6 ms·

>What if you were going to a casino and brought a few thousand dollars with you and got pulled over. People do that all the time. The cop notices a wad of cash

by jetti 9y ago

>What if you were going to a casino and brought a few thousand dollars with you and got pulled over. People do that all the time. The cop notices a wad of cash in an envelope. Tells you you must be a drug dealer with all that cash and then just takes it. Any resistance to this results in you in cuffs and under arrest (or worse). I sometimes take money out of my savings to put into my checking account to pay unexpected bills. Because my credit union (where my savings is) doesn't allow for online transfers I have to go in. I have a fear driving the 5 minutes from the credit union to a branch of my normal bank that I'll get pulled over and have the money taken. I end up hiding the envelop under seats so it isn't visible.

turc1656 9y ago
Totally understandable. And it's a sad state of affairs when that's something an average citizen has to worry about when you're talking about legally obtained and owned money. Have you thought about a bank check? Pretty much every bank charges a fee for this. It's possible a credit union doesn't, but I suspect they probably still do. If this is a recurring transaction you do, then the fees will add up. But if it's not that frequent, this might be a good option for you. To protect yourself even further, I would fill out the To: on the check to yourself. In the past I have used "cash" to make it payable to whomever wishes to cash the bank check for convenience, but if you are just transferring between your own accounts, just put your name on it. I can't see any way an officer would be able to deposit that check on behalf of their department, even if they were crazy enough to confiscate it, which seems highly unlikely given that it's very hard to argue that such money which is going through the banking system is being used for illegal purposes. Even if it was, it's damn near impossible to prove they had any reasonable belief of that based on the information available to them at the time of the stop.
- jetti 9y ago
  The problem with a check is that all the funds are not available right away. Typically I need to refresh my checking account in order to pay an upcoming bill (such as mortgage) because other expenses popped up and drained my account. Though a bank check would be better for times that aren't time sensitive.
  - criddell 9y ago
    Have you ever asked your banker if they would make the funds immediately available? Mine will do that for me because I have more than a decade of history with them.
    - jetti 9y ago
      I have not. Do you bank with a major national chain banks? I have Chase and I'm not sure how flexible they are with that.
      - criddell 9y ago
        Yes -- Wells Fargo.
  - turc1656 9y ago
    I could be wrong, but I believe bank checks are treated as cash because they are certified by the originating bank. They aren't like a regular check. They are considered to be a cash equivalent because it was issued by a licensed banking entity with a charter. I am pretty sure the funds clear immediately, or could be made available immediately with a request to the depositing bank. UPDATE - It seems this used to be true (or they would clear next day) but this has changed after an increase in fraudulent checks so many banks now wait until the check actually clears the originating institution.
warrenm 9y ago
You don't keep the receipt from your CU with you? They issue one when you do a withdrawal (I do this myself sometimes). Being worried about that is ridiculous.
- jetti 9y ago
  What is the receipt really going to do? They could assume you're using that money to buy drugs, or you laundered it or some other outlandish charge. The receipt just shows that you probably didn't steal the money from somewhere.
  - CompanionCuuube 9y ago
    The receipt also shows that you didn't get it from selling drugs, which was the claim in the parent comment.
warrenm 9y ago
>I sometimes take money out of my savings to put into my checking account to pay unexpected bills. Then have them issue a check - my CU will issue it no charge over a certain value (I think it's $1k).
- jetti 9y ago
  Most of the time I need the money right then, which means I would need cash. Though you are the second to mention a check so I'll do that next time it isn't urgent.
  - warrenm 9y ago
    Checks clear same business day - have for years. The bank might place a quasi-hold on the deposit for a business day, but it has cleared. And when it comes from a bank, employer, insurance company, etc, they won't put a hold on it (or, at least, I've never seen a hold).

by jetti 9y ago

turc1656 9y ago

Totally understandable. And it's a sad state of affairs when that's something an average citizen has to worry about when you're talking about legally obtained and owned money. Have you thought about a bank check? Pretty much every bank charges a fee for this. It's possible a credit union doesn't, but I suspect they probably still do. If this is a recurring transaction you do, then the fees will add up. But if it's not that frequent, this might be a good option for you. To protect yourself even further, I would fill out the To: on the check to yourself. In the past I have used "cash" to make it payable to whomever wishes to cash the bank check for convenience, but if you are just transferring between your own accounts, just put your name on it. I can't see any way an officer would be able to deposit that check on behalf of their department, even if they were crazy enough to confiscate it, which seems highly unlikely given that it's very hard to argue that such money which is going through the banking system is being used for illegal purposes. Even if it was, it's damn near impossible to prove they had any reasonable belief of that based on the information available to them at the time of the stop.

jetti 9y ago
The problem with a check is that all the funds are not available right away. Typically I need to refresh my checking account in order to pay an upcoming bill (such as mortgage) because other expenses popped up and drained my account. Though a bank check would be better for times that aren't time sensitive.
- criddell 9y ago
  Have you ever asked your banker if they would make the funds immediately available? Mine will do that for me because I have more than a decade of history with them.
  - jetti 9y ago
    I have not. Do you bank with a major national chain banks? I have Chase and I'm not sure how flexible they are with that.
    - criddell 9y ago
      Yes -- Wells Fargo.
- turc1656 9y ago
  I could be wrong, but I believe bank checks are treated as cash because they are certified by the originating bank. They aren't like a regular check. They are considered to be a cash equivalent because it was issued by a licensed banking entity with a charter. I am pretty sure the funds clear immediately, or could be made available immediately with a request to the depositing bank. UPDATE - It seems this used to be true (or they would clear next day) but this has changed after an increase in fraudulent checks so many banks now wait until the check actually clears the originating institution.

warrenm 9y ago

You don't keep the receipt from your CU with you? They issue one when you do a withdrawal (I do this myself sometimes). Being worried about that is ridiculous.

jetti 9y ago
What is the receipt really going to do? They could assume you're using that money to buy drugs, or you laundered it or some other outlandish charge. The receipt just shows that you probably didn't steal the money from somewhere.
- CompanionCuuube 9y ago
  The receipt also shows that you didn't get it from selling drugs, which was the claim in the parent comment.

warrenm 9y ago

>I sometimes take money out of my savings to put into my checking account to pay unexpected bills. Then have them issue a check - my CU will issue it no charge over a certain value (I think it's $1k).

jetti 9y ago
Most of the time I need the money right then, which means I would need cash. Though you are the second to mention a check so I'll do that next time it isn't urgent.
- warrenm 9y ago
  Checks clear same business day - have for years. The bank might place a quasi-hold on the deposit for a business day, but it has cleared. And when it comes from a bank, employer, insurance company, etc, they won't put a hold on it (or, at least, I've never seen a hold).