I was talking about the fact that it’s just a risk vs reward situation, and businesses do it all the time. I didn’t say anything about whether it’s legal or not.
It’s nothing to do with risk. I think it’s wrong not to pay your share into the system.
Police, fire, NHS, pensions, council services, etc, etc. Everyone uses them, everyone who can should pay in.
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The last time I bought a car I paid by bank transfer, it was instant and the car was mine within seconds.
It took a lot less time than counting the cash and I didn’t have to do any preplanning to do it!
Never said anything about not paying, just that people might have different morals and I am usually against imposing my morals on someone else. I pay my taxes but it is none of my business to care if someone else is paying them, and especially not on the sole basis that someone is preferring a certain form of payment.
Let’s say that as a legitimate business I suddenly need a ton of cash - the bank will charge me X for providing that amount, so I choose to instead offer a discount (less than what the bank would charge) to my customers if they pay me cash and get my ton of cash that way. Following your mindset I would be considered a criminal - how is that fair?
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Isn’t that what the law is though? Imposing the majority’s morals on everybody else?
If you’re going to set up a business then you need to look into the costs before hand. It’s perfectly fair.
Bank transfers don’t cost a huge amount, if anything at all.
Businesses carrying out transactions with large amounts of cash (where that isn’t actually and integral part of the business) - I’d go so far as to say that’s almost always dodgy, with not that many exceptions.
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Yep the law is exactly that IMO, but the point I’m trying to make is that it shouldn’t be the job of the customer to make sure their craftsman doesn’t break the law and evade taxes. 
And since cash is still legal (at least for now) Monzo should have a way of accommodating exceptionally large withdrawals that fall outside of the daily limits, should the customer need it for whatever reason.
Hey Rjevski,
On our upgraded account the limits are flexible, so if you need to withdraw a large amount of cash for whatever reason please do get in touch!
However, to increase any limits we will have to ask you a number of questions around the purchase that you’re planning to make so we recommend doing this at least a week in advance (this is also so you can arrange another method of getting the money out should we not be able to increase your limits)!
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Looks like that answers the question then, and also, since you’re asking for a reason, would the fact that a craftsman preferring cash be okay? Since there’s a chance they’re indeed avoiding taxes but on the other hand it’s not the account holder’s responsibility (nor can they know for sure), so would that still be accepted?
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Large sums of money could also be used for cuckoo-smurfing or money laundering as well as tax evasion
I wouldn’t be able to say whether that would be okay Rjevski, as we have to review every situation individually at the time!
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Out of interest, does anyone know how much an ATM can physically dispense in one transaction?
I have taken £450 out of one machine so guess it is £500…though they may be set to lower limits like £250 in some areas
I don’t think ATMs themselves enforce a limit, it would be against their interests as they get paid a % of the cash withdrawn in interchange fees, so the more cash they give out the better.
I tried taking out a bunch of cash before but I think the limit for my account was £750 or £650, so I had to go to the counter.
If you had 10 different accounts with different providers you could withdraw £5000 from an ATM by taking out 250 from each account before midnight, then 250 from each account after midnight. Out of town supermarkets are a good place for this as they can hold a lot of cash and you probably won’t be causing a queue or bothering anyone at that time.
I had to do it in two transactions (a weird £750-at-a-time limit) but withdrew £1200 from a single in-bank HSBC machine without issue.
Blimey! I wouldn’t think the machine could physically dispense that much. I take it that it did it in batches?
That’s what I meant, what’s the maximum transaction it can physically handle? Not the highest limit set by a bank.
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Regardless of the designed physical limit of the ATM (and any limit on your card/account) ATM operators such as banks can set a limit per machine and limits may vary geographically such as higher withdrawal limits in City of London but less in East London/Essex area.
I am aware of a few small businesses who prefer to deal in cash because it’s cheaper to just take cash from customer and pay suppliers and employees with that cash rather than taking it to the bank every day.
They’re not doing anything illegal, they’ve just worked out that it’s easier and safer to keep the money in a safe on site. Whether others agree with this assessment doesn’t really matter.
When you have to carry thousands on the bus on a regular basis just to have your bank charge you to pay it in, some people will decide that it makes more sense to buy a safe.
I worry about a society that sees people as guilty of something just because they can’t be continuously monitored.
I think the ability to circumvent authority is an integral part of a free society and it shouldn’t be about absolutely forcing everyone to adhere to all rules, it should be about making the vast majority want to comply of their own free will with minimal coercion because it helps everyone.
Of course we need rules and they must be enforced but there is a balancing act between enforcement of rules and totalitarianism.
Ok, rant over. Got that out my system 
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