NotABigDeal wrote:I have to pre-order cash if the amount is over $15K from my credit union. And it's a large branch.
One time I was at my Credit Union and I heard them tell the guy that ran the lotto
booth in the mall that to withdraw more than $2000 at once he'ld need to pre-order
it. I'm assuming he had to pay out a bunch of prizes in a short period of time and
was running low on cash.
smalltimeopn wrote:With this occurring, what specific strategies are you guys using to combat?
Being too poor for the current cash withdrawl limit to be a problem. Ok, that's
not really a "strategy" per se...it just kinda works out that way. If the limits
get low enough it will start to affect even the bottom class though.
Depending on when a bank holiday hit my "walking around money" could tie me over
for up to 2 weeks, then I'm pretty much using bags of change to pay essentials if it
persists longer. If the banks stayed closed long enough to deplete my coinage it
would probably be unsafe to leave my house before that point because I've got a
pretty good idea of the spot everyone else will be in by then.
If bank balances actually get "wiped" like the article indicates could happen and the
government(s) gives us the middle finger regarding deposit insurance claims at any
given time I usually only have $2000-$3000 in regular bank/credit union accounts
(spread between 3 institutions in 2 countries). Hard to really get it lower than that
when my main transaction account has to have a minimum balance of $1000.
Ideally I need to keep a certain amount of money on standby in my US checking
account to meet any unplanned mail order needs, I've held off on quite a few
mail order wants because it's somewhat difficult to replenish that balance. (In
terms of both trying to save up money and in terms of the logistics of getting
it into the account without extra expense.) A certain amount of risk is going to
have to be accepted here.
Physical Gold/Silver/copper is "outside the system" but in an extended crisis most
metal dealers won't be operating on the buy or sell side so it would be a while before
that money could be unlocked. Once things blow over this can come out of hiding
if needed. Of course where I keep that is multiple places that will not be disclosed
for security reasons.
The big worry is securities in my brokerage account. Depending on how things play
out those could be unaffected (but temporarily illiquid) in which case it would make
the most sense to leave them put. (In Cyprus it was just bank accounts, brokerage
accounts were unaffected.) But if the whole system realy went "MF Global" it would
make more sense to cash out. But not knowing which way it will go makes it
impossible to have one best strategy.