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0 pointsbelorn12y ago0 comments

The 8000 SEK/withdraw is only for ATM's located at the bank, and are been general dedicated to that banks customers. Bank ATMs has slowly been phased the last ~10 years with general ones (any custom of a bank can use them), and those has been spread out at malls and other similar places. Those however do not have an 8000 SEK withdraw limit, but rather around 1000-2000 SEK. ICA was one of the earlier adapters of those ATMs, and others has slowly followed suit.

However, I think you slightly missed my point. I do not say that Sweden is worse than the US. I merely wanted to point out that banks actually put in some real restrictions for taking out cash from ones own bank account. They are not holding my money for safe keeping, but rather providing a service where my money goes in, and I can get some out under circumstances they dictate, and only if they agree with it.

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dalke12y ago· 2 in thread

Hmm, somehow I forgot to include the ICA information in my previous reply.

http://www.swedbank.se/privat/kort-och-betalningar/kort/om-k... says you can take out up to 8 000:- per time, and up to 15 000:- in any 7 day period.

ICA's web site (just for reference, I have no real point here), at http://www.ica.se/ica-kort-bank/icas-kort/insattning-uttag/ says people with an ICA bank account can take out up to 3 000:- per occasion, and at most 15 000:- during a 4-day period.

You are right in that I didn't understand what your point was. Thank you for the clarification.

My updated point is that when I lived in the US I also had limits in what I could take from a bank machine. If I wanted to get more than that, I had to go to the bank itself.

You write: "If you want to withdraw more of your own money, you have to ask permission and give a reasonable explanation why one is taking out "that much cash". Only if the bank approves of your reasons to withdraw money will you be able to do so.", but what you've been pointing to have been bank machine limits, not cash withdraws.

It's not that I don't believe you. I know that Swedbank wants to get rid of dealing with cash. But do you have a reference for having to justify to the bank your need to withdraw the money?

As an extreme, and admittedly not likely case, what happens if they say "no" and you respond "I wish to close my accounts. Please give it to me in cash."?

(BTW, I live directly over a Swedbank, which makes it very easy to get to their own bank machine. :) )

belornOP12y ago

The ICA link is about using one's ICA customer card for bank withdrawal while paying the cashier. Those ATMs I was referring to are separate machines in or outside the building.

When someone wants to withdraw more than the maximum per week, my guess is that the bank feels they need to ask questions to fulfill the requirements of the law from 2009 (http://www.penningtvatt.se/) that requires that bank to inquire the nature of the withdrawal. SVT had a story when the law was introduced, and their conclusion can be read in the Q/A at (http://www.svt.se/ug/chatt-om-penningtvatten).

I don't know what happens if you close your account, but my guess is that the law would still hold the cash in place.

dalke12y ago

The ICA link was mostly to point out that your stated limit of US$100/occasion is too low, even for ICA. The ICA web site says the limit is over $400.

Thanks for the links! At the very least it helps me understand the relation between Swedish and similar US laws.

In the US, if you deposit or withdraw more than $10,000, or do transactions that appear to be done to get around the limit (like successive transactions of $9,999; so called 'structuring'), then the bank is obligated to file a report.

However, that report is filed in secret to the Feds.

It is possible for a US bank to freeze an account that they suspect it being used for laundering. That's different than having a teller decide on the spot if something is suspicious or not.

Are you aware of people who haven't been able to take money out of their account because they didn't want to tell the cashier why they were doing it?

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