I recently bought a house, and sold another. This resulted in a surplus of cash, which I used for contractors improving the new house. Having dealt with contractors before, I used a major bank credit card to pay, because the bank stands behind the customer and helps resolve issues with contractors. (They compelled a contractor to refund 3k, but that's another tale.)

The large check for the house required a 30 day hold. I found this ridiculous, but the bank said all transactions of that size required a hold by banking regulation. Okay, I waited. After 30 days I put my entire contracting budget in another bank in a checking account with online services. I made two fairly large payments to the credit card with no problem. Yesterday, I tried to pay off the card, as all contracts have been satisfied. The bank site locked up on me. This morning, I trekked across town to see friendly banking lady. She tells me the bank won't allow a transaction over 9999.00 because the IRS requires all transactions over that limit be reported. WTF? I had to set up 3 different payments on 3 different dates just to pay my goddam credit card. There's NO PROBLEM running up a huge credit card bill, but you damn sure can't pay it without attracting Big Brother. What crap. Is it my money or not?

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the bank won't allow a transaction over 9999.00 because the IRS requires all transactions over that limit be reported. WTF? I had to set up 3 different payments on 3 different dates

So the bank wants to limit payments to them to less than 10K to avoid reporting requirements?

If I did that it would be called "structuring", which is illegal.

I guess it's to prevent money laundering, but it's a real pain in the ass. Fortunately, I'm not rich and I don't foresee this happening again in any foreseeable future.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

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the bank won't allow a transaction over 9999.00 because the IRS requires all transactions over that limit be reported. WTF? I had to set up 3 different payments on 3 different dates

So the bank wants to limit payments to them to less than 10K to avoid reporting requirements?

If I did that it would be called "structuring", which is illegal.

I thought this only applied to cash transactions.

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I thought this only applied to cash transactions.

His bank is claiming they must report it, and to avoid doing so, are making him split up his payments.

It doesn't really matter if it's reported or not as it's a legitimate transaction. It's not uncommon for me to withdraw or deposit money in excess of that limit, and although I'm sure it's been reported every time, I've never heard a word about it.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

I thought this only applied to cash transactions.

His bank is claiming they must report it, and to avoid doing so, are making him split up his payments.

It doesn't really matter if it's reported or not as it's a legitimate transaction. It's not uncommon for me to withdraw or deposit money in excess of that limit, and although I'm sure it's been reported every time, I've never heard a word about it.

I agree, though I thought the reporting was only required if it was a cash transaction.

If I buy a $30K with cash, the dealer (in this case) reports it. If I use a check or CC, no report. Same rules when a bank makes a transaction.

Regardless though, I'd wave the bright yellow BS flag and inform the bank that they work for me, not the other way around, and if they have to do reports when handling my transactions, so be it.

We sold a house some time ago (this year) and took a $140K check to our credit union and wanted to set up another trust account. Credit union told us that they were limited in how many trust accounts a customer might have and they could not open another one for us.

PO'd we walked directly across the parking lot (about 35 yards to another bank (not credit union) who gladly and cheerfully accepted the check and told us that they would open as many trust accounts as we wanted.

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Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

I thought this only applied to cash transactions.

His bank is claiming they must report it, and to avoid doing so, are making him split up his payments.

It doesn't really matter if it's reported or not as it's a legitimate transaction. It's not uncommon for me to withdraw or deposit money in excess of that limit, and although I'm sure it's been reported every time, I've never heard a word about it.

I agree, though I thought the reporting was only required if it was a cash transaction.

If I buy a $30K with cash, the dealer (in this case) reports it. If I use a check or CC, no report. Same rules when a bank makes a transaction.

Regardless though, I'd wave the bright yellow BS flag and inform the bank that they work for me, not the other way around, and if they have to do reports when handling my transactions, so be it.

Any bank that does not have an automated Currency Transaction Reporting method is too far behind the curve to do business with for me.

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The large check for the house required a 30 day hold.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Find another bank. There is no banking regulation that I know of that requires a 30 day hold. I would find out where all those wealthy horse farms do business. I am sure they write checks of that amount on a regular basis.

Some outfits, banking and otherwise, have people at the latest various levels that confuse company policy with law and regulation. Sometimes this is innocent misattribution, other times it is done to try to save face or save a transaction when a policy is at issue.

Your bank is full of crap. Unless things have really changed since I retired, only cash in or out require a report. What happens if you buy a pickup?

Find a new bank tomorrow.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mcrimm,

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Originally posted by mcrimm:
Your bank is full of crap. Unless things have really changed since I retired, only cash I or out require a report. What happens if you buy a pickup?

Find a new bank tomorrow.

Policies and procedures under the new BSA/AML have actually changed drastically since the new rules and interpretations went into effect last year. Having said that, the issue in OPs post is not part of that. Reg CC hasn't changed in regards to that. I have no clue how the bank got away with a 30 day hold unless it was a foreign draft but I'm 99.99% sure that wasn't the case for proceeds from a house sale. Plus those are usually by certified funds so it's real odd.

I'll talk to a horse farm manager Saturday, great idea. I'm sure you are correct. My thought was they're retaining the funding for as long as possible to generate income from it.

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Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

the bank won't allow a transaction over 9999.00 because the IRS requires all transactions over that limit be reported. WTF? I had to set up 3 different payments on 3 different dates

So the bank wants to limit payments to them to less than 10K to avoid reporting requirements?

If I did that it would be called "structuring", which is illegal.

THIS. You can make transactions over $9999.00 from your checking account without issue, they need to report it. ALSO a 30 day hold on a check, that is absolutely ridiculous. I've never had a hold put on checks longer than a few days, and we're talking 5 or 6 figures. (Trust me, I'm not that wealthy, but my business moves a lot of money buying products for customers etc.) Anyways, I would say it's time to find another bank.

There are no banking regulations like that, to hold funds for 30 days. Fire those goons and find a real bank.

I had a loan servicing operation for many years which received and sent thousands of checks each month. Maybe the bank has to watch and file reports, but that was their worry not mine or my customers.

We ran over a billion dollars through those accounts without a hitch, probably because we used a small local bank instead of one of those greedy bank of everywhere outfits.

When I took up house building, the company was new and had no credit, even though we hadcash in the bank. I was building with our own funds, no lender. I paid for equipment rental and most materials on my personal credit cards and paid them off every week. The suppliers paid fees to process the card charges of course. I got air miles for all those charges, which got me two first class round trip tickets to Paris, among other things.

As usual, JAllen is correct. In a former 20-year career, I was a senior officer for a multi-state public bank (top 25 in size nationally).

1. ANY hold on deposited funds is at bank discretion. There are no “laws” requiring holds. Any hold over ten (10) days is extremely unusual and typically from funds deposited in check/draft form from overseas banks that do not participate in Federal Reserve clearing house process (again, unusual).

2. Although not related, reporting of cash transactions over $10k is a requirement (with exceptions), but also note that a bank has discretion to file a report on cash transactions under $10k if management believes a potential illegal activity is involved. So $9,999 sized transactions do not necessarily avoid reporting.

3. Regulations for Credit Unions are not the same as Federally or State chartered banks. Among MANY financial products, Trust fund capability and management is vastly different.

Stay safe, Steve

Not quite the same, but Chase really pissed me off recently.

I opened a Chase Amazon Prime credit card account to get the 5% on our Amazon purchases. About that same time I had to order a bunch of supplies for our pole barn and used it, running it up near its limit. I then wanted to use it for a work trip so I payed it off.

Surprise surprise when I next went to use it and it was declined. I opened my app and while it showed that my balance was zero so was my available credit??

I called them up and was told "oh, we see you paid, but we wait 5 days after payment to ensure it clears" mind you this was an electronic transfer I authorized them to initiate...

That card only gets used for Amazon purchases now.

Unfortunately, as CoinRoller states, financial organizations (banks, etc.) may initiate (Suspicious Activity Report) by any employee that deems any transaction as suspicious. (as told to me by someone in the world of banking)

And while it may require "management" involvement, I doubt many would stake their career on curtailing a report, and rather "kick the can down the road" and let someone "upstairs" make the call.

And then you might as well be facing a Supreme Court Confirmation hearing...

the CTR and SAR is part of the Frank Dodd act,

no idea what they were doing before, but when I was in the grocery business we had to file both for cash, money order, and western union transactions,


I stopped by a Wells Fargo last spring on my way to a gunshow,
wanted some cash for purchases,

took at 10K,

had to jump thru hoops, as in the old 1000 questions,

helped that I knew my account number and told them strictly that I was going to a trade show,

of course, ID etc were checked,


I could tell they did not want to go thru the hassle, and likely did not want to fill out the CTR,,

but fukkem, it is my business and my money!

The bank just took a 30 day free loan on your ass.

Plus, the crap about the $9999 is also complete BS. There is a reporting requirement, but taking steps to avoid it is, as A1 notes, illegal structuring. By way of example, the Mob had 250+ bank accounts open in Boston with a group of different banks for purposes of moving money around in under $10k increments. The computers identified them anyway, and busted them for structuring.

I'd raise hell with management (high level, like president and general counsel) and then find a new bank.