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It's also a different world than the depression. You can't rent a nice apartment, buy a house, or buy a (new) car with cash. If you commit a crime, moving out

It's also a different world than the depression. You can't rent a nice apartment, buy a house, or buy a (new) car with cash. If you commit a crime, moving out of town isn't going to help you avoid the police. If you're wanted, you can't safely drive, or have a credit card, or a bank account, or have a home with utilities, or have a job with a reputable employer. That's a hard list of things to give up.

halviti 14y ago
You can actually do all of those things with cash. It's not conventional, but people do make all of those purchases with cash.
- krakensden 14y ago
  You'll notice all the qualifiers in my post- "nice" apartment, "new" car. Any vaguely reputable rental company is going to want a bunch of financial data, that proves you can afford it over the lifetime of the lease. You can't do that with 100 grand in a suitcase. Any new car is going to be over 10k, which means you need to either report the transaction or get a loan from a bank... who is going to want proof you can pay it off. Housing is the same thing. So yes, you can use cash- but you're going to have a hell of a time using cash that doesn't have an obvious, legal source.
InclinedPlane 14y ago
You can do all of that with a cashiers check, which you can buy with cash.
- frugalfirbolg 14y ago
  In the US keep in mind the Bank Secrecy Act. You may trigger a Currency Transaction Report for cash transactions in excess of $10,000 in one day, a Monetary Instrument Log for checks purchased with $3,000 to $10,000, and a Suspicious Activity Report within the bank's discretion. from: http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/bsa/ http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/bsa/ These wouldn't prevent you from making a purchase, and you might falsify information sufficiently to avoid association with your real identity and drawing unwanted attention, but it's another hurdle.
  - gregpilling 14y ago
    Also there are the "Know your Customer" regulations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer
vidarh 14y ago
I've paid a 10k GBP (~ $16k USD) deposit for an apartment with a cashiers check both mostly with 20 pound notes from the ATM outside the bank branch...(flatshare with only people new to the country, and most of us didn't have UK bank accounts set up or funded yet)
- krakensden 14y ago
  In the US, any transaction >= 10k must be reported. You can pay cash, but you can't pay cash secretly, like you'd want to with stolen money.

halviti 14y ago

You can actually do all of those things with cash. It's not conventional, but people do make all of those purchases with cash.

krakensden 14y ago
You'll notice all the qualifiers in my post- "nice" apartment, "new" car. Any vaguely reputable rental company is going to want a bunch of financial data, that proves you can afford it over the lifetime of the lease. You can't do that with 100 grand in a suitcase. Any new car is going to be over 10k, which means you need to either report the transaction or get a loan from a bank... who is going to want proof you can pay it off. Housing is the same thing. So yes, you can use cash- but you're going to have a hell of a time using cash that doesn't have an obvious, legal source.

InclinedPlane 14y ago

You can do all of that with a cashiers check, which you can buy with cash.

frugalfirbolg 14y ago
In the US keep in mind the Bank Secrecy Act. You may trigger a Currency Transaction Report for cash transactions in excess of $10,000 in one day, a Monetary Instrument Log for checks purchased with $3,000 to $10,000, and a Suspicious Activity Report within the bank's discretion. from: http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/bsa/ http://www.fincen.gov/statutes_regs/bsa/ These wouldn't prevent you from making a purchase, and you might falsify information sufficiently to avoid association with your real identity and drawing unwanted attention, but it's another hurdle.
- gregpilling 14y ago
  Also there are the "Know your Customer" regulations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer

vidarh 14y ago

I've paid a 10k GBP (~ $16k USD) deposit for an apartment with a cashiers check both mostly with 20 pound notes from the ATM outside the bank branch...(flatshare with only people new to the country, and most of us didn't have UK bank accounts set up or funded yet)

krakensden 14y ago
In the US, any transaction >= 10k must be reported. You can pay cash, but you can't pay cash secretly, like you'd want to with stolen money.