Money Supply

• When you deposit money into your account, your bank can make money on that money by lending it to other banks, business borrowers of consumer borrowers. However, banks have to keep a certain amount of money readily accessible to account holders in the form of cash to ensure that account holders can get cash when they need it. From a business perspective banks regard the cash that sits in bank vaults as "dead money" because it generates no income. To maximize profits, banks keep as little cash in branches as possible, so if you want to cash a check in excess of $5,000 or $10,000 you usually have to make a special request for the bank to order excess money.
  
  

Large Currency Transaction Report

• Banks are required to share information with federal agencies in order to help the federal government in its fight against organized crime. When you cash a check that exceeds $10,000, the bank processing the transaction must complete a large currency transaction report. You must assist the bank with the completion of this report by providing personal information such as you Social Security number and information about any other person that stands to benefit from the transaction. The bank must sends LCTRs to the Internal Revenue Service and the IRS uses the information to try and detect money laundering. If you prove unwilling or unable to provide the information needed, the bank must refuse to cash your check.
  
  

Check Limits

• Personal checks have no check-writing limits but many business checks do. In order to prevent a rogue employee from writing an unauthorized large-dollar check for personal gain, many businesses establish check-writing limits at account opening. Checks drawn against most business accounts have a check limit printed somewhere on the face of the check. You cannot negotiate a business check if the amount of the check exceeds the check-writing limit as it appears on the face of the check.
  
  

Other Considerations

• Banks and check-cashing offices take steps such as verifying your identification to ensure that the people who cash checks are the check payees. Nevertheless, fraudsters occasionally manage to cash stolen checks by creating fake IDs and when this occurs the bank, rather than the account holder has to incur the loss. Therefore, to limit potential losses, many banks and check-cashing services refuse to cash checks in excess of $10,000 because of the risks involved.