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.

Probably to avoid the "I was scammed out of £7k cash by a rogue tradesman and you didn't even warn me when I withdrew that much cash" complaints

Well they clearly couldn’t, so
it worked (from the banks perspective).

I’m surprised by the number of people happy to pay cash to a tradesman. They are doing it to avoid tax. Which means the rest of us are all paying more tax. I know a tradesman who did £40K cash work last year, thereby avoiding about £20K in tax. A good fraction of a nurses salary.

£7,000 in cash isn't a very large package and there’s certainly no need for a briefcase 😆. Whenever we’ve withdrawn large amounts of cash, we’ve ordered it in advance and asked for £50 notes, which the bank has given us in an envelope. Of course you need to be vigilant when you’ve withdrawn a large amount of money, but there’s nothing to suggest that I’m any more likely to have £7000 in my handbag when I come out of the bank as the man walking out after me. Unless someone had been standing very close to me and then followed me out, how would anyone know I hadn’t just gone into the bank to pay in a cheque? We don’t keep large amounts of money in the house for more than a couple of days and would only have money if we were paying a trusted builder for work, or something similar. We’ve got a very good alarm system and the house is very rarely empty, so the risk of losing a large amount of money through burglary is minimal. If the worst did happen, we’re insured. I know lots of people who still use cash, and often in large amounts.

You shot yourself in the foot by lying. They knew you were lying, so alarm bells ring. They wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't try to protect their customers from harm. Go back and be honest, take the builder's invoice.

Except keeping cash is not saving. It is being eroded by inflation every day.

It can easily be higher than that as well - my HSBC card has a daily limit of £1,000, thouhg I haven't taken out cash yest this year, and when I wanted to get a moderately large amount of cash from a Barclays account last year they just increased my card limit to £2,000! Though, they did say that I could only take that much out of the the machines inside the bank, not the regular ones on the street.

I do think that most of the controls on cash withdrawls are unduly intrusive - I know people who have been quizzed over relatively trivial withdrawls. If I am put in that position I think I'd be tempted to take the apporach of a previous poster; and just say I was going to the races :)

I find the number of people willing to facilitate tax evasion staggering. Just staggering.

Because the 20% VAT will be added to the invoice

You don't think it should be a bank tellers job to ensure their customer is not being scammed out of their money?

I work in fraud and many people have been victims of fraudulent scams. Do you not think we have a duty of care to safeguard not only the customer but the money that the company will lose as they will likely credit it back to the customer!

Banking is heavily regulated in the UK. They have to prive they comply with a number of laws including anti money laundering and face sanctions if they don't comply.

My DH and I move large amounts of money between us a few times a year as there's a big difference in our incomes and it maximises our savings/pensions/expenditures etc. Our private lives are only the bank's business to the extent that they have to comply with the law so we give neutral answers with just enough information so the bank can tick their boxes.

The absolute nonsense spouted on this site is mind blowing ssometimes.

Thanks all who took time to respond, some helpful posts here. To clarify:

1. £7k isn't alot of money to pay a builder if you're having a few jobs done. Fitting new kitchen and floors throughout. It's a more competitive price than the place where we bought the kitchen!
2. He's legit. We've used him before for smaller jobs at our last property.
3. He doesn't have any children so he's not using it to dodge paying child support.
4. I agree it's not my problem if he doesn't want to pay tax, and it's very very common amongst builders, though equally I don't want to give his name to the bank.
5. They won't have 'flagged my account' as a few PP suggested, as I didn't give my name or any details when I went in, I just made an enquiry at the desk.

Sounds like my best option is to withdraw from a cash point over the next 10 days or so. Also like the idea of saying I need cash for the races - good suggestions. 👌

These people would be the first to go to the press with their sob stories about negligent banks if they were victims of fraud.

Who said anything about paying the builder up front?

Not everyone who asks for, or accepts cash payments is trying to evade tax. My husband was frequently paid in cash because it suited his clients, but he still declared it and paid tax on it. I work in education and have been paid in cash by one of my schools on a couple of occasions- it went straight into my business account. I don’t care how someone pays me so long as I get the money I’ve invoiced for. Of course I’m aware that on some occasions builders might not declare cash in hand work, but that’s up to them, not me, and I think most people would be happy to pay in cash to save 20%, provided they trusted the tradesman concerned.

Do two withdrawals one for £4.9k then another one for £2.1k on the next day. Then no questions will be asked.

I’m really surprised by the number of people saying things like ‘their tax affairs are none of my business’. If they evade paying tax, everyone else pays more tax. It’s everyone’s business. Unless those saying it are also self employed and they have no problem with it because they’re also evading paying their taxes.

@ThatBeachLyfe on point 4,this is only true if you are paying him the same for paying in cash as you would for paying by bank transfer. If he is charging you less for a cash payment, you are gaining a peruniary advantage from the crime and are therefore a knowing partner in the crime.

This would also be a red flag in the fraud world!

Wow. This thread is mind blowing. Just be honest with the bank. You are entitled to withdraw your cash for building work. They won’t stop you. What they want you to do stop is people getting scammed and by lying and trying to circumvent their processes you sound like that’s exactly what’s happening. Banks are regulated. They get heavily fined if they cannot show they have protected customers and I am sure you would be the first to complain if they just gave you the cash and it turned out you paid a dodgy builder and they could have helped prevent your loss of money. It’s dodgy as hell that the builder wants cash anyway just ask him for his bank details like most people

I’m sure there was similar whinging when rules about seatbelts came in .

as others have said the fact that you lied says a lot.

Some of the answers on this thread are ridiculous. It's no wonder scammers, be they rogue traders or romance fraudsters are so successful, because people won't answer a simple question honestly or would rather make repeated trips to an ATM.
The banks ask these questions in an effort to protect you, and avoid financial penalties themselves if it all goes wrong. I can assure you that a good number of crimes have been prevented by banks asking these questions.

I’m one of the people who has said that other people’s tax affairs are none of my business. I’m self employed but I declare every penny of my income, even down to the average amount of 97p I get each month in interest on my current account. I feel no differently now about paying people in cash to how I did when I was PAYE.

I’m going to - find antiques market happening. Tell them you are driving up w a friend, sharing costs of a trailer and you intend to buy furniture and artwork. Dealers often don’t have card readers at these.

So it doesn’t bother you that other people evading tax inevitably leads to the rest of us paying higher taxes?