Who says we don't have (at least the beginnings of) a police state?

[Horse with no Name]

Deposited a fairly large sum of cash in the bank this morning--I sold some expensive furniture that I didn't need and the purchaser paid me cash.

Went to pay a bill and I have a "hold" on my account because the deposit exceeds some random threshold.

What the hell?

I called the bank and FORTUNATELY I can provide documentation of the sale and they will release the funds as soon as I take it up there and "prove" where the money came from.


BUT...damned!

[valerief]

1. Beginning? Since the Patriot Act, we've been in one. nt

[Horse with no Name]

2. We don't see much of what happens in the outside world

in our little corner...but this was surely an eye opener.

[redqueen]

7. +1

[reggie the dog]

26. we have been a police state since the war on drugs

drug testing is pure fascism, mixing of business and surveylance state,

when cops stop 12 year old kids on their bmx bikes and feel their balls looking for drugs i would say we had full blown fascism, so at least since i was 12 in 1991.

[valerief]

30. OMG! nt

[grasswire]

3. insanity

I would have kept the cash out of the bank, personally.

[Uncle Joe]

4. This is just another creeping dimension of the dysfunctional War on some Drugs,

money will gradually become illegal, if you deposit or travel with larges sums of cash it's already suspect and perhaps subject to confiscation, unless you're an obviously wealthy person.

This is a continuation of the ever evolving Big Brother, police state mentality, that I see the U.S. morphing into, but the problem isn't "big government" so much as corporate/oligarch dominated government which in turn dominates "We the people."

Government is just the middle man for those mega-wealthy interests and as the world's resources shrink, global warming climate change kicks into high gear and nations become more competitive via industrialization, our corporate supremacist/oligarch dominated government will become even more restrictive and abusive against the people.

Thanks for the thread, Horse with no Name.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Agree with every word, Joe.

[reggie the dog]

27. at the airport security you are supposed to empty everything

i kept an envelope with cash, a thousand euros, two thousand dollars and 20 uk pounds, i guess the metal in the bills set off the machine but the security asked me what i was doing with "so much money" which was not even 3000 euros so i informed them that i could arrive in the usa with ten thousand in cash so 3500 was not so much especially for a 2 and a half month vacation. but i hate having to put that envelope on the conveyor belt.

i also hate it when people look at you strange for paying in cash at hotels and the like

i usually do pay for groceries and diesel pay at the pump with my debit card but when i go uptown to the local shops it is all in cash,

plus any money that i make in cash jobs of course stays in cash and i know that there are millions like me in france who do some gardening, cement, digging or harvesting kind of work on farms and worksites for cash in hand from time to time.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. The banks have been told to stirctly enforce the Patriot Act provisions about tracking our money.

It is called the" Know Your Customer" policy under the Act, supposedly to counter act money laundering
( despite the fact that Wells Fargo ADMITTED TO massive money laundering and nothing happened to them)


Banks are requited to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) with the government anytime you deposit or take out money over a certain amount. The amount USED to be 9,999.000, now it is as low as 5,000.00.
They are also required to report any significant change from your regular banking habits...a large check to someone,
more checks written than usual, more withdrawals than usual.
"usual" is up to them to determine.
Further, banks "are prohibited from informing the account holder of the filing of a SAR or the contents of such a report."

Even when you change, or close an account, they report it and try to collect further personal data, as my bank tried to do with me recently.


here, look it up..it is chilling.
http://www.banktech.com/risk-management/16401323

[Autumn Colors]

8. The amount is lower than that

I - and each of my siblings - deposited a check from our mother for $2,500 a couple of years ago that was a Christmas gift (after she took out a reverse mortgage and was happy to be able help each of us out with our needs at that time). These checks were deposited at four different banks in three states and ALL of the checks were held longer than the usual 2 days. I complained to the bank and said that this check was from my mother and was a Christmas gift. They relented and finally cleared the check.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Their threshold is lower than that

but thanks for the info.

I dropped my car into the shop before I came home and cannot get to the bank yet...and I have some bills that need to be paid, as well as I deposited everything in there and have access to nothing.

[reggie the dog]

28. my credit card company called my parents in the usa

because i made suspicious purchases, a wedding suit?....???..?

wow, you take out too much of your own money and it becomes suspicious? like people never go on vacation, go to buy a used car or motorcycle or boat or something, or go to the casino.

fuck banks, keep money hidden in fireproof safes in different stash spots over your own property. buried, anything.

like a squirrel.

[MerryBlooms]

6. Same with checks that meet or exceed that random

threshold. You're also not allowed to store cash in your safety deposit box.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. AND the bank cannot/will not tell you if the Feds look in your SD box.

Also courtesy of the Patriot Act.
We do not do much banking anymore, only enough for essential bills,
because when I moved back to this town from the West Coast, I transferred a large amount of my savings
into the local bank.
They reported it to the Feds who then tried to tax my SAVINGS as "income".
(even tho the amount of the savings was reported every year in the previous bank with no problems.)
My CPA told me the IRS had been sending out tons of invalid demands letters to people, in hopes they would just pay up rather than argue.
I argued. Cost me the CPA fee. I won.
Then I took that large sum out of that bank, over a period of a year.

THAT was my eye opener into how things have changed.

[MerryBlooms]

11. I've been with a two credit unions for 30 years

I've never banked at a 'regular' bank.

I'm also responsible for insuring the contents of my safety deposit box - something happens, it's not covered like your accounts are.

[kenny blankenship]

12. Nobody lays down a foundation this far reaching & strong,

but they intend to build a great house to go over it.

[LuvNewcastle]

13. +1

It's been in the making for a long time now.

[EFerrari]

31. Yes.

[Downwinder]

14. We have a police state that any third world dictator would be

proud of. Come to think of it, Who trains their troops?

[TheKentuckian]

15. It takes a mighty ability to suspend disbelief to think otherwise, in my opinion

Something akin to faith, like in the religious sense or otherwise the profound in ability to project beyond the immediate.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. Thred deserves another kick or so, people need to see this, IMHO.

[NNN0LHI]

18. Not trying to be nosy but about how much cash are we talking about here?

I would just like to know about where the threshold is to warrant that amount of scrutiny for any of my future transactions.

Thanks if you don't mind answering.

Don

[Horse with no Name]

21. $2500

Not a very significant amount of money to have to jump through the hoops I have had to jump through today, IMHO.

It is all untied now...but it was a pain in the ass, for sure.

[truebrit71]

22. AFAIK the "threshold" for cash is $10,000, or $10,000 over a rolling 30 day period...

...I would have been raising holy hell for a hold being placed on CASH that I had deposited...

[NNN0LHI]

24. I was told by someone at my bank that had been brought down to $5000 several years ago

I am wondering if it has been brought down again?

Don

[Horse with no Name]

29. Well, to be honest

after this, we are rethinking how we are going to handle our finances.

I kept out of banks for years, and only recently went back to them. We may decide to handle our own asses....assets....in the very near future.


This money was in addition to our normal deposits...very likely it was enough for us to cross that threshold.

On edit: I wanted to add WHY we went back to banks. It is ILLEGAL to possess large sums of money and they can confiscate it. I was traveling and was concerned about being stopped for carrying money, so decided to put money back into the banking industry.

You really have to wonder WHY these laws are being placed on books....can't keep your money in your pocket, can't put it in banks....what the hell are you supposed to do with it?

[NNN0LHI]

23. That is a pretty damn low threshold to bring on that amount of scrutiny

I think that is bullshit. I can think of a number of nefarious reasons that they would be interested in this information. But I can think of just as many innocent reasons for this that is just no one else's business.

Thank you for starting this thread and letting people know what is going on these days.

Don

[harun]

19. Been a police state for a long time.

[barbtries]

20. your money!

omigawd. that is absurd. putting a hold on CASH. jeez i would be so pissed. and you have to go to the bank and document how you got it? give me a FUCKING break.

[reggie the dog]

25. here in france the bank asked me where i got 2500 euros cash from

as i was putting it into their bank, i told them it came from my pocket, they asked me why i was putting it into the bank and i told them, truthfully, that you cannot buy plane tickets to leave france in cash, they said ok and accepted the money. i look like a hippie freak, am a prime suspect for having illegal money, but they just took it, having said that the money really came from the bank across the plaza that i have my savings account in.