So I walked into a bank and took all their money

Why you shouldn't keep all your money in the bank. Back a few years when bank of America was having troubles before they quietly sold off pretty much everything west of I-27. They had pissed me off for the last time, charging me BS fees for no reason while I was in Afghanistan.
I had been saving my haz fire pay, family sep and additional pay for being tax free for about 8 months to get my roof fixed when I got back. So my bank account was abnormally swell.
So I walk into a bank with my debit card and military ID, not a gun. And told them I would like to close my account.
I was wearing my worst looking unwashed work clothing, almost looked like a homeless person, didn't want to look like some one who had any money when I walked out of there that day.
They tried to give me a check...
I know they are having financial troubles and they want to cut me a check because of the amount. I didn't want to wait how ever many days for the check to clear. So I wasn't going to take a check. Turns out that they didn't have enough cash to pay out all of my account on hand.
The average bank robber only gets something like $8,600 I didn't do a lot better. I had to come back the next day for the rest which wasn't very much.

What if there is a run on the banks?
Surely there are plenty of people who have close to the same amount as I did and old people who just have a ton of money in the bank. The banks obviously dont keep as much cash on hand as I thought they did.

 

You are correct. Banks do not like giving you your money.

I do not know. I thought they kept more on hand then you indicated above. I thought they always kept a couple hundred thousand on hand.

 

My engineer friend who pays cash for everything told me that if you want to take out more than 15,000 you need to let the bank know 3 business days before hand.

Maybe the bank lied. Could have been holding back.

 

That's not uncommon practice. It gives the bank time to place an order for cash so that the "normal" transactions don't run short.

 

its true .... and if you want to take out more than $10k the bank has to file a report.
you can pull $3,333 out 3x in one day and not get a report filed... bizarre ehh?

 

And they MUST report $10,000 or more but it is up to their discretion to report any other amounts. For example, $10,000 WILL get you reported, by law, but 3x $3,333 in one day will likely get reported at their discretion due to RICO laws and the "soft" requirement to report suspected attempts to circumvent to $10,000 a day limit.

 

not if you know the banker =) and your are right @DarkLight I made an assumption that everyone knows their banker

 

I know, us proletariat aren't allowed to have so much currency, makes us more difficult to enslave.
This was back in 2012 or 2013.
I don't think I am going to hear from them.
Most of it got put back into my current bank minus my roofing budget within a few business days.
If I hadn't been so cranky I would have drawn it down over a week or so. More of those fees popped up on my account after I was told it would happen again and I was done with them as of that day.

 

Nope - do that and you will get reported twice - once for moving the money and a second time for "structuring" - the computers will not miss anything.

Who was that old fart Senator that got caught out diddling little boys back in the day - because he was moving money in chunks....

Banks have Federal Law, Regulations and Rules they must follow - customers mean little compared to the fines the FedGov can lay on 'em.

 

I with drew 40k a few years back took two days for them to get that much asked me if I was mad told them no had a house to build they asked if I need someone to walk me out I asked them do I look like someone that needs to be walked out the girls laughed and said no

 

Obviously, doing something illegal is against the law.
So people that don't want to break the law are careful to only do things that are not against the law.
Like, if it's against the law to take more than $10,000.00 out of your bank account, a law-abiding person might only take out $5,000.00, but since they actually needed ten, they'd take out another $5,000.00 the next day.
Two perfectly legal acts, no problem.
Problem.
The government has invented this cute little scam called "structuring".
Now, taking out two small amounts (legally) in order to avoid taking out one large amount (illegally) is illegal.
Very Orwellian, and they apply this logic many different ways.
Now, literally, if you take any action to avoid taxes (as differentiated from evading them) you can be prosecuted for structuring.
Never mind that the Supreme Court has ruled that a person can lawfully avoid paying taxes--by using tax shelters, for example. Which are legal.
Now nothing is legal, because everything that isn't illegal is "structuring", and therefore illegal.

Apparently, it is illegal now to withdraw small amounts to avoid getting reported for withdrawing large amounts.

I've been talking to God recently. I'm trying to get another really big flood worked up. It's definitely time for a change.

 

Banks suck ass- period.
I have used them when I had to. Now no more than I have to.
My personal account has exactly $3.33 in it. The rest is in my safe or in other places.
This is a bit double edged. Let's say I get a call from @Yard Dart telling me I need to catch the next plane out to the PNW because his wife is out of town and this is a good time to cache some ammo, grill some salmon and check on the BOL.
I load up and hit the airport and all is well until I get to the TSA line. All of a sudden I have to explain why I have 5k in cash on my person, and have to PROVE that it is not ill gotten. FACT, BTDT.
Banks OTOH, act as though your money is theirs. Go in and either want to cash a check or make a withdrawal for any amount over 3k and they have kittens..
A modest amount of cash and a prepaid visa card is the way I air travel now when I have to. Driving takes much longer, BUT I can carry however much I want in cash-and whatever means I deem necessary to protect it..

 

BOA is a PITA bank compared to TD/TD North , Canadian banks
They (BoA) tried the same BS of charging for squat stuff , A few calls & the bank person refunded me 3 BS charges ..
I buy stuff & make sure it's always less than 10 g ..
2 invoices Duh . or 6
(this BS is from AFT rule)

My bank has maybe 5-8G CDN & the same in USD ,,
I work well with my banks , they are using MY MONEY !!! ,Turn the tables folks & lifestyle

 

Some time back, I went to open an account at a local bank. They handed me a W-9 form to fill out. I politely declined and opened one in a Cambodian's name instead. We no longer have to deal with their mess only in the USA. Now we have to do so in foreign countries as well!

 

Bought a house from the bank, had a huge hassle as they would not take cash, would not accept a personnel check, takes time to clear you know, want to charge you for a certified check, bank check, or transfer, not a great amount but it irritated me anyhow, and insisted on funds now, not in 3 days. Got talking to the lady I know who has set at the same desk as the bank changed ownership five times over the last 25 years, after 125 years of being a small local institution. She said that while they had well over 150 thousand cash in the vault, they had less than 10,000 "available" for an individual withdrawal. They had the units that fit into the automatic teller machines full of 20's, don't remember how much each one held, but it was a lot of money, They had money for the rest of the day's regular business, based on their past pattern of deposit and withdrawal, and money for the next day with the same pattern. They had small bills for business as change and a certain amount extra for some days when experience showed them that people cashed pay checks. Notice the pattern, everything is set up for "business as usual", and any small deviation and the whole system falls apart. All deposits are centralized in 1 place even though there are hundreds of branches, no computers, no money, many people have enough deposited in IRA's, business accounts, savings, etc that will cause the system to fail to have cash available at any one branch on demand, often any 1 transaction over about 10,000 or several for 5,000 or less are the limit for any one day, and if SHTF, or even if a very small group of people think it may, the whole system collapses. The present "rules" also state that if it does fall apart, your deposits belong to the bank and you aren't even at the head of the line to get any money they may actually have. Good luck with getting it from the Fed or the government, as they don't have assets to cover 1 % of the national deposits.

Keeping cash under the mattress is also problematic, military script used in the past had the habit of being recalled, we had the big reset in 1933, and the "authorities" view any amount over a thousand or so as illegal and will try to take it and you will have to "prove" it is legal, in their courts and under their timetable. My own viewpoint is that anything other than a physical asset is nothing but numbers on someones computer and thus do not exist. While banks etc are OK for daily living and business, they can not be depended upon for survival purposes or the long run. The present stock and bond markets are even worse as in almost all cases you don't even have a piece of paper saying you own anything.