Sometimes I think I live in a bubble. People whom I've never heard of won Academy Awards for movies I've never seen. The Kardashians are not on my radar. Celebrity gossip eludes me. The latest psychobabble is nonsense. However, I do keep up on current events and the financial markets, so imagine my surprise yesterday when I was asked for identification when depositing cash into my checking account. The teller went on to explain that cash transactions of any type require ID now and one can no longer deposit cash into another person's account at all. You can still deposit a check or money order into another person's account. He explained that although Chase is one of the first banks to institute this practice, it will be universal shortly. This new rule would have been a problem while my kids were in college. I went out of my way to get cash to deposit into their accounts so that the money would be immediately available.
I bank online and on my phone. Most additions to my accounts are handled by direct deposit. I very rarely have a reason to go to a bricks and mortar bank. I thought I was so cool and tech savvy handling my virtual banking. In the meantime, one of the basic tenets of banking has been altered without my knowledge. I think this new safeguard is going to put a big crimp in my upstart money laundering business.
I'm going back to my bubble now.
