Financial Transaction Report for GC Purchases of $2,000 Plus?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE, AA EXP MM, UA Gold MM, Hyatt Glob, Marriott Titanium, HH Dia, IHG Plat
Posts: 4,766
Financial Transaction Report for GC Purchases of $2,000 Plus?
Yesterday I bought 10 x $200 Visa GCs at Office Max. This was one more than I'd bought previously at an office supply store. The manager was called over and filled out a Financial Transaction Report including my personal information and a very general description of the items purchased ("gift cards"). He said this U.S. Government form is required for any purchase of financial instruments totaling $2,000 or more, and you can't avoid the form by backing out of the purchase once the manager shows up. The manager also said he fills out these forms all the time for corporate buyers.
Anything to beware of here? I was thinking these GCs should be deposited to my wife's BB account. She has separate bank accounts, so that should pose no problem.
Anything to beware of here? I was thinking these GCs should be deposited to my wife's BB account. She has separate bank accounts, so that should pose no problem.
#2
Join Date: Jun 2011
Programs: DL, Amex MR
Posts: 287
Yesterday I bought 10 x $200 Visa GCs at Office Max. This was one more than I'd bought previously at an office supply store. The manager was called over and filled out a Financial Transaction Report including my personal information and a very general description of the items purchased ("gift cards"). He said this U.S. Government form is required for any purchase of financial instruments totaling $2,000 or more, and you can't avoid the form by backing out of the purchase once the manager shows up. The manager also said he fills out these forms all the time for corporate buyers.
Anything to beware of here? I was thinking these GCs should be deposited to my wife's BB account. She has separate bank accounts, so that should pose no problem.
Anything to beware of here? I was thinking these GCs should be deposited to my wife's BB account. She has separate bank accounts, so that should pose no problem.
#3
Join Date: Feb 2011
Programs: HHonors diamond, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Gold, UA Silver, Marriott Silver
Posts: 280
Since you are not using fake credit cards there is nothing to worry about. This was started as lot of fake credit cards were used to purchase GCs. So for $2k+ they will have your info and in case your card turns out to be fake they can then track you down with the info your give them.
This is just a security precaution to prevent fraud. So nothing to worry about since you made a legitimate purchasae
This is just a security precaution to prevent fraud. So nothing to worry about since you made a legitimate purchasae
#5
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: CVG
Programs: Hyatt Giraffe
Posts: 1,663
Depending on how much you value your privacy, try and keep it under $2k and normally I have never gotten one filed even with obvious structuring. They're supposed to copy down each and every serial # down for the gift cards etc. Few managers I've dealt with hate the paperwork and will give you the 3rd degree. Others are a lot more understanding.
#6
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: UA 1K, AA EP, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Platinum, M life Noir
Posts: 1,279
I purchased $1,500 in gift cards at OfficeMax a few weeks back and the cashier started whispering something into her mouthpiece. She eventually got frustrated with the other person not understanding her and she yelled out to her manager "What's the limit for when we have to file a report?" The manager walked over and said "It's below $2,000 so no report needed."
#7
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 7,886
Yesterday I bought 10 x $200 Visa GCs at Office Max. This was one more than I'd bought previously at an office supply store. The manager was called over and filled out a Financial Transaction Report including my personal information and a very general description of the items purchased ("gift cards"). He said this U.S. Government form is required for any purchase of financial instruments totaling $2,000 or more, and you can't avoid the form by backing out of the purchase once the manager shows up. The manager also said he fills out these forms all the time for corporate buyers.
Anything to beware of here? I was thinking these GCs should be deposited to my wife's BB account. She has separate bank accounts, so that should pose no problem.
Anything to beware of here? I was thinking these GCs should be deposited to my wife's BB account. She has separate bank accounts, so that should pose no problem.
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
You certainly can back out by not buying anything and they would not fill out any paperwork.
#12
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 809
They tried to get me to fill one of these out at my grocery store for buying 2K in GCs. I told them they should have told me about it before they made the sale to me.
Idk if OM is the same, but at this store they wanted my name, DL #, address, social and some other meaningless info. Basically everything you need to steal my identity.
I wasn't about to fill out the form and give it to Joe Schmo the high school kid with a summer minimum wage job. Idk what they do with these reports and Idk who sees them. I was not about to give them all that info.
I wrote down my name and address and left.
Idk if OM is the same, but at this store they wanted my name, DL #, address, social and some other meaningless info. Basically everything you need to steal my identity.
I wasn't about to fill out the form and give it to Joe Schmo the high school kid with a summer minimum wage job. Idk what they do with these reports and Idk who sees them. I was not about to give them all that info.
I wrote down my name and address and left.
#13
Join Date: May 2013
Posts: 939
Not sure what the max amount is to trigger this but I would always by 1k and the register would ask for DL #.
#14
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Western US
Programs: WN CP, WN A-List Preferred, AS MVPG 75k, SPG Gold, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 554
Kroger's high dollar GC ID check policy is a lot less intrusive. When you check out they ask for your DL and enter the number in the register. They dont ask for name address and all that. Cashiers could care less about all that stuff. Just enter in the info as the register requires.
Not sure what the max amount is to trigger this but I would always by 1k and the register would ask for DL #.
Not sure what the max amount is to trigger this but I would always by 1k and the register would ask for DL #.
#15
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Midwest
Programs: AA LT Gold 1MM ,Hyatt Explorist,Marriott Platinum,HHonors Diamond
Posts: 364
It happened to me during the OM $10 off few weeks ago... in my case the first day the supervisor asked how much are you buying because we have to file a report above certain limit (refused to tell me the limit on that day),ended up not filing the report because it was less than $2000 I believe...But the next day went for more....about 6 or 7 $200 cards...the cashier calls the same supervisor who talked to me the day before and sates that since I'am about to buy more than $2000 worth of GC (CUMULATIVE) the report needs to be filed so I refused to fill it out and just walked out...
This could be store specific (or manager/supervisor) YMMV though..
This could be store specific (or manager/supervisor) YMMV though..