3 ms·

There are for sure tradeoffs here, but in Germany for example they recently made paying in cash for real estate illegal because it was obvious that almost all t

There are for sure tradeoffs here, but in Germany for example they recently made paying in cash for real estate illegal because it was obvious that almost all those cash transactions involved crime money of some sort. Edit: As noted below cash here refers to paper money. The same law also prohibits real estate purchase with gold, silver, diamonds or crypto currencies.

hiatus 3y ago
So if you sell a house and want to buy a new one, you have to pay for a mortgage you don't need?
- zdragnar 3y ago
  Does Germany have no equivalent to a money order?
- birdman3131 3y ago
  Cash as in the physical object. Bank transfers are different.
- bob88jg 3y ago
  No u have to do a bank transfer -in cash here means literally in cash...
- kjandersen 3y ago
  Absolutely not, it simply means the payment must be done via the banking system. Electronic = mostly traceable.
- doix 3y ago
  I believe in this case, cash refers to physical bills, not how it's normally used in conversation (at least in the UK) to mean buying without a mortgage (via bank transfer).
- Guvante 3y ago
  Cash in this context means literal cash. Electronic transfers such as ACH would be allowed.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- traceroute66 3y ago
  > So if you sell a house and want to buy a new one, you have to pay for a mortgage you don't need? You misunderstand. We are talking hard paper cash here. It might help if we quote a translated excerpt here : This practice is now being abolished by the introduction of Sec. 16a GwG. From 1 April 2023, it will only be possible to purchase real estate using means of payment other than cash, crypto assets, gold, platinum or precious stones. All parties to the transaction are required to present satisfactory proof of payment, for example a payment confirmation from a financial institution. (source of excerpt https://www.gvw.com/en/news/blog/detail/prohibition-on-cash-payments-and-transparency-register https://www.gvw.com/en/news/blog/detail/prohibition-on-cash-...)
  - mike_d 3y ago
    Sounds like a good time to buy silver and palladium.
- aeinbu 3y ago
  No, you would have money in a bank account, and transfer the money to the receipients bank account. No cash payment needed.
schnebbau 3y ago
So people were handing over suitcases containing millions in cold hard cash!? Is there ever a legitimate reason to do that?
- mike_d 3y ago
  Well there is no reason you shouldn't be able to. Think about how large purchases were made before banking networks existed. My friend worked for an insurance company that would regularly receive double digit thousands cash payments on policies from pot farms because they can't have bank accounts.
- shellfishgene 3y ago
  The law was enacted last year to more effectively enforce sanctions against Russian oligarchs...
- someplaceguy 3y ago
  Yes. One of my banks forbids making bank transfers of over 10,000 EUR. The other is not far behind. Even then, sometimes they simply decide that they're not going to allow you to make bank transfers to certain perfectly legitimate accounts. There is no way to override that. For the past couple of days I've been trying to set up an automatic monthly transfer for paying my rent and my bank is not allowing me because it's "exceeding the allowable daily limit", even though I haven't done any transfers or significant payments lately, and my rent is way below the 10,000 EUR limit. You also can't withdraw large sums of money easily. Furthermore, even when they allow these large transfers (which presumably would require you to physically visit a branch which might be in a different country or even continent), it's not uncommon to charge a not insignificant percentage of that money as a fee. This is significantly more common for large transfers than for small ones. Large inbound transfers can be even more of a hassle, as banks often require you to provide documents justifying why you're receiving that money, which not only might be difficult in some cases (even when you're not doing anything illegal), but also invades your privacy and can be a significant security risk in some situations. All of this basically makes banks a prison for your money, which not even you can access easily. And besides, all that is assuming that you are even able to open a bank account. There are many reasons for why opening a bank account is hard or even impossible in many cases. And believe me, this doesn't happen in just one or two banks, it's quite common procedure in practically every bank, and increasingly so.

hiatus 3y ago

So if you sell a house and want to buy a new one, you have to pay for a mortgage you don't need?

zdragnar 3y ago
Does Germany have no equivalent to a money order?
birdman3131 3y ago
Cash as in the physical object. Bank transfers are different.
bob88jg 3y ago
No u have to do a bank transfer -in cash here means literally in cash...
kjandersen 3y ago
Absolutely not, it simply means the payment must be done via the banking system. Electronic = mostly traceable.
doix 3y ago
I believe in this case, cash refers to physical bills, not how it's normally used in conversation (at least in the UK) to mean buying without a mortgage (via bank transfer).
Guvante 3y ago
Cash in this context means literal cash. Electronic transfers such as ACH would be allowed.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
traceroute66 3y ago
> So if you sell a house and want to buy a new one, you have to pay for a mortgage you don't need? You misunderstand. We are talking hard paper cash here. It might help if we quote a translated excerpt here : This practice is now being abolished by the introduction of Sec. 16a GwG. From 1 April 2023, it will only be possible to purchase real estate using means of payment other than cash, crypto assets, gold, platinum or precious stones. All parties to the transaction are required to present satisfactory proof of payment, for example a payment confirmation from a financial institution. (source of excerpt https://www.gvw.com/en/news/blog/detail/prohibition-on-cash-payments-and-transparency-register https://www.gvw.com/en/news/blog/detail/prohibition-on-cash-...)
- mike_d 3y ago
  Sounds like a good time to buy silver and palladium.
aeinbu 3y ago
No, you would have money in a bank account, and transfer the money to the receipients bank account. No cash payment needed.

schnebbau 3y ago

So people were handing over suitcases containing millions in cold hard cash!? Is there ever a legitimate reason to do that?

mike_d 3y ago
Well there is no reason you shouldn't be able to. Think about how large purchases were made before banking networks existed. My friend worked for an insurance company that would regularly receive double digit thousands cash payments on policies from pot farms because they can't have bank accounts.
shellfishgene 3y ago
The law was enacted last year to more effectively enforce sanctions against Russian oligarchs...
someplaceguy 3y ago
Yes. One of my banks forbids making bank transfers of over 10,000 EUR. The other is not far behind. Even then, sometimes they simply decide that they're not going to allow you to make bank transfers to certain perfectly legitimate accounts. There is no way to override that. For the past couple of days I've been trying to set up an automatic monthly transfer for paying my rent and my bank is not allowing me because it's "exceeding the allowable daily limit", even though I haven't done any transfers or significant payments lately, and my rent is way below the 10,000 EUR limit. You also can't withdraw large sums of money easily. Furthermore, even when they allow these large transfers (which presumably would require you to physically visit a branch which might be in a different country or even continent), it's not uncommon to charge a not insignificant percentage of that money as a fee. This is significantly more common for large transfers than for small ones. Large inbound transfers can be even more of a hassle, as banks often require you to provide documents justifying why you're receiving that money, which not only might be difficult in some cases (even when you're not doing anything illegal), but also invades your privacy and can be a significant security risk in some situations. All of this basically makes banks a prison for your money, which not even you can access easily. And besides, all that is assuming that you are even able to open a bank account. There are many reasons for why opening a bank account is hard or even impossible in many cases. And believe me, this doesn't happen in just one or two banks, it's quite common procedure in practically every bank, and increasingly so.