Paying cash into bank

[BankingQuery]

I've sold some expensive items for cash and I now have a few thousand in £50 notes. Can I pay this into the bank? It's less than £5000 but my income is low so I think it will look dodgy and trigger something. I have the emails from the retailer from when I bought the items new but I don't have any paperwork from the buyers I have just sold the items to. I have never done this before. I could have sold the items a few years ago and got a lot more money for them but I was worried about this situation arising so I procrastinated. Now here I am in the same situation.

Well as it stands you have a tidy amount of cash and no way of accounting for it.
When selling the item you should have had some kind of receipt system, have you any proof at all of the sale? - communications between you and the buyer, where did you advertise the item etc. These would be a start in showing that you have sold the item.
I think the bank will ask questions as they have to for the purpose of the detection of fraud/money laundering etc so be prepared for that.
You mention a low income, are you on any benefits that this sum of money could interfere with?

I've done something very similar recently £3200 all in £50's the bank clerk asked where the money came from , I said housekeeping . It was processed no problem straight into the account
. I think you're overthinking

No, not on benefits. Low income but very low outgoings.

I have texts from the buyers but I didn't advertise the items, I was approached.

You're worrying unnecessarily, unless you have special circumstances just tell the truth if they ask you, I'd be very surprised if the conversation goes any further than that

Thanks, I get so stressed about things like this and I think I look guilty as a result.

I think the authorities have bigger fish to fry than looking into you and your £3k in all honesty!

Just say you sold whatever you sold. Or say you sold a car. It's unlikely to trigger any further action. They just have to record it. For amounts of a few thousand they're unlikely to even notice unless you make a habit of paying that amount of cash into your account.

Don't lie, tell the truth, you will be asked. If your investigated by the bank and you have lied they will close your account.

Just put a bit in at a time if you are worried.

I think you get question over £1000 so just pay it in over a few visits if you are worried or use some of it for general spending, supermarket shops, petrol etc.

Can you check your bank's deposit limits on their website?

Does your bank have the machines that accepts cash? You've done nothing wrong though, if asked you just say you've sold some antiques.

I've had no issue paying a few 1000s of cash into my bank at a time. I usually use the machines as I know they won't ask any questions.

It'll be fine. Say you sold stuff if they ask. I hate that we have to now all be treated like criminals for having some cash meanwhile offshore banking and tax avoidance is fine.

Actually I had a security block and phone call when I tried transferring some money to my Revolut account from one of my current accounts recently. The woman on the phone was trying to ask me why I was moving money - there'd been lots of patronising fraud and scam lectures first so I was out of patience by this point having proven my identity and confirmed it was me making the payment on the app etc. I just said because I want to move it and it's my money.

I personally keep a reasonable amount of cash outside of banks. You might want to consider doing the same. You could pay some bills in cash and just take out less from the bank account so it's basically the same as paying it in in terms of accruing credit itms.

OP, just be honest if they ask you. I can't imagine they will want to see any form of evidence. Honesty is always the best policy, even if the truth seems stranger than fiction!

When we wanted to buy a house we needed evidence for the sources of our deposit, but I've never heard of this in other contexts.

Just say you sold <whatever> for cash. I don't think the bank would bother tbh.

I had a look at my bank apparently it's 3k a day you can deposit into a personal account.

Not all banks must be the same, I've been told by staff in my local branch that they only ask over £5k

Why would you not just tell them the truth? I sold some stuff.
Am I the only one a bit 🫣 that you’ve accepted fifties?

What's wrong with £50s? As someone who travels a fair bit I'm always desperate for £50s but they're hard to come by because so many people who want to have savings in cash take them out of circulation. We have pathetically small denominations of notes in this country and if you were going to forge banknotes presumably you would choose something people are more likely to accept and not question.

I pay cash in regularly and am never asked. Anything over the value of £5000 triggers Know Your Customer protocols which they have the follow by law. Anything below that really is none of their business and you’re under no obligation to detail where it came from.

The daft thing is they'll ask OP all kinds of questions as a tick box exercise.

Yet on the very same High Street there'll be a number of shops (barbers nail bars, ice cream parlours, convenience stores, etc ) which are clearly money laundering fronts in plain sight, but no one seems to give a shit.

Yep. How does a small town where every shop has shut down manage to sustain 500 barbers and nail salons?? It's blatant.

@swallowedAfly you’re right that by far the most frequent counterfeit is a smaller note (a £20) https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics/banknote

But most people have an idea of how a £20 should look and feel, whereas as many people have actually never even seen a £50! So easier to pass off a forgery. Plenty of shops won’t take them.