Depositing money into your bank account is usually a pretty straightforward process. You go to the bank, use your ATM card, or visit a teller, and deposit your funds. Or, many people now have mobile deposit on their phones, so they can deposit their money from home.
In some cases, though, things could get a little more complicated. Specifically, if you have $10,000 or more that you want to deposit, there may be more involved in the transaction than if you were depositing a smaller sum. Here's why.
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Special rules apply for deposits over $10,000
Deposits over $10,000 are treated a little differently by banks because of a law called the Bank Secrecy Act. Under this law, when you make a cash deposit of $10,000 or more, the bank is required to file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR). The CTR needs to include:
- The name of the person who is making the deposit
- The account number of the account the money is deposited into
- The Social Security number of the depositor
- The taxpayer ID number for the depositor
All this information has to be recorded and verified by the bank. And, the bank must send the details to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which is part of the U.S. Treasury Department. These requirements are in place with the goal of helping to fight money laundering.
What does this mean for you?
Since your bank must comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, the bank is going to potentially ask you a few more questions when you make a large deposit of $10,000 or more in your checking or savings account.
However, that's pretty much the only impact that you're likely to experience in this situation. The bank will take care of the rest, with some banks automating the reporting process, and others doing it manually.
When your transaction is reported, in the vast majority of situations, nothing happens. The government is simply better able to keep track of the large deposits that are going on around the country, so that it becomes easier to spot patterns or issues that could suggest crimes like money laundering or counterfeiting.
Assuming you are not engaged in any criminal activities, you have nothing to worry about, and no financial investigators will show up at your door, nor will your accounts be frozen.
You could get into financial trouble if you make this mistake
While you don't have to worry about making a large deposit, the fact is that there is one thing you could do that ends up causing problems for you: if you try to break up your big deposit into small ones in order to try to avoid this reporting requirement.
See, breaking up deposits or otherwise trying to evade the reporting requirements in effect for large deposits is considered illegal. The crime is called "structuring." If your bank suspects that you are engaging in this behavior, the bank may file a Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) with FinCen.
That SAR report could trigger an investigation and, unfortunately, structuring is illegal even if you didn't do anything wrong to get the money -- the act of structuring itself can lead to fines and penalties, including a fine of up to $250,000, up to five years in prison, or both.
All of this means that your best bet is to just deposit your $10,000 (or more) all at once, rather than trying to arrange your deposits so the bank doesn't have to report it. As long as you don't launder money or commit some other financial crime, you have nothing to worry about.
Of course, you should also explore all of your options for what to do with your money.
Buying a CD could potentially help you earn a higher rate than just putting money into savings -- although your money would be locked in for the duration of the CD to avoid penalties. You could also look into money market accounts as another investment option.
The right choice depends on what you want to do with the money, including how soon you'll need to make a withdrawal.
