It used to be that a cash transaction of $10,000 or more required some kind of paperwork (Or something to that effect. Anyway, the trigger was $10K) and that may or may not have changed (like increasing with inflation), but I don't know. I was always told that was to try to track illegal cash transactions. If I were a crook laundering cash, though, I certainly wouldn't be reporting activity over $10K. And, yes, I get it --- multiple $9K transactions can, in theory, get around this. At what point, though, does some organization's "right" to track these transactions outweigh the individual's right to do business? Having to deal with some organization's unfounded accusations (that IS what is going on here, no matter how they spin it) costs the small businessman $$$. This is almost equivalent to DNA testing every man in the neighborhood of a rape victim. This has been attempted and the courts have deemed this an unreasonable invasion of privacy. If there is evidence of an actual crime, then investigate. Numerous small sales to various places around the country/world (ON
ebay, NO LESS) is hardly evidence of a crime. It is called "doing business via the
ebay model". If banks cannot understand that, then they don't have a reasonable understanding of the economy in the 21st century.
As an aside: do these organizations really have the luxury of all this idle time which they can devote to rooting out the details of what I expect to be 99+% good, honest commerce????