Exchanging money at the bank, max amount

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uisgdlyast

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 26, 2002
Messages
383
This is kind of a legal question...
What is the maximum amount of money you can exchange at the bank before they make you fill stuff out or wonder about you? like exchanging a bunch of 20's for 100's.

thanks
 
Why don't you make a bunch of $500 dollar transactions instead of worrying about being tracked.
 
i'm not worried about being tracked.. i just need a large sum of money, preferabley in the largest denomination possible and i can only withdraw 200$ at the atm each time.. and its all in 20's so i'm just trying to make all those 20's into 100's
 
usually bank policies regarding cash transactions have to do with large cash DEPOSITS. for example, there are set amounts of cash deposit where the Secret Service is notified and/or a depositor form must be filled out. also, banks are typically more suspicious of people trying to get smaller bills, like $20s, since these are harder to trace and less conspicuous than large currency.

of course there are also many security policies that the bank and the Secret Service (as protecter of the nation's money supply) use that are not publicly known -- otherwise money launderers could work around them too easily.

the shorter answer is that I don't know if exchanging small bills for large bill would draw any suspicion. the only policies I've personally heard about pertain to large deposits.
 
Just tell them you own some business and are cashing in a weeks worth of 20's or something. I'm sure you can think of something better then that, and that's if they even care to know why you need the $100's.
 
The bank isn't going to exchange large sums of money for you unless you have an account.
 
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well lets say i'm only exchanging less than 1000.. i mean that really isnt that much. I need those 100's cause i'm buying a car from a friend and i dont want to deal with all those 20's, right?
Plus i'll have an account at the bank i go to, another quick question is will any flags be raised if i am withdrawing a bit of money each week, again less than 1000?
 
The Fed's eyes only focus on you for financial transactions involving more than $10,000 USD.
Something related to the RICO statute, perhaps ... meant to deter/track money laundering by organized crime.
I know banks put holds on large checks in order to verify their legitimacy / the transfer of funds; not sure if they run it past the Feds during this time.

If you want to play it safe, and bank at a larger firm / in a city, break the transfers into smaller portions, and pay visit to the different branches around the city that day.
 
SilverFeniks said:
The Fed's eyes only focus on you for financial transactions involving more than $10,000 USD.
Something related to the RICO statute, perhaps ... meant to deter/track money laundering by organized crime.
I know banks put holds on large checks in order to verify their legitimacy / the transfer of funds; not sure if they run it past the Feds during this time.

If you want to play it safe, and bank at a larger firm / in a city, break the transfers into smaller portions, and pay visit to the different branches around the city that day.
Click to expand...



That got changed to 5,000 now, I think it past in the patriot act or some other act. Also if you are so worried about exchanging money, go to the casino if you have one in your state.
 
why not withdraw from a teller rather than an atm. then u can tell them u want 100's instead of 20's/
 
I did not think about that until yesterday actually, but it doesnt matter anymore since i have it now.
Its less than a grand though so i dont think it will be a big deal, however it shoudlnt matter if its less than 5000 anyways right?
 
armondkoz is right. For transactions where the bank is suspicious about where the cash came from, it's $5,000. But it can be as low as $2,000 for suspicious transactions at certain "money services businesses" such as check-cashing outlets. For non-suspicious transactions at banks, it's $10,000. (It's possible the Patriot Act has lowered these numbers and the below web pages haven't been updated yet.)

From the IRS webpage on Currency Reporting - Money Laundering,
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=113003,00.html :

"Suspicious Activity Report (SAR): Filed on transactions or attempted transactions involving at least $5,000 that the financial institution knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect the money was derived from illegal activities. Also filed when transactions are part of a plan to violate federal laws and financial reporting requirements (structuring)"

Here's a quick-reference guide that has the rules for money services businesses:
http://www.fincen.gov/bsa_quickrefguide.pdf

Note that multiple transactions of smaller amounts can be aggregated by the bank, casino, or other financial institution to reach the level necessary to file a report. In other words, if you deposit a bunch of small cash amounts in a short period of time, they'll add them up and if it's over a certain amount they'll file a report.

As to what's a suspicious transaction, I don't know the legal standard, but common sense would say that if the 50 year old owner of a liquor store deposited $5,000 in cash into the account called John's Liquor and Grocery, it would not be very suspicious. But if a 22 year old wearing worn-out jeans deposited that same amount of cash into his personal account, it would raise eyebrows. Especially if it were multiple deposits.

And, to address the OP's question, if you look at the IRS page you'll see the word "transactions" used rather than "deposit." So even if it's just an exchange of $20's into $100's, the reporting requirements still apply.
 
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Below $10k though?
That means every teenager who buys a car is potentially under FBI scrutiny.

Not saying they don't have the legal power now, the bastards take whatever they want with no resistance ... but the manpower for that if you're off their radar? Forget it.
 
ok look, just go to a bank from a different town. They do not have to know what the fuck you are exchanging money for, its none of their business. They are a bank and it is their job to do some of these things. If you are dealing with lots of money then just exchange it from many places. To be honest, its not too big of a deal. I went to a local krogers before since the banks weren't open and exchanged 10's and 20's for 100's (total amount = 1,000). And I live in a very small town, if it wasnt suspicious here, then it wont be anywhere else. haha, if it worries you much then just wear a suit and appear like you are from a higher class when you exchange alot of bills.
 
Johnny1 said:
armondkoz is right. For transactions where the bank is suspicious about where the cash came from, it's $5,000. But it can be as low as $2,000 for suspicious transactions at certain "money services businesses" such as check-cashing outlets. For non-suspicious transactions at banks, it's $10,000. (It's possible the Patriot Act has lowered these numbers and the below web pages haven't been updated yet.)

From the IRS webpage on Currency Reporting - Money Laundering,
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=113003,00.html :

"Suspicious Activity Report (SAR): Filed on transactions or attempted transactions involving at least $5,000 that the financial institution knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect the money was derived from illegal activities. Also filed when transactions are part of a plan to violate federal laws and financial reporting requirements (structuring)"

Here's a quick-reference guide that has the rules for money services businesses:
http://www.fincen.gov/bsa_quickrefguide.pdf

Note that multiple transactions of smaller amounts can be aggregated by the bank, casino, or other financial institution to reach the level necessary to file a report. In other words, if you deposit a bunch of small cash amounts in a short period of time, they'll add them up and if it's over a certain amount they'll file a report.

As to what's a suspicious transaction, I don't know the legal standard, but common sense would say that if the 50 year old owner of a liquor store deposited $5,000 in cash into the account called John's Liquor and Grocery, it would not be very suspicious. But if a 22 year old wearing worn-out jeans deposited that same amount of cash into his personal account, it would raise eyebrows. Especially if it were multiple deposits.

And, to address the OP's question, if you look at the IRS page you'll see the word "transactions" used rather than "deposit." So even if it's just an exchange of $20's into $100's, the reporting requirements still apply.
Click to expand...


Thank you for a sensible post with links to reliable references.

I wish more people would post like this.
 
Here's the statute that sets out currency reporting requirements regardless of suspicion, 26 USC 6050I:

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/ts_search.pl?title=26&sec=6050i

Any person -
(1) who is engaged in a trade or business, and
(2) who, in the course of such trade or business, receives more
than $10,000 in cash in 1 transaction (or 2 or more related
transactions),
shall make the return described in subsection (b) with respect to
such transaction (or related transactions) at such time as the
Secretary may by regulations prescribe.
Click to expand...

Notice that it is incredibly broad in who it applies to: "any person who is engaged in a trade of business." So it goes way beyond banks, and includes casinos, car dealers, etc.
 
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