[dancingmyrtle]

Hi. I'm popping over from the Guatemala board because my husband has asked for my help. He works for a bank, and he recently has had two instances where managers of other branches have come to him regarding money requests. Apparently since we just brought our daughter home they believe he is the expert on all international adoptions. :-)

At any rate, the reason they contacted him is because they had customers come in and ask for large amounts of cash (upwards of $12K) needed immediately in crisp, new bills, and the customers said they needed it to travel to Russia for an international adoption. I guess it raised some questions, and my husband would like to be able to tell them that there is no cause for alarm, but he doesn't have the knowledge about Russian adoptions to say one way or the other. He also wants to make sure that these people aren't being taken advantage of and that this is reasonable for them to be told they need to take this amount of cash with them.

I'm not trying to get personal here, believe me. Money is a personal topic. I'm just trying to get my husband some answers so that he can lay both the bank's concerns to rest and also so that he can rest assured that these customers are not being taken advantage of. Thank you for any information you can give me!

-Meredith

[beckyww]

We took about $10,000 on trip #1 and about $15,000 on trip #2 in crisp new bills - and yes, they're required. At the request of our bank, our agency faxed them a letter detailing the need. I resented having to provide our bank that letter - it was OUR money.

Becky
The Woodworth Family in Beautiful San Antonio TX

[SingleMama2B]

Yes.... this is a huge issue! I had 4 days notice to be on the plane, and I went to MANY banks trying to get Brand New bills with NO Markings, dog-ears, creases, etc. It was the most stressful thing to do. I was told that I should have put in the 'written request' in at least 2 weeks prior to needing it! O.K., that was impossible. I was able to gather the bills, and still, while in Russia, I had several $100 bills REFUSED by the exchange. They said... "NYET!!! DIRTY!!!" Nope, they where not, but under their special lights, they saw something The problem is, is that the exchange places or individuals that take the $$$, they then have to get Rubles for it from the National Bank, and they are ones that have the strictest policy, or they can not get their money!

Yes, I had to take THOUSANDS of $$$ in brand new bill for each trip!

[Mykidsmom]

Unless things have changed recently, Ukraine also requires large amounts of cash, in large ($50 an $100) clean crisp new bills.

[nhook]

As you are starting the adoption paperwork, it is always a good idea to do this.

In my situation, we have a national large bank and I went to one of the branch offices and talked to the head teller. She was very friendly and I got to know her by name and explained the situation to her. I told her I would need 5000 in crisp bills in 2 months and in another 4 months, another 6000 dollars.

She started collecting new bills as she went along and put them away for me each day after doing the deposit. It is difficult for them to come up with it right away because they don't carry large amounts of crisp clean bills in the branches.

By the time, I needed them, they were there and ready to go!! Be really nice because they are doing a favor for you even though it is your money.

[kimber413]

Originally Posted by beckyww

We took about $10,000 on trip #1 and about $15,000 on trip #2 in crisp new bills - and yes, they're required. At the request of our bank, our agency faxed them a letter detailing the need. I resented having to provide our bank that letter - it was OUR money.

Becky
The Woodworth Family in Beautiful San Antonio TX

Taking this much cash in country is agency dependent. We did not have to take any cash to support any paperwork or fees. All the fees were paid by cashier's check to our agency, and all we took was enough money for living expenses for the time we were there. Although I'm sure it's annoying to have to provide proof of why you want to use YOUR money, it's understandable that a bank asks questions when that much money is requested in clean cash (not something easy to come at all times of year). It's a bit of trouble for them to get their hands on that unless it's one of the times of year (such as Christmas) that they routinely get allotments of new bills.

[Mykidsmom]

Yes, I agree with nhook, this is something you prepare for from the beginning. When you use an agency and know your region, you will know wether you need the large sums of cash. It is all part of the gathering, it just happens to be an easy part.

[catmele]

Hi.. we also had to do this but we only needed to bring $3000 for each trip just to pay for hotels in regions & the airfare & spending $.Everything else was paid from our agency fees

[beckyww]

I had no problem giving the bank notice - I gave them weeks of notice. I have a problem with having to justify the reason. They have our checking accounts, savings accounts, safety deposit box and mortgage, and have for years. They make plenty off of us. I was entirely pleasant. I just resent having to justify the reason for wanting my own money in a format for which they had weeks to prepare. Yes, that was irritating. If I want to paper my walls with it, or whatever - I don't really see it as the bank's business. It's their right to refuse to provide it in that format, certainly - and it would be my right to change banks.

Becky
The Woodworth Family in Beautiful San Antonio TX

[kimber413]

Becky, I would assume that the reason they asked for the letter wasn't because they didn't want to give you the money or were being nosey, but rather they had to pull people off of doing other things in order to sort through money to find enough bills that fit your needs (clean, no tears, etc.). It takes some time to do that unless it happens to be at a time when they have just received a shipment of new bills. They don't have new bills all year round, just a couple of times a year. That's all I was saying. Probably just covering their butts in case someone upstairs wondered why they were spending time sorting bills instead of other things. I had to go to 3 different branches just to find $5000 in clean money, so I'm sure it was no small effort to find twice that amount.

[TweetyMom04]

DH & I have had an account with the same bank for nearly 15 yrs.

He had talked with the Manager at the branch near his office several times. Refinancing information, etc.
After our paperwork was completed, he had a chat with her about needing crisp bills, no markings, no dog-ear corners, no rips, etc. Told her it could be within a month or several months, but wanted to let her know asap. She was okay and delighted to help.

We told her the date we needed the Money by and she called us the day a Money Delivery Truck was to arrive at the bank. She put one of her Tellers on the 'task' of finding crisp, clean, bills for us. After hours, we arrived at the bank, escorted to the Bank Counter where the Manager, a Security Guard and 2 other Tellers were present while we reviewed the bills, they had pulled for us. They literally bent-over-backwards to help us out of sheer excitement. They talked about wanting to see the Boys when we returned and when we would be bringing them by and the best / slowest time of the day and day of the week, etc. After we were done, we left the bank with the cash and the Security Guards were nice enough to watch us to our vehicle.

[Drazil]

This is very agency dependent so you can choose an agency that does not require you to do this. One of the reasons we choose our agency (there were other reasons but this was a biggie) was that we did not have to bring "cash" with us for anything other than our own use. Our agency wired everything over to St. Petersburg (our agency was NOT a big agency with many offices). We were not comfortable with having to bring large amounts of cash with us, just did not want to do it. This should be a question for the agencies when you are doing your research.

[sakelley]

We bank with a large national bank. We used one of the tellers as our notary for most of our paperwork. One day she told us that we were going to need crisp new money for our trip, just give her a few weeks notice and she will order it from the federal reserve. She also told us that international adoption is the one thing they can order new money for anytime during the year so that is the reason that the banks might need documentation. They are also charged a fee to order from the federal reserve. Our bank passed this one to us (I believe it was $100), but well worth it not to have to scramble to get new money. Also, our bank put the money in their safe until we needed it. They did not take the money out of our account until we picked it up.

[NeedsANap]

I knew you needed cash, and I knew the clean, uncreased bills, but $10,000? I'd be scared to carry that much chas from the bank to my car, much less through airports and customs and foreign cities...what did you do with so much cash while waiting to leave, in Russia, etc? It seems very dangerous to carry that much.

[SingleMama2B]

I had paid the fees through a bank wire to the agency. The amount of cash I carried was for hotel, in-country travel, food, gift(s), translation, embassy, doctors, passports, souvenirs, etc. I took $5,000 the first trip (and returned with $$$) and the second was about $4,000. It really wasn't a bad thing, as I wore a money belt, and put the rest in the safe. The fees for using my credit card where high, and I wanted to pay cash for everything while in-country. Agency's are different, and each must do what they are comfortable with!