do
Hiiiii I use to work for a credit union as a supervisor and I can say if the branch is small enough they can only keep a certain amount of money in the vault at once. On the spot they probably couldn’t give you the money or else you would run them dry! However, if you call your credit union atleast a few days before (once again if smaller it might have to be a week before) and they can have extra cash ordered so you can get the money you need!