How to withdraw cash from bank without questions

[ThatBeachLyfe]

Need to withdraw cash for some building work. Went into NatWest to ask how to do this and they said id need to fill out some paperwork and state what the money was to be used for. I said at the time it was to buy a second hand car and was told I’d need to bring photos of the car, and any email correspondence. I had my toddler with me so said I’d pop back another time when I had my hands free. I need to withdraw cash £7k. Is there a way I can do this without having to supply any proof or explanation of what it’s for? It’s my money so I don’t feel I should need to tell the bank and obviously don’t want to name my builder in the process.

If they don't check and OP is scams they're likely to have to refund. It happened to a friend of mine. Her father withdrew £30k after throwing a tantrum in the bank about it being his money and none of their business. Paid it to an investment scam and lost the lot, except he didn't. He claimed (or the family claimed) the bank hadn't done enough to protect him and the bank had to pay it back.

I was paying my builder in cash (he is retired and does a bit of work to keep himself active-I have no problem paying him this way). After my first experience trying to get cash at a branch, I ended up taking out my daily limit from the cash point most days to avoid questions and obstacles. It is crazy though- the banks do have a responsibility to make sure you’re not being taken advantage of, and to prevent fraud, but in some cases they seem to go to great lengths to prevent you accessing your own money. It is perfectly legal to pay in cash!

I do the same as pp, withdraw from a cashpoint over several days. £7k will take just over a week with 3 bank accounts and a £300 daily limit. I knew I'd need the money for months before so I just went to the cashpoint whenever I was passing.

This has to be a joke thread. No one pays 7k in cash to a tradesman. No one. That is simply not done. Any tradesman that wants that amount in cash, up front, is a scammer. If this thread is for real, you need to wise up and fast. He's a con artist.

a friend and her dh are building a home from scratch (workshop and garage complete now onto the actual house) they too needed cash (generally keep 10K on site at all times) this time the bank didn’t have that amount of cash on hand, it needed to be ordered in with extra security and they had extra fees incurred for the hassle of wanting “their own cash”.

Why lie ? It’s for building work

its your money so you can pay how you like

Yeah, good point, that the OP lied about what it was for is really strange, too. Like she had something to hide. The whole thing is odd.

Ridiculous to you maybe but not if it stops vulnerable customers being scammed out of their life savings

The daft thing here is lying about what the money is for, building work is a legitimate thing

Which bank was that @ThatBeachLyfe , asking for a photo of a car doesn't seem like a very well thought out security measure, surely you could show them any old photo

She said in the OP: Went into NatWest

The bank are trying to check you're not being scammed and you're feeling like you have to lie about where it's going so I'd say they have reason to be concerned. I wouldn't pay 7k cash in one go to a builder. Are you sure you're not being scammed here?

The fact you've lied raises a huge red flag to me, like you know something is wrong here.

Tax evasion. Nice.

This. I paid some of my builder in cash. Some for materials etc when building control said foundations needed be deeper. They just double checked I knew I could be scammed. I'd already bank transfered 35k

I think it’s good they question it. There are lots of scams around and it protects vulnerable people

From the banks perspective they are trying to protect you to make sure you get what you are paying for and not being scammed / facilitating money laundering.

We all know why the builder wants cash and you are facilitating tax evasion. So much in the press about the rich and big companies not paying tax but the biggest issue in collecting tax is things like this. You don’t pay vat, the builders don’t pay corporation tax and they are probably paying the people doing the work in cash too so more lost tax. Less funding for public services.

There has been a huge increase in scams lately especially building scams.
If you just answer the questions it'll be fine. I had to say who the builder was and confirm I was happy with their work.
You may need to confirm that you are aware there's no refund with cash unlike bank transfer.
Sadly there are people persuaded into paying huge amounts of cash up front to rogue traders that then disappear.

They are just doing their job and trying to protect you. If you were scammed you would expect the bank to pay you the money back. They have a duty of care to their customers, you would be amazed the amount of people who go into a bank to withdraw cash and they are either the victim of a scam, or being forced to withdraw the money by an abuser or are a victim of modern slavery. It can also be a sign of laundering it criminal gang activity which happens more than you works think. They don't do it for fun they have FCA guidelines to follow. I work for a bank, not in a store though and we have regular training on spotting the signs etc.

The easiest way would be to withdraw daily the mx amount over a course of a week or two (depends on your daily limit)

For those saying if this post even real, the payment in cash may be to avoid paying a VAT on it (which equals tax evasion).

At best you are facilitating tax evasion.
Plus men who get paid in cash also often do it to avoid paying child maintenance too, so defrauding their own children.

But given you don't care about that - the bigger risk is how vulnerable you are making yourself to a scam or just to a difficulty seeking any remedy if the work is shit

Then don’t complain about public services etc. the black economy costs billions every year.

Why would the builder care about being named if they’re legit? We just had an extension and paid some cash, it was a weekly installment of the wages and they just divvied it out between them. I still had receipts and invoices though and they never seemed fussed about it being ‘secret’ I wouldn’t worry about saying what it’s for. Santander accepted it was for building wages without any bother and checked I was happy with the work etc

My builder invoiced me at the end of each week and I transferred the money into his account there and then and he then signed the invoice to say paid in full. For building materials I paid the builders merchant directly, builder put the order in over the phone, passed the phone to me, I paid them via credit card. That way all the materials belonged to me. I paid all subcontractors directly into their bank accounts. The builder works this way so he can stay below VAT registration mark as he only gets paid for his work and the daily labourer. No other funds go through his account.

I would be incredibly wary of any person asking for cash because so many builds go wrong and they can just walk with your money especially if you pay them lump sums.

Is it because your builder has given you a special price for cash in hand because he doesn't intend to declare his earnings?

Because if so, yeah, that's why the bank is asking these questions. To prevent this sort of thing from occurring.

Tax evasion IS proceeds of crime, ie within the money laundering regime, so the bank is required by law to take reasonable steps to guard against it! They’re not doing it for fun.

Like a PP says, banks are an important front line in crime prevention. Make it harder to hide or move around large sums of cash undetected and you're hindering criminals, which is a good thing.

It's so easy to transfer money these days that by definition anyone using large sums of cash I very likely to either be committing or facilitating a criminal act.

In this case, in decreasing order of likelihood

Tax evasion by the builder
Other criminal act by the builder, he will disappear with your money or hugely overcharge for poor quality work

Or as the bank may have picked up that you're lying about why you need the money, you're being scammed or involved in money laundering, either knowingly, unwittingly or by coercion.

Paying builders in cash is tax fraud. If he's charging you less for paying in cash, you are sharing in the proceeds of crime.

Banks have a responsibility to discourage criminality.

Pay your builder through official and traceable channels so that you aren't helping him to be a tax-dodging scumbag and you don't have to be secretive about your actions. Win-win.