First National Bank
at Darlington 
"Your Hometown Independent Bank!"
2006 - Celebrating Over 70 Years as Your Community Bank

It's a FEDERAL LAW — Cash Transactions Over $10,000 Must Be Reported

In 1970 the U.S. Congress enacted the Bank Secrecy Act. This law requires all banks to report cash transactions in excess of $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service by preparing a Currency Transaction Report — IRS Form 4789 (CTR). Reportable transactions include deposits; withdrawals; exchanges of currency; check cashing; cash purchases of cashier's checks, money orders and traveler's checks; and other financial services involving the physical transfer of over $10,000 in cash from one person to another. The CTR required to be filed with the IRS must include information about the individual or organization on whose behalf the transaction is conducted; details that describe the nature of the transaction; and identifying information about the individual(s) conducting the transaction, such as name, street address, social security number and occupation. In addition, the bank must examine and record at least one identification document of the individual (e.g., a driver's license).

Cash Purchases of Certain Negotiable Instruments

Federal regulations issued by the U.S. Treasury Department pursuant to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 prohibit each U.S. financial institution from selling bank checks and drafts, cashier's checks, money orders, traveler's checks and other similar instruments when the amount of cash involved is $3,000 to $10,000 inclusive, unless the institution maintains certain records about such sales. 

The amount of information that must be recorded for each sale depends upon whether the purchaser has a deposit account at the selling institution. For deposit accountholders, each record must contain identifying information about the customer and a description of the transaction. If the customer does not have a deposit account at the selling institution, more specific information must be recorded, including: the name and address of the purchaser (the bank must see acceptable identification of the purchaser); the purchaser's social security number and date of birth; the date of purchase; types of instruments purchased; and amount of cash used for the purchase.

If the selling institution is unable to obtain sufficient information from the customer in order for it to fully and accurately complete all of the required records, the institution cannot, by law, sell any of the designated instruments to the customer for cash.