I know Chase is very strange when it comes to cash anything nowadays. On an established account, I would doubt those amounts (~$5K/month) would raise eyebrows, but on a new account it might trip something. You might go to a local branch and speak with a branch manager to see if you can have a note on your account that they know what's going on and it's not nefarious. This will also come in handy in case there is any kinda of hiccup, the branch manager will already know your situation and be able to go to bat for you with whatever back office that is causing an issue.
@MikeyMagic wrote:I play poker primarily for income, I don't do direct deposit, I haven't worked at a company for a long time.
I just opened a Chase checking account but now I am having second thoughts. I was just gonna go to a local branch and deposit cash once a week or let's say 4-5 times a month. Most likely amounts between $300-$1000.
Are the bank tellers and or Chase mgmt gonna start getting suspicious as all I will do is come and deposit money in cash? I can maybe do a transfer at times from my Netspend account to my Chase online account but that takes days to clear.
I pretty much want to keep adding money to the Chase account(and use it to pay my Freedom Rise off) for 6-12 months so I have a really nice balance. But it just seems from what I've read and already experienced with Cap1, these banks are FRAUD CRAZY. I literally feel like any stray from "normality" it's gonna trigger questions and fraud and account restrictions. And the last thing I want to have happen is for me to have like $6000 in my Chase checking account and then they freeze my account, want me to "prove" where I'm getting the money or worse, just close my account and keep the money.
Is this a real worry for me do you guys think? Should I just put like $1000 in that account and keep it at that amt mostly? I wanted to have a nice amount in the account so a year from now that could help get me a nicer CL. I don't know what to do please help.
Thanks!!
If you're reporting your income, then I don't see any reason for concern.
If you're not reporting your income, then you have all kinds of issues.
For full transparency in the discussion, @MikeyMagic, I'm going to ask a couple of pointed questions. No accusations but just so we understand. Do you prefer to take the cash versus check for some specific reason? Are any income taxes being withheld at payout? Are you paying your full taxes due to the IRS on your income? I'm not familiar with income streams like this, but I do suspect it could raise many red flags.
- For most of the past century, large payments including most payroll deposits have been made by paper checks or electronic transfers. More and more, even smaller transactions are handled electronically and without cash. Large cash movements are exceedingly rare these days.
- Transactions in all or mostly cash are suspicious. Even before the modern advent of primarily electronic payments, cash-only has made tracing the source more difficult and has often been used in illegal or criminal activity. Cash can be used in money laundering. What you are doing may be perfectly legal, but using large cash payments or deposits automatically would lead an auditor to questions.
- The >Bank Secrecy Act (officially called the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970)< requires federal reporting of cash deposits over $10K. Now, you may deposit less than that amount, but that could also give the appearance of trying to skirt the reporting rules of this law if cumulative deposits over the course of months or years are well in excess of $10K.
- After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, changes in US law required financial institutions to exercise greater due diligence and increasing federal reporting so-as to prevent the enabling of funding of terrorist activity. >The USA Patriot Act of 2001, Title III< is specifically aimed at money laundering as it related to terrorist causes. Combined with the growth of the internet and web-based financial transactions in that same time-frame, that's why lenders often seem highly skeptical about proof of identify when applying for new credit. And that's another reason why they may be more suspicious and inquisitive about unusual transactions.
- Even if you are being completely forthright about your income and paying taxes, be aware that the Internal Revenue Service has >vigorous oversight of suspicious activity< as a precursor to prosecution of tax fraud. (Note the specific references to that Bank Secrecy Act and money laundering statutes in the link I provided.) If I were you, I would keep extensive records of that income as the large cash deposits may greatly increase your odds of a tax audit.
- The Chase account is just an aside to all of the above. All of the above issues would/could apply to any financial institution where you're making large cash deposits. If you're doing everything on the up-and-up, you might want to reconsider the cash payment / deposit route.
