Made some cash by confronting my hoarding problem - what do I do with it?

Marchitiello

Twistedpixel said:

Seems like there are a few options, thanks for the advice everyone. I thought it was £500 every 180 days with Monzo but I misread and that's for youngsters so I can actually pay in £1,000 total every 180 days.

Maybe the simplest is indeed just paying for things cash but I've always preferred to pay by credit card because you're better protected and also I get the AMEX points.

Maybe time to do another round of current account switcher for the incentives they are offering again and just gradually pay this into them.

It has become so difficult these days doing anything legitimately because of these frustrating laws trying to stop criminals. I'd like to see the statistics on how much crime they actually stop. I suspect "very little".

I am not familiar with limits with paying in cash with most high street bank (Barclays, NatWest/RBS, HSBC, Lloyds/Halifax, Santander, TSB). I have made large deposits fairly regularly with Santander, RBS, Barclays, NatWest and Lloyds . Those fintech bank have still some gap against the HSB.. if I were in your shoes, I would open a bank account with at least 2/3 high street banks and split the money across them over a couple of payments .. that should make it low enough for not triggering any AML check.. final options would be asking some family member to deposit on their account and to transfer back to you later. 

VXman

Send me the cash in a big brown envelope. I'll put it in my bank and then transfer it to yours. 

pridehappy

It’s great to save - set up a savings/current account with another bank or building society giving you a good rate (for example, Virgin Money). Then, take it to a branch and pay it in. If they ask the reason - just tell them the truth, it’s not illegal to sell things.

eskbanker

pridehappy said:

It’s great to save - set up a savings/current account with another bank or building society giving you a good rate (for example, Virgin Money). Then, take it to a branch and pay it in. If they ask the reason - just tell them the truth, it’s not illegal to sell things.

It may not be illegal to sell things, but it's unlawful for a bank to handle the proceeds of crime, so they will ask whatever questions they deem reasonable in order to satisfy themselves that large cash deposits aren't in that category....

Middle_of_the_Road

Twistedpixel said:

With all the current anti-money-laundering restrictions with banks, I've run into a bit of a problem.

Any suggestions of legal ways to get this money into my bank account?

Thanks!

As there has been no sign of the OP since the 4th, I'm hoping he's not been pulled in for a grilling about the £5k he may have foolishly tried to pay into his probably long standing current account.

Hopefully he might just be having a good old think about his next move, a convoluted plan, after digesting all the possible strategies this thread has thrown up.

It should be wholly acceptable for a person to deposit cash/pay for goods, with any amount of cash they see fit.

It now seems that people think, anyone possessing this amount of cash, is a drug dealing, people smuggling menace to society, unless they can prove otherwise.

A bank can see the normal transaction history of an account over time, and then because a customer unusually wishes to deposit cash, they immediately question why they have it.

They seem to consider, the person who has had a prosaic banking history for years, has suddenly gone to the dogs, because, heaven forbid, they've got too many BANK NOTES 

The banks washed billions without any scrutiny, but someone standing in a queue with a 
thousand or two are being made to feel they have no right to be doing so. 

I really wonder, is there an acceptable amount of cash to be in possession of?

Should there be a national recommended maximum figure, an amount that the everyday law abiding citizen is entitled to retain?

I suppose it won't really make much difference soon, as there'll be nowhere to take your ill gotten readies to. 

Ballard

@Middle_of_the_Road do you really think that banks want to ask these questions? It would be far easier and cheaper for them to just take whatever deposits a customer wishes to put into their account. It’s the law that makes them question everything. 

Don’t get me wrong, banks earn huge sums and shouldn’t be pitied for having to follow the rules but these rules aren’t of their making. 

redux

Ballard said:

@Middle_of_the_Road do you really think that banks want to ask these questions? It would be far easier and cheaper for them to just take whatever deposits a customer wishes to put into their account. It’s the law that makes them question everything. 

Don’t get me wrong, banks earn huge sums and shouldn’t be pitied for having to follow the rules but these rules aren’t of their making. 

The recent programmes about the Brinks-Mat robbery may give some context and food for thought about why banking was tightened up

It may have disproportionate impact on people with modest means and no criminal connections at all, but it's usually only a minor inconvenience, like Britannia Building Society running a full search on me while closing an account with £125 in it; I just had to wait about 5 minutes.

Middle_of_the_Road

Ballard said:

@Middle_of_the_Road do you really think that banks want to ask these questions? It would be far easier and cheaper for them to just take whatever deposits a customer wishes to put into their account. It’s the law that makes them question everything. 

Don’t get me wrong, banks earn huge sums and shouldn’t be pitied for having to follow the rules but these rules aren’t of their making. 

I understand the law says banks have to ask these questions, but it's the way in which their staff sometimes do so. They should do it in a manner that doesn't assume from the outset that the customer is a criminal. It appears some of them actually enjoy interrogating customers.

It's not just banks though. Sometimes the looks you get when paying with a bank note, instead of waving a smartphone or card over their machine. Like it's too much trouble for them to mess about counting out change. 

It's the fact that anyone who prefers to transact with cash is somehow seen as dodgy, or somehow a burden. I have to accommodate people preferring to pay me electronically, which is fine as my OH generally is paid in cash, which she passes to me and I do a transfer into her bank. 

I use the cash for day to day spending, and if it accumulates over a thousand or so I pay in into my bank. Today though I'll be going into the travel agents to buy some euros, with CASH.

eskbanker

Middle_of_the_Road said:

It's the fact that anyone who prefers to transact with cash is somehow seen as dodgy, or somehow a burden.

That's not a fact, it's an opinion!

Middle_of_the_Road

eskbanker said:

Middle_of_the_Road said:

It's the fact that anyone who prefers to transact with cash is somehow seen as dodgy, or somehow a burden.

That's not a fact, it's an opinion!

It's a fact that some people are of that.. opinion then.