Bank questioning our deposit of 4k ! Why?

[Selfraisings]

Dh has sold his electric bike as he has arthritis and it wasnt for him anymore . He sold it for cash at buyers behesr.
we took it to the bank today.. was treble quized.. thats a lot od cash, where is it from , told them , rhen we got grilled what sort of bike was it , on and on.. then they asked again.. how did you get the money again.. felt like we were really being grillled / suspicious.. what going on ?? !! Are they going to put the spotlighy on us or something?!!!
feel like the implication is we have done something wrong?!

@Selfraisings

It is probably to do with money laundering, but £4K doesn't seem like a HUGE amount of money to be asking multiple questions about, and issuing 3 or 4 'grillings.' Anyone could acquire that from selling a motorbike, or car, or some specialist collectibles. My DH sold some 'collectibles' some 10 years ago, that he'd had for a few years, that were just gathering dust, and he got £3K... That was a decade ago. So £4K doesn't seem like a whacking amount these days.

What has always bugged me and puzzled me (and actually really annoyed me,) is... when we've decided to take anything over £800-£1000 out of our savings over the counter at the bank, the cashier says 'are you doing anything nice with this money?' or 'oooh, buying something nice?' or 'treating yourself or a friend or family member?' I just say 'ah nothing you'd be interested in.....' In my head I am thinking 'what in the name of fucking fiery hell has it got to do you what I'm doing with MY money?! Bore off you nosey git!

@HowAmYa

In the nicest possible way OP, are you 60+?
This is something my mum would say.

How rude and ageist.

Someone depositing 4k in cash is very likely to be doing something illegal because no one deposits large amount in cash anymore. Ever. It may ne normal in your town but it really isn't everywhere else.

What a load of drivel. Seriously!

@Selfraisings Don't pay any attention to any of that! ^

Meanwhile the real criminals are still getting away with it.

Passing the cash proceeds of the sale of drugs through a bank account to turn it 'legitimate' is the very definition of money laundering.

Anyway, they might just have wanted to reassure themselves that the OP's DH hadn't conned an elderly relative into giving him their money.

It’s weird because I was the executor of my late parents estate
so had a couple of 100k in my account that I had to give to the beneficiaries

TSB - HSBC didn’t ever question why I was suddenly sending my son 25 k for 3 days in a row 😂on the app

I did go in and do a transfer in person to my sons account as well as it was over 100k but even with that I only had to fill out a form took a few mins

Tesco foreign currency counter. I was quizzed because I wanted dollars for my grandchildren to take to Disney in Florida. So it's not just banks. On the other hand using my app I sent son £5k recently. That went through okay

Are you 12yrs old or just led a very sheltered life? 😂

Plenty of people still prefer cash or a mix of cash and electronic payments. I guess as your life experiences are so limited, you wouldn’t know that. 🤔

@Q2C4

Where do the farmers get such large amounts of cash from?!

Please tell me you’re not serious? OMG! 🤦🏻‍♀️ 🤣🤣

Nope not 12.
I prefer cash also. But its pretty normal around here that transfers are preferred due to fraud and laundering crimes.
I'm just making an observation! No need for attacking, I literally asked her age because it's very much something my mums generation would do and say.

Sorry I got so under your skin😘

Money laundering regulations require sufficient enquiry to to made as to the origins of cash where it is outside of your usual profile and to satisfy themselves (and document appropriately) that there is no suspicion of financial crime. Banks have been fined billions where their AML controls were insufficient- even where no actual crime took place as a result- if.you don't like it petition the FCA and the government. However, looking at the impact of financial crime globally I think it is good thing that safeguards are in place.

Nope not 12.
I prefer cash also. But its pretty normal around here that transfers are preferred due to fraud and laundering crimes.
I'm just making an observation! No need for attacking, I literally asked her age because it's very much something my mums generation would do and say.

Sorry I got so under your skin😘

@Flakey99 yes, genuine question. I can't see Tesco etc paying for milk in used notes... I'd imagine that cattle markets have to insist on electronic payments given the large amounts involved to avoid farmers having to register as high value dealers with HMRC www.gov.uk/guidance/money-laundering-regulations-high-value-dealer-registration#:~:text=A%20high%20value%20dealer%20under,currency)%20in%20exchange%20for%20goods.

I don't think it's being asked. It's the repeated asking with the threat of suspending the account.

I tried to withdraw less than 3K and my account was frozen immediately and the branch had to call someone, ( HQ or fraud department I have no idea, they didn't identify themselves, not even a name). It took 15 minutes of questions before they unblocked it with a "well, this time we will unblock it and let you have the cash". That was a threat imo. They have too much power and there's no appeal process. That's frightening.

Organisations which fail to prevent those acting for or on their behalf from facilitating tax evasion face becoming criminally liable themselves. www.ey.com/en_uk/tax-controversy-policy/corporate-criminal-offence#:~:text=What%20is%20the%20corporate%20criminal,face%20becoming%20criminally%20liable%20themselves.
This is why banks can't allow people to take cash out if they have a suspicion that it will be used for tax evasion (eg paying a builder in cash rather than electronic transfer to secure a lower price).

A couple of things that might not have been highlighted so far about money laundering regulation:

It's not just the organisation, individual members of staff could be held criminally responsible if they allow someone to launder money.

"Tipping off" - where the member of staff even just tells a customer that they are being investigated for money laundering - is a criminal offence.

So if you combine those, naturally a member of staff will be reluctant to even mention the phrase money laundering when asking questions in case it's interpreted as tipping off. So they opaquely talk about bank procedures. https://www.ashcottsolicitors.co.uk/tipping-off-explained-money-laundering-offences-sentence/

I've just booked an a with a physiotherapist that was recommended. The consultant wanted me to see someone. They're cash or cheque. I can't recall the last time I wrote a cheque.

My hairdresser is cash only. The Chinese and Indian takeaways around here are cash, Ditto fish and chip shops. So I do still use cash

It wasn't Barclays was it? We had a lot of trouble recently transferring money from an inheritance. Two cheques to other people were written and cashed with no problems but the transfer to us was cancelled more than once (we have the same surname as the sender). The sender is old, deaf, partially sighted and immobile and they wanted her to go into the branch (after asking her questions on the phone that she couldn't hear properly). It took two hours on the phone one day and five hours the next to sort it out. If it wasn't so difficult we would move all her accounts!

HSBC are a pain.

I had some money sent over (a gift) from the ME and got the third degree. They said they needed notarised bank records from the sender, conformation as to where his money came from, and he was to be checked that he wasn’t on a ‘bad list’. JFC they treated me like I was a flipping international criminal.

They also closed down some relatives accounts (that they’d had since the 70s) because they moved here from Iran. Absolutely nothing dodgy at all about them or their accounts.

Absolute tosspots.

Yeah it’s annoying but they’re trained to ask these questions to listen out for anything unusual in the answers or to see if the customer can clearly answer the question or if there are any signs the customer is not being truthful. When I worked at the bank I remember a time when an elderly gentleman was making regular withdrawals. Not even huge amounts, less than £1000 at a time but we had a feeling something was up. His reason was money as a gift for his grandson. In the end it turned out he didn’t even have a grandson or any family in the country. His house had been taken over by a gang who were threatening him, controlling him and forcing him to give them his money. Hoping the small amounts wouldn’t raise suspicion. This sort of thing is happening so much more these days, just look at how many women on here are in controlling relationships. Sometimes these questions are designed to protect the vulnerable, not to harass you or accuse you of something.

My friend and I had exactly this conversation the other day. I had to pay off an equity release agreement on my Dads house when he died. I had to go go into the branch and have an interview before they'd do the transfer, and they repeatedly questioned why I was transferring the money and where it had come from. 😵‍💫

This 💯

Just a question for all the people that don't want to be asked questions about moving/paying in cash would you be happy for your bank to ask no questions, make no checks that all is ok with payments? As I bet you would be first in line to complain if anything happened to your money wouldn't you? As for the poster who didn't like being asked "are you buying something nice"etc the bank are making sure you are aware that there are other methods/being friendly! Also your home insurance doesn't cover you having large amounts of cash sitting in it.

Oh gosh that's terrible! I do feel a bit bad now for feeling contempt towards them for asking me! It just seems a bit nosey (to me... .) But it makes sense now you have explained it.

I mean I hardly make big withdrawals now (as I have had internet banking for some 10 years,) but I used to draw out biggish amounts sometimes. Not massive amounts, but sometimes the high 3 figures/low 4 figures. And as I said, they always asked what I was doing with it, and it did irk me. I can see why, now you have pointed it out. Thank you @Sugarfish

I have no issue with the questions unless they go on and on, I just expect them to use their brains and not say they need to speak to the person who gifted me money when I've told them it's from an inheritance!

There is a middle ground. Blocking my account so i couldn't even buy food when i had only requested a small amount of cash is overkill. They asked, I answered. They continued to keep asking and refused to unblock until I had answered (which I had!). Round and round we went. Guess they wanted me to lie, which I will do next time. Twats.

And before you talk about tax evasion or whatever, plenty of small businesses want cash due to card readers not working properly, or banks/visa grabbing too much in fees. They know this as the branch is in the same area 🙄