Credit Union Limiting Cash Withdraws

**many houseapes** · 02-07-2012, 12:16 AM

Something that has never happened before...... happened today.We went to pull money out of our account this afternoon and was told that the credit union would only allow everyone to pull out a limit of $1000. This credit union has a few other branches and some of them were limiting their customers to $500 withdraws. When we asked what was happening , we were told that it was because" everyone filed their tax returns at the same time & now they were getting their money & pulling out $5K-$6K at once....and that the CU's armoured delivery truck had not been there this morning- causing a cash shortage" SAY WHAT??? I think the part that everyone in the city filed their taxes at the same time was extremely questionable if not an impossibility...what is the likelihood of 300K people doing that at the same moment?? I don't buy that part of the story. Has anyone else had something similar happen to them at their bank or credit union? Also, the teller said that this has never happened to the CU either....makes you go Hmmmmm.

**NikoSan999** · 02-07-2012, 03:29 AM

Yes, makes you go hmmmm....curious as to any other posts.

Did they say for how long this is supposed to go on if it's ONLY because of tax season..tax season doesn't last forever, in fact not very long at all.

And is that $1000 a day or for what time span?

**lparker** · 02-07-2012, 07:25 AM

I don't see anything wrong here. Banks or CUs don't keep a lot of money on premises. They should have anticipated a run and kept more tho'.

**freebs** · 02-07-2012, 07:49 AM

i dont know if my bank limits if i go to the window but i know they limit my debit card usage to $200 a day and ATM withdrawals to $400 per day

**imagine** · 02-07-2012, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by lparker

I don't see anything wrong here. Banks or CUs don't keep a lot of money on premises. They should have anticipated a run and kept more tho'.

I agree nothing wrong.

Banks and credit unions do not keep all the money in the vault as often people picture.

They get the amount they anticipate they will need that day from where they do keep their money. The CU or Bank would need more money on say on the 1st on paydays then say on non paydays. They also would need more when the people get paid on the 1st of the month also mets with those that get paid every other week to fall on a first and when social security comes out on the first.

They make their best educated guess about how much they will need on a given day.

OP the day you were there your credit union just guessed wrong on how much people were going to want that day.

My guess was the limit is not a permanent, limit just a limit that day. I also guess if you had said okay I'll take the $1,000 today and come back tomorrow for the rest of what I need. They would make sure they had it for you.

**Missourimom** · 02-07-2012, 09:07 AM

I agree, this is not out of the ordinary.

**many houseapes** · 02-07-2012, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by NikoSan999

Yes, makes you go hmmmm....curious as to any other posts.

Did they say for how long this is supposed to go on if it's ONLY because of tax season..tax season doesn't last forever, in fact not very long at all.

And is that $1000 a day or for what time span?

Yes, it was $1000 for that day. Supposedly, we can withdraw the rest of it today sometime after 12pm when the delivery truck arrives.
????????????????? Guess we'll see what happens this afternoon.

**greekislandgirl** · 02-07-2012, 11:09 AM

If my bank did that - because of where we live - I would electronically remove the entire total to another bank and close the account. HOWEVER, that's because I live in a place where bank runs are a reality. If your credit union is healthy, it's probably not a big deal. But banks do periodically fail, and when that happens, accounts are only insured up to $100,000 so if you have more than that in there, you should consider opening another account and moving the extra elsewhere.

Chances are it's not a big deal - and you should still be able to handle your money electronically.

**Stacia** · 02-07-2012, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by freebs

i dont know if my bank limits if i go to the window but i know they limit my debit card usage to $200 a day and ATM withdrawals to $400 per day

My bank too, $200 a day no matter how much is in my account..lol

**Stacia** · 02-07-2012, 11:16 AM

The economy is so bad right now everyone probably filed online on the 1st of Feb..lol More people qualifying for tax credits. Direct deposits are deposited on a cycle.

**imagine** · 02-07-2012, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by greekislandgirl

If my bank did that - because of where we live - I would electronically remove the entire total to another bank and close the account. HOWEVER, that's because I live in a place where bank runs are a reality. If your credit union is healthy, it's probably not a big deal. But banks do periodically fail, and when that happens, accounts are only insured up to $100,000 so if you have more than that in there, you should consider opening another account and moving the extra elsewhere.

Chances are it's not a big deal - and you should still be able to handle your money electronically.

Banks fail from time to time but the FDIC insured limits only kick in IF another bank can not buy the failed bank. When a bank buys the failing bank then ALL your money is safe. You just have a different bank name on the account/checks.

**McD** · 02-07-2012, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by greekislandgirl

But banks do periodically fail, and when that happens, accounts are only insured up to $100,000 so if you have more than that in there, you should consider opening another account and moving the extra elsewhere.

This is no longer accurate.

The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.

FDIC: Deposit Insurance Summary

There is a fun little calculator here: https://www2.fdic.gov/EDIE/

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 02-07-2012, 02:38 PM

I worked in a bank for 5 years. Banks do not keep a lot of cash on hand compared to how much money the bank is actually safe-keeping for it's customers. Our branch was a medium size branch of a large bank. We kept under $100,000 on hand - or tried. Sometimes we dropped a good bit, sometimes we had a good bit more, depending on deposits and cash withdrawals.

We got a shipment from the fed once a week only. I would not expect them to specially ordered cash in this situation. They will likely order more for the next delivery. Some bigger banks might get a shipment twice a week - but it is typically not a daily thing. I wouldn't worry right now. If it gets to be the norm then I might question it further.

**monkeywrangler71** · 02-07-2012, 04:59 PM

I used to order the cash when I was a central teller and I had a few days where I came desperately close to running out of money. My cash was ordered three days in advance using projections that were based on previous years, and sometimes those projections were way off. I had days where I had to call businesses in the neighbourhood and ask them to come make a deposit, or try to borrow money from other branches. Thankfully we never had a situation where the truck didn't come, I would have had to lock the doors at 10AM!

**frugalfranny** · 02-07-2012, 06:12 PM

Agree, not so rare. I try not to cash any sort of large check at the end of the month, but the time won't always matter.

Banks do run out of money........strange as it seems.