We are traveling to Europe and was asked by a family member to take a large amount of CASH to another family member. Will we have any problems with security or customs? Any opinions?

It may depend on the amount...how much are you talking about?

Very stupid Idea. I would never carry cash for anyone. What if there was a query about how much money was given to you and what was passed along. Dodgy. As well why can they just wire the money for a fee in the bank or send a check in the amount they want to pass along to them. I would refuse point blank and just say you are not comfortable carring other people's cash.

Also it will look dodgy to customs if it is a large amount of cash.

If you take more than $10,000 in cash, you will need to declare it and you can expect a query. I agree with those who say it is not a good idea.

I agree with Siobhan; I can't imagine a legitimate reason to transfer actual cash rather than going through safer, legitimate banking methods.

Every country has different rules about cash. The US has unusually restrictive rules about exporting and importing cash, and doubtless the Americans on this board will give you hard facts about this as well as their opinions.

As a general rule, there is no limit on importing cash into most EU countries, or any requirement to declare it, though you really need to check this quite specifically for the country concerned.
There are generally quite severe rules about cash in the softer-currency countries around the EU, and breaking these rules can lead to time in very uncomfortable prisons.

In the case of the UK - which tends to have uexceptionally liberal laws on these things - there is absolutely no legal control on the act of import, BUT:
1. Sniffer dogs check most incoming luggage. Presence of large amounts of cash (as little as £10,000, and possibly less) gives Customs both the right to close search you and your bags, and the right to apply for an injunction for confiscation if they have "reasonable grounds" (and not proof beyond doubt) the cash is being used for illegal purposes. If the cash is contaminated with cocaine (and there are terrifying stories about the proportion of US high-value notes that is contaminated), HM Customs are likely to be suspicious. Make sure you have mint notes.
2. Depositing large sums into a bank account might cause suspicion to fall on you under money laundering rules.

All of which said, there are perfectly legitimate reasons for carrying cash (not least the slowness and high cost of international bank transfers), and no civilised government has the right to interfere with how you choose to move your money around the world.

We often move cash this way, and have had no problems so far. But you may well find that ATM machines are an easier way of achieving the same result.

Simply making a cash withdrawal from a bank of more than $10,000 (I guess this would be a bank insured by the FDIC, are there any that aren't, in the US?) carries reporting requiremtns (the bank to the - - ? - - IRS?)

And as has already been mentioned, cash of more than $10,000 must be declared when exiting or entering the US.

If the "large" amount is less than that, and especially if divided between two people, then I don't think questions will arise. Is there a problem with providing truthful answers if asked?

I'll be interested to see what additional answers are provided. Presumably this is not clandestine, or you wouldn't be asking it on a public internet message board.

Best wishes,

Rex

It all depends on the amount of cash, how much is needed at any one time, and which country it is we are discussing.

It we are talking $10,000 or more, the ball game changes.

If we are talking $1,000 that is different.

Hi jo,

What happens if the cash is lost or stolen?

I'm not so certain about the amount of cash one can EXPORT...there is a rule that you must declare any amount over $10,000 that you IMPORT to the US....BUT you notice the original poster has not responded to my original question as to "how much" and until they do, I'm not wasting any further time on this one.

Bad idea for everyone concerned if it really is a LARGE amount of cash. It's well worth a $15 wire transfer fee to avoid security and other concerns.

I think its insane to transport anything near €10,000 on your person. In Ireland it would be seen as very dodgy for 2 possibilities:

1. it could be money from drug trafficking as it was easy to do this in the past.

2. Money laundering for various reasons and the banks here are incredibly strict about large deposits even when a legitimate company starts up an account. In the past it was very weasy to money launder here.

Whay happens if you get pickpocked in the airport. Its too risky and why do they want to transport this way. I think its a bit cheeky of them to ask you to do this.

I have a friend doing an international adoption.

They have to carry LARGE quantities of cash (close to the $10,000) number for the fees etc.... Checks/Credit Cards are not accepted. She is a nervous wreck! I can't say I blame her. WE are currently working on a wire transfer and some other options, but the country in question is NOT making this easy. They fail to see why people don't want to walk around with that much cash!

I did have a friend in College from Micronesia (Find that one on a map!) And she did have to take her college tuition in cash to Boston once a year so I can see in extreme circumstances as well as your friends adoption above but is still is scary to me personally.

So it's presumably what we usually describe as Eastern Europe.

Where many countries require you to declare large sums on arrival, are perfectly tolerant of that, and don't necessarily have Customs expecting bribes, or likely to steal the money.

But they DO have a very slow banking system, and money often goes astray. Not stolen: it just gets lost in the system, and you need a lot of energy to find it. Which is why carrying the cash is the sensible thing to do.

Obviously expecting people to accept credit cards or a foreign cheque is preposterous.

If you carry the cash, you obviously need to use sensible precautions - but no-one's picked our pockets yet.

And you MUST check both the country you're leaving and the country you're going to for their rules. Finding out what those rules are (and tasking about "Europe" is a truly useless way of getting any information you can do anything with) will be a lot more helpful to you than listening to our opinions.

So phone the Romanian or Moldovan or whatever embassy right away. Only they can give you accurate information about this.

I'm with Ira.

If you lose it, you would be responsible.

The only reason that I can think of to ask you to take the money in this manner, is that it is unreported income.

For continuity/integration...

Carrying Cash

Author: joschwin
Date: 03/26/2004, 11:34 am

Message: the amount to be carried is 9,000.

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Author: StCirq
Date: 03/26/2004, 11:35 am

Message: Send a wire transfer or an international draft!

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Author: SiobhanP
Date: 03/26/2004, 11:36 am

Message: Just curious....what country are you going to?

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Author: m_kingdom
Date: 03/26/2004, 11:37 am

Message: USD, is that all? Take it, I can't see any problem if it's in large bills.

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Author: jenifer ([email protected])
Date: 03/26/2004, 11:40 am

Message: Joschwin - I don't think anyone realizes that this is a reply to your previous post here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34486707

It would be best to go back to that thread and reply to it (by clicking "post a reply to this message&quot. That way all the information is together in one place.