Holy crap, I can't xfer more thank 2k out of my citibank act?

[onlyadream]

I'd like to put the bulk of my savings in my credit union account, but when I went to do this, I found that I can't xfer more than 2k at a time and no more than 10k per month. THEN it states that I have leave an amount equal to the xfer amount PLUS $500. WTF!!!???

[comipinko]

1. Close it, take it all, in dimes.

[mike_c]

2. agreed, close it and tell them you'll bank with someone who treats their clients better....

Shitibank sucks.

[LoZoccolo]

3. It might be the means by which you are doing it.

If you are doing it online rather than in person, they may put limits in to protect against identity theft.

[unblock]

5. exactly. i've been annoyed by this sort of feature more than once, but it's actually a good

security precaution.

[gateley]

9. Good point and good advice. If someone were able to transfer all our funds out of our acct online

and it turned out to be fraudulent, then we'd be screaming about not having such protections in place.

[SoCalDem]

13. And most banks require some advance notice when you plan to extract a LARGE amount of money

My bowling leagues routinely withdraw amounts at the end of the season that are well over 50K..we take it in CASH, broken down so we can hand it out to hundreds of people on the leagues. All I ever have to do it request it by a certain date, tell them the denominations I need, and it's all ready for us when we show up for it.

Banks have to ORDER their money they use to operate their normal check cashing, etc business processes. They do not have wads & wads of cash on hand at all times.

Regular customer withdrawals on accounts almost always have a daily limit. This is to prevent fraud.

All anyone has to do is to show up in person, tell them you plan to close the account. If you are not obviously under duress (like someone is holding your family at gunpoint somewhere), and you are businesslike about it, you'll probably leave with a cashiers' check for your money...or an electronic transfer to your new account you have opened elsewhere (the safest way)

[rurallib]

4. It is YOUR money, isn't it?

[stockholmer]

6. like MF Global accounts, it is no longer your money when they do not want it to be

[Godhumor]

7. Part of this might also be to avoid Bank Secrecy Act hassle

Even the limits set by the bank are well under the automatic trigger levels of $10K a day, but banks really don't want to have to fill out Suspicious Activity Reports, etc. when a person starts trying to make large transfers or multiple large transfers in a short period of time. Setting limits as they have in your OP would greatly limit the possibility of people trying to launder money through Citi transfers.

[SixthSense]

8. You might be a drug dealer

seriously, that's why that law exists

[onlyadream]

11. Is it a law?

Or just bank policy?

[SixthSense]

16. there's both aspects to it

The law is that if you move $10k or more in one shot then that has to be reported to the government

It was supposed to be an anti-money laundering measure designed to make it difficult for drug dealers to use US banks to move money.

Of course later we find out that US banks have literally been laundering hundreds of billions for drug cartels, and they got off with a small fine after getting caught.

But you and me still get hassled if we want to move our own money, of course.

The $2k threshold is bank policy, I think, not the law, but it comes from them having to make sure you're not evading that $10k reporting limit by moving smaller amounts multiple times to achieve the same end.

Ever get the feeling that the only way to be safe from these clowns is to have no money at all?

[Warren DeMontague]

12. I know! People need to be more willing to make sacrifices to stop TEH DRUGZZZ!!!!!

Seriously. I mean, I don't care how many little old ladies have to be roughly strip-seached at the airport, how many packages have to be torn open and damaged at the post office, how many people have to have their doors kicked down in the middle of the night...

if it stops ONE hippie from puffing on a joint, it's ALL TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!

[onlyadream]

10. Didn't have this type of limits with other banks

I believe I transferred a good amount from another bank into Citi Bank years ago, and I did that in one transaction. I guess when I go to the branch, I'll have to inquire about how to do this. I'm just worried that they'll call the cops and have me pepper sprayed...

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Is that online or walk in?

The fine print giveth
and taketh away.

[SheilaT]

15. Many banks also have limits in how

much cash you can carry out with from the physical bank itself.

These rules exist at least in part to keep people from withdrawing cash under duress, something which happened to my late father-in-law many years ago. Intruders broke into his house, held his wife hostage while he went to the bank to take out some significant, as in around $10,000, amount. Back then, they gave it to him, even though they kept on asking him did he really want cash, not a cashier's check.

The miscreants were caught and the money recovered.

[onlyadream]

19. Reminds me of that case in CT

But that didn't have a happy ending.

[zipplewrath]

17. You can transfer it all out

You may have to walk in and get a cashiers check. Or you may have to get the credit union to request the transfer to your new account. The limitations you are mentioning sound more like those for electronic transfers, say from online banking or ATM machines.

[Godhumor]

18. Actually Withdrawals over 10K, even if allowed, still go on the Suspicious Activity Report

And need to be reported. A close out that big would also trigger a flag. The Bank Secrecy Act is an interesting piece of legislation.

[zipplewrath]

20. Even smaller transactions can go on the SAR

$5000 is enough for a bank to report a transaction if they have any other reason to question the transaction. I even understand that a series of transactions, regardless of size, can trigger a reporting if they merely appear to be intended to avoid reporting requirements.

[Godhumor]

21. Yeah, that's correct

But 10K is an automatic trigger not a subjective one.