more good read ..this is crazy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenaha,...izures_scandal

The answer from The Inquisition is "Not as Many Audits as We Want to Perform!"

Pliers and tongs rust if not in constant use and the rats get nasty if we don't fill up the dungeons with new chew toys.:D

Originally Posted by thorax

Do you have any idea how many of those things are filed a day? And do you know how many people are audited every year?

42

I paid a bill (a little bit over $3K for AMEX) at WM using their Bill Pay service. For the first time ever, the associate asked me lots of details (he asked me for driver license, ssn, occupation, etc). I paid bills there many times (but for amounts less than $3K), and didn't provide any personal information ever. I suspect that amount of $3K+ has triggered this. What was that? SAR? Since it was a bill pay, I'm confused.

No, this is not crazy, this is Texas! What can you say about a state where the dead vote, sometimes twice in the same election; corruption runs rampant; and the county DA and judges fly on stolen airline vouchers?:p

We don't shakedown folks here in Texas, we just acception little tokens of appreciation for keeping folks out of jail.

SAR does kick in at $3K, but I didn't know it would kick in even for bill pay.

Every time I buy a GC with my cc I am asked for my driver's license. big deal...

Part of the reason for this is that there are some real GC and CC fraudsters out there, in addition to the money laundering folk.

+1

SAR filings or not, "manufactured spend" may invite trouble from the IRS going forward:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...do-audits.html

even when money laundering and (non-tax) fraud aren't an issue.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: :td:

Money Orders and Banks
 

As has been written in this forum, Money Orders (MOs) are a pretty good method to liquidate various cards. However, FTers have posted many warnings about not purchasing ($3000 limit) or depositing too many MOs.

On this latter point, I am interested in understanding better the limits (soft or hard) that people have discovered with respect to depositing MOs at banks. Is it a per day limit ($3000)? An aggregate $ amount of MOs deposited per month? Where do banks draw the line? Do different banks have different compliance rules on this?

My goal is to deposit about $4 - 5K/month at my bank and I am wondering whether this will trigger something (review, banishment, SAR, etc.).

If there is already a thread on this topic . . . my bad!

The $3k "limit" isn't a limit, it's the point at which WalMart (and perhaps other vendors) start to collect personal data on you.

It's not an SAR, it's not reported back to your CC, it just add's time & hassle and puts your personal info in the hands of the clerk working at Wal-Mart

Your bank doesn't care unless they start seeing you dropping off thousands each day, or ten thousand+ on the same day.

To make life even easier for yourself, open an account with a bank that has branches all over, and pick different days to go into each branch. Or alternate between walking into the bank versus using the drive through.

Speaking as a Cardinal, depositing MOs at your bank is a mortal sin and you will go to hell for it. That said, if your banker knows you, and your game plan, and is quite sure that you are not a launderer, you may get off with a papal dispensation. Personally, I try not to deposit more than $6k at a time and more than $30k a month at each institution. In fact, one of my institutions gave me a 20k unsecured line of credit just to go and sin some more.:p