Question about depositing old cash at the bank

[redheadk]

Who wants to solve a weird problem?

My grandmother buried a lot of cash in a pickle jar in her backyard decades ago. She dug it up about 30 years ago when she moved from that house, ironed it (because, why not? I don't know. It was kind of wrinkly?), then put it in a manila envelope in her safe deposit box. She withdrew it 20 years ago and it's been sitting in first my house then my sister's house (she has a huge safe). She now wants to give it to my other sister to pay for her IVF treatment.

How do we deposit this? This is well into 5 figures, almost entirely in hundreds, from the 70s. I'm sure it's going to raise some eyebrows if my sis walks into the bank with a manila envelope full of cash but my grandmother is 92, can't hardly hear, and definitely is not up for going to the bank. 

[mrsd2006]

It should be fine. I believe there is some special form that has to be filled out if you deposit over $10,000 cash, but I'm not 100% sure. Are you sure there aren't any more pickles jars out there?!?

[Patsy Baloney]

...I would walk into a bank with an envelope full of cash from the 70s and deposit it 😂

I imagine if there were any suspicions, the bank would have a protocol in place to confirm that the bills are legitimate. I generally assume my weird case is not the weirdest thing a customer-facing position has seen that month, week, or probably that day.

[lemoncupcake]

Apr 19, 2021 18:59:23 GMT -5 Patsy Baloney said:

...I would walk into a bank with an envelope full of cash from the 70s and deposit it 😂

I imagine if there were any suspicions, the bank would have a protocol in place to confirm that the bills are legitimate. I generally assume my weird case is not the weirdest thing a customer-facing position has seen that month, week, or probably that day.

Yes! I'm sure they've seen weirder. I would try and go in to the branch vs. the drive through just in case they need to verify the bills or hand count them (not sure if they're in good enough shape to go into the counter).

[paddywagon]

You just take it and deposit it. There could be some bills that are worth more than face value to collectors, but outside of that, it's legal tender so the bank will take it. They may ask questions to gage whether they need to file any suspicious activity reports. Do not attempt to deposit smaller amounts over a period of days/weeks (structure transactions)or they will file a suspicious activity report. Also, on amounts over $10,000 they will be required to file a currency transaction report (CTR) so they will ask for some information they need to fill it out.

[mommin]

I’d take it in, walk to the teller, and say, “I’d like to deposit this money from a pickle jar in my grandma’s backyard. Don’t worry, she ironed it all for you.” Then just wait and see what they say. I’m sure it will make a good story for them around the water cooler later. 😂

[Jalapeñomel]

Unless it’s like $100k, I don’t think you have anything to worry about!

[Pippin]

Yeah if it’s over 10k there’s an extra form the bank will fill out for the deposit. They’ll want to see ID for who’s making the deposit for it.

[Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear]

Is Grandma Mrs. DB Cooper?

[icedcoffee]

LOL this is a great story.

[mcsangel2]

Did she bury any coins too? (I'm a numismatist, I have to ask, coins are more likely to have a higher increased value relative to the face value than bills).

[jackie011]

We just had a conversation about this over the weekend! GFIL had over $12,000 in cash, in his rural mobile home, when he passed. FIL said he had 3 buckets of change, and his sisters broke the counting machine when they took it all to the bank. They live in a small town where everyone knows everyone, so I don’t think it raised any suspicions, but they did have to fill out a form because they were depositing over $10,000.

[Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear]

I am sure I've never said this before but I'm going to need an update. Ironed pickle jar money is giving me the will to live.

[ohgillian]

This thread was the laugh I needed tonight. But I also love that she’s had it for so many decades but is giving it to your sister for IVF.

[redheadk]

Apr 19, 2021 19:16:30 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Did she bury any coins too? (I'm a numismatist, I have to ask, coins are more likely to have a higher increased value relative to the face value than bills).

No coins, just cold, hard cash.

She lived in a city neighborhood when she did this, too, so not really sure why she considered this to be more secure. I do know she did this after my grandfather died in case the banks ever failed. Child of the depression, right there.

It was (PDQ) probably about $35,000 when she buried it. I had to count it for her after she took it out of the safe deposit box. It’s... very crisp, lol. She’s used it now and then when she just needed cash (paid movers in cash and things like that), so it is probably about 1/3 of what it originally was.

[mcsangel2]

Well, I can tell you at least it's extremely unlikely that there's anything unusual about any of the bills that would make them particularly valuable, if they are all from the 70s. So you don't have to worry that you're losing out on anything extra by taking it all to the bank.

[redheadk]

Apr 19, 2021 19:35:46 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Well, I can tell you at least it's extremely unlikely that there's anything unusual about any of the bills that would make them particularly valuable, if they are all from the 70s. So you don't have to worry that you're losing out on anything extra by taking it all to the bank.

Oh, I don’t think any of us would put the effort into researching the value of a bunch of hundreds from the 70s 😂

[spindle92]

The only thing that would make this better is if the money was still in the pickle jar.

[nextbigthing]

I love this story

[Susie]

There's always money in the banana stand pickle jar

[isabel]

Apr 19, 2021 19:16:30 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Did she bury any coins too? (I'm a numismatist, I have to ask, coins are more likely to have a higher increased value relative to the face value than bills).

I had the radio on taking DS1 to school on Monday and was listening to some random morning show. This woman called in to say that she took a quarter from her coin-collector-dad's desk to buy a soda from a vending machine. Turns out that quarter is now worth about $10k. It's been decades and she said he's still not over losing it. She's never told him the truth about it.

[mcsangel2]

Apr 19, 2021 20:17:59 GMT -5 isabel said:

Apr 19, 2021 19:16:30 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Did she bury any coins too? (I'm a numismatist, I have to ask, coins are more likely to have a higher increased value relative to the face value than bills).

I had the radio on taking DS1 to school on Monday and was listening to some random morning show. This woman called in to say that she took a quarter from her coin-collector-dad's desk to buy a soda from a vending machine. Turns out that quarter is now worth about $10k. It's been decades and she said he's still not over losing it. She's never told him the truth about it.

Oh god. Why did you tell me this story, I'm all anxious now.

[sent]

Your sister could probably just use it to pay the doctor's office and then it won't be your issue anymore. People sometimes pay for services at my office with cash. I don't ask where it came from. Sometimes I do see the old style of bills mixed in the cash deposits, but I just take everything over to the ATM and deposit it chunks at a time to make sure the machine is counting it correctly.

[redheadk]

Apr 19, 2021 19:01:04 GMT -5 lemoncupcake said:

Apr 19, 2021 18:59:23 GMT -5 Patsy Baloney said:

...I would walk into a bank with an envelope full of cash from the 70s and deposit it 😂

I imagine if there were any suspicions, the bank would have a protocol in place to confirm that the bills are legitimate. I generally assume my weird case is not the weirdest thing a customer-facing position has seen that month, week, or probably that day.

Yes! I'm sure they've seen weirder. I would try and go in to the branch vs. the drive through just in case they need to verify the bills or hand count them (not sure if they're in good enough shape to go into the counter).

They are actually in great shape and VERY flat 😂 but I assume they will need to hand count them and make sure they are real (i guess? I don’t know).

[isabel]

Apr 19, 2021 22:24:14 GMT -5 mcsangel2 said:

Apr 19, 2021 20:17:59 GMT -5 isabel said:

I had the radio on taking DS1 to school on Monday and was listening to some random morning show. This woman called in to say that she took a quarter from her coin-collector-dad's desk to buy a soda from a vending machine. Turns out that quarter is now worth about $10k. It's been decades and she said he's still not over losing it. She's never told him the truth about it.

Oh god. Why did you tell me this story, I'm all anxious now.

Lol, sorry. Moral of the story: don't leave rare coins sitting out for your children to swipe.

[redheadk]

Apr 19, 2021 22:26:20 GMT -5 sent said:

Your sister could probably just use it to pay the doctor's office and then it won't be your issue anymore. People sometimes pay for services at my office with cash. I don't ask where it came from. Sometimes I do see the old style of bills mixed in the cash deposits, but I just take everything over to the ATM and deposit it chunks at a time to make sure the machine is counting it correctly.

This is a great suggestion; I’ll pass it along! I think the current plan is to charge it to get the CC rewards (and pay it off immediately).

[livinitup]

Your sister may be facing some tax implications if she deposits that amount of money into her own bank account. It is income and the banking system has checks and balances in place to report deposits like this to the IRS. Would this cash be deposited into your grandmother’s bank account? I’d consult an accountant as to how best to transfer this cash into the banking system. I do like the idea of simply using the 1970’s cash to pay at the doctor’s office.

[archiethedragon]

I think your sister should somehow try to document that this this a gift from Grandma, so there is no question that she didn't steal it from Grandma or there is no elder abuse happening.

[tacokick]

Apr 20, 2021 7:31:51 GMT -5 livinitup said:

Your sister may be facing some tax implications if she deposits that amount of money into her own bank account. It is income and the banking system has checks and balances in place to report deposits like this to the IRS. Would this cash be deposited into your grandmother’s bank account? I’d consult an accountant as to how best to transfer this cash into the banking system. I do like the idea of simply using the 1970’s cash to pay at the doctor’s office.

You can gift people up to $15k (30 for couples) a year without having to report it to the IRS and the lifetime gift exemption is $11.58 million so I would not worry too much about this.

[NewGirlNic]

I used to work at a bank. You'd be surprised how often people would come in with larger sums of cash found while cleaning out grandparents homes.

Like previous poster said, whoever deposits will have to have a CTR filled out. And if it's over $15K per person, it is taxable.