Limit on cash deposits at post office

k19els

Today, I received notice from Barclays Bank that they will (from the 1st January 2023) be limiting cash deposits at the post office to £10000 per year. This is going to be a real problem for me as I pay my weekly income into my bank account, in cash every week at the post office. So when my limit is reached, I will be forced to drive to my nearest branch, which is a 1 hour round trip. Oh, but that branch is closed on mondays (my only day off),so the next closest is 2hr round trip. Needless to say, I'm now shopping around for alternative banks, but I've noticed that other banks have plans to do the same. Any suggestions on alternative banks that won't be imposing cash deposit limits?? I must admit that I'm livid that after closing most branches and telling us all to use the post office the new restrictions have really rubbed me the wrong way and any bank willing to offer me better will be getting my business. 

JGB1955

Why is your 'weekly income' paid in cash?  Processing cash is expensive for the banks - they want to charge that to you (quite reasonably in my opinion).

Rob5342

Isnt there a way to get at least some of your earnings paid straight in? I don't know what business you are in but every tradesman I've used in the last five years has wanted payment by card or bank transfer.  Cash is expensive to handle so it will get more and more difficult to pay in.

I doubt there any any banks that won't introduce restrictions at some point, but you could have multiple current accounts and spread the pay ins between them.

eskbanker

How much of your spending can be done in cash?  Receiving well over £200 every week as a wad of notes does seem quite anachronistic, but if getting your employer to pay electronically isn't an option (have you asked?) then how viable would it be to spend decent chunks of it without banking it?

Vortigern

Just get another bank account (and keep the Barclays account)

When you reach the limit with Barclays, pay your cash into the other account and transfer it online to Barclays.

You can, and should, have more than one bank account.

mab3000

Just read a Barclays response on Twitter about this issue. The reason behind it is due to a FCA regulation change around money laundering. So it’s likely that all banks will be doing the same eventually. 

Best thing to do is like others have already said, keep the Barclays account open and then open another account elsewhere to run alongside it. 

Make sure you do your research when looking for a new bank to check what banks offer post office banking facilities. Nationwide for example, although you can withdraw cash from the post office, you cannot pay money into a Nationwide account there. 

henm2

Definitely to do with money laundering regulations. Best to get your wages paid directly into the account by your employer electronically. 

AstonSmith

I imagine if it was possible for the OP to get the money paid in directly, they would already be doing so as going to the PO every week is a pain.

I know my employer (who does the same thing) says that it costs money for him to pay cash into his business bank account, and would cost more to pay me online after that, but it costs nothing to pay me with the cash. "The charges are small but add up over time" etc.

[Deleted User]

JGB1955 said:

Why is your 'weekly income' paid in cash?  Processing cash is expensive for the banks - they want to charge that to you (quite reasonably in my opinion).

It's a branch based account; it's quite reasonable to expect non-electronic methods to be available including cash.

OP - get another account as a backup and you can also pay many bills over the counter with cash.