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.

Banks should ask, you're trusting them with your money. People get so uptight about its my money, why should I justify it bla bla... and I get that to a degree but who actually cares when it's to help people. Don't use the Banks if it means that much to you.

i remenber refusing to serve a lady Who wanted 10k out to buy a car. She had all the evidence but I wa able to see it was a scam. Followed banking protocol and phoned the police. That woman would have lost 10k if I hadn't asked... even with the police talking to her she still took a while to realise what was happening. People don't like to realise they're a victim. Banks also have to repay a lot

Had another customer, who had a scammer on his mobile phone telling him what to say, a vulnerable elderly gentleman being scammed

Another lady tried to transfer a huge sum to her solicitors for her house mortgage deposit, only she had the wrong details where a scammed had sent new ones.

People might not like being asked, but it's worth it to save the people who are at risk in my view

Be honest about building works, the worker won't care. They'd likely ask which company and what you were having done... just to see if you seem genuine. if you say nothing and still want money, this is fine but you'd be made to sign to say in the event of being scammed its your own fault

Banks have a duty of care to ensure you are not being scammed in anyway, they were absolutely correct in questioning this with you.

It's a concern, that you felt you needed to lie about where the money was going to and I would also be concerned that this is a cash transaction.

You need to be honest with the bank as to why you are withdrawing such a high amount then if anything goes wrong, you will stand in a better stead for getting any money back if it turns out to be a scam or at the very least a botch job!

@ThatBeachLyfe are you ok? Did anyone ask you to lie/ mislead the bank as to why you wanted the money?

There are a lot of scams going round at the moment particularly ones to do with rogue traders. If you feel as if you can’t tell the truth to your bank something is wrong.

can you afford to loose the money? If not think twice.

Why did you lie?

Take it out of a machine with your card over a few days.

I'm with pp, it's part of their KYC rules (know your customer) and while it is unlikely they care that much about you and your builder not issuing a VAT invoice, it is up to them if you come back and "wah wah i've been scammed why didn't the bank warn me?" stuff that they have to refund.

Why didn't you just say "building work"?

OP, make sure you get evidence of handling over the cash, eg an email trail of you saying to the builder “As agreed I will pay you cash on Tuesday”, etc.
When I took a builder to court he tried to claim he hadn’t done the work. Messages between us and him proved he did.

I took out out thousands in cash when I was having building work done, including a withdrawal of £10k in one go. Each time I just told the teller what it was for - building work.

this was only about 4 years ago, there was no issue.

The banks have very heavy legal duties to prevent customers from being fraud victims. The banks now ask billions of questions about anything outside usual limits.

I must have been asked about 10x if I was sure about the safety of the purchase (certain of recipient, purpose and not being coerced and had I seen the property and seen all the paperwork) on the day I did the big transfer (£220k) to purchase my house last year, over the phone. The same questions over and over.

The bank has an obligation to prevent money laundering, and can be held criminally liable if it does facilitate money laundering. Tax evasion is money laundering.

Why does the builder want to be paid in cash? If it’s for any nefarious means then the bank has a duty to stop you withdrawing it and paying it to him.

They’re not the “tax police”, but they will be persecuted by the “tax police” if they are facilitating crime by not having proper procedures in place.

It is your money but you have also agreed to the Terms and Conditions when entrusting it with the Bank who have many regulations to follow - if you don't agree then keep it under your mattress and spend it as you wish. Banks are not interested in tax evasion, that is between the builder and HMRC, they have no access to whether the builder is completing tax returns or paying Child Maintenance. The Bank is there to ensure you are not being Scammed, they deal with the devastation of scams daily and if something doesn't quite add up, they will quite rightly ask for more information until they release funds. Answer their questions honestly and listen to their advice carefully, they are only trying to keep you and your money safe.

I paid £75K income tax last year. I'd guess VAT adds at least another £10K. I don't begrudge it or avoid it. I earn a lot of money and I can afford it.

I'm not going to martyr myself on top of that finding a builder who is ideologically pure enough for you. Go chase Jeff Bezos.

DH is a tradesman and he was recently at an old ladies house where she'd paid another tradie in cash and he was claiming he hadn't been paid and trying to get to the money out of her again. Was about £2k and she was in bits. Her son was trying to sort it out and it was a nightmare because she'd taken the money out in lumps from the ATM so even harder to prove she'd paid. Apparently he'd seemed lovely when he was doing he work, even carried her shopping into the kitchen and helped her put it away. Clearly he'd seen her as a good victim and worked to build trust.
No-one decent objects to a bank transfer, if they insist on cash there's likely a dodgy reason.

The Bank is there to ensure you are not being Scammed, they deal with the devastation of scams daily and if something doesn't quite add up, they will quite rightly ask for more information until they release funds

slight correction - they care that the customer isn't being scammed because it may cost them money in compensation. That is the sole reason for all the questions, not getting themselves in expensive trouble.

Not everyone gets the money back and even if they do it can take time, I wouldn't wish the stress of being scammed on anyone, if banks can stop that then great, I'm not talking about how much it costs them, it's just money to them - it's the victims, not the banks I feel for

Banks aren’t a charity who hold your money for you out of goodwill, they’re a business who charge fees for their services. If your friends didn’t want to pay the fees associated with keeping their money in a bank (with the protection that involves) then they could have just kept it under their bed.

@ThatBeachLyfe I can tell you that you do not need to tell the bank why you want your money!! it has nothing to do with them. I phoned my bank to order 22k in cash so i could collect it 4 hours later. they said oh you arent allowed to take that much out of the bank. I just said I will then be coming down to close my account altogether so have my cash ready in 4 hours . went down took all my funds, even my cash isa which i transferred all but a penny to my current account, and took it all to my other bank and explained to them why it was all in cash. they just did aquik phone call and accepted my cash,

I hope their insurance company is aware and they have the appropriate level of cover.

Just draw out the maximum cash from a cash machine you can everyday, until you have enough.

Financial crime is huge - I work for a big bank and the amount of money spent on systems to prevent scams is eye-watering. Every day scams are identified and stopped. The same people complaining about having to jump through hoops to get their cash out are the same people who would be straight to the papers if the bank failed to spot a scam and allowed them to withdraw their life savings. It sounds like your local branch are doing their job well. Get an invoice from the builder for £7k and show them it for proof you need the funds.

Thank you, I should put on specs on before posting 😃

That's a bit cut your nose off, you lost your isa benefits for no reason, the bank doesn't care if you close your account. What was the reason for the penny?

You withdrew £20k from your Cash ISA which was in a tax-free wrapper and put it into a current account? It’s a shame you didn’t allow your branch to give you advice on this as they would have told you to transfer it to an ISA product in your other bank via the ISA transfer process so you could keep it within the tax wrapper. It’s your money but people working in banks are there to help you do the right thing with your money.

I've recently been withdrawing large amounts from both HSBC and Santander for building work. Both ask what it's for, I tell them building work, and they give me the money. No more questions than that.

You can just withdraw £500 per day from a cash machine.