Personal Information Required for cash purchase INVASIVE

[John_H]

No wonder I missed this thread. It's ancient!

I can't understand the need to use cash for such a large purchase.

[The Rigger]

Originally Posted by bonniejeans

I have protested providing all of this but the sales person says that the government requires this info since 9/11.

Your sales person is spewing more "bovine fertilizer" than a herd of cattle that've gotten into the Ex-Lax...

All they need is the appropriate information for titling the car. Period. End of sentence.

If they insist they need it because "the government says so," make them produce a written copy of the law that mandates it. I'll bet you my next paycheck that they can't, because NO SUCH LAW EXISTS. If they still insist, tell 'em "forget it" and walk away. No sale. There are other dealerships that don't play fast 'n loose like that.

[John_H]

It's been a law for quite a few years that cash transactions over $10k require extensive documentation. If you're not financing a car and paying with a personal check, that works sooooo much easier than cash.

Section 6050I (26 United States Code
(U.S.C.) 6050I) and 31 U.S.C. 5331
require that certain information be
reported to the IRS and the Financial
Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).

[The Rigger]

Originally Posted by John_H

It's been a law for quite a few years that cash transactions over $10k require extensive documentation.

Mother's maiden name?
Nearest relatives?
Two references?

Sorry; does not compute. Tell 'em to go piss up a rope.

[John_H]

I always like to try that tact with the IRS.

[fpage77]

They forgot to ask for a urine and blood sample.

[NCC1701]

A little off topic: I recently attempted an online purchase for just under $1400. The merchant first required a Fax of my driver's license along with both the front and back of my debit card. I was requesting delivery to my business address, different from my billing address. So, they then requested a Fax of something with my name accociated with the shipping address I'd given ... and I complied. THEN, they requested a Fax of a recent utility bill (which would not show the shipping address). After almost a week of this BS, I agreed to have the order shipped to the billing address. That started a greivance with UPS, which is another story. The online merchant got a sale off of me, but I will never buy from them again, and have not helped their word-of-mouth reputation. I placed a more substantial order with a different company for a similar amount who only required live telephone confirmation. No, I wasn't plopping paper money down on the counter in a brick & mortar store in either case. But, I wasn't using credit either. And, the difference in proceedure from one merchant to the next is striking. In the former, if they needed those three faxes of four items to confirm the order they should've told me that from the start. Instead of an initial request, followed by a second request, and then a third request and finally, a change from my preferred shipping address before they would ship. I guarantee they will not have me as a repeat customer.

[psychobeth]

Good lord. I wrote the dealer a personal check and just had to give them info for the title and insurance info and took Tiny Red home with me that day.

Sounds like some serious BS and I'm afraid I'd be asking serious questions as to why they wanted that info (as in 'no chance, jerk').

[SuperGeek]

NCC - I used to have an online merchant account with Visa, Mastercard, Amex, etc. The processors will sometimes require ID verification for purchases shipped to an address other than billing, but the merchant knows this up front - they should have made that clear. The verification is to protect the merchant from a chargeback in case of fraud; without that documentation you can call them up and say you never ordered the product, and they'd be up a creek.


I bought two cars for cash (personal check) in '91 and '92 with no real hassle... my first experience with financing a car was in '97 and that documentation was more thorough. I never had to answer most of the OP's questions... that dealer's going too far. SSN is a government ID used for social security; the fact that the banking industry has gotten away with using it despite rules to the contrary is amazing. There's no reason to identify someone by SSN for a cash purchase except for more recent terrorism and money laundering laws - which they should be able to document. Drivers license should suffice for insurance; some states require insurance on day one.

[John_H]

Checks are fine.

Again, the deluge of questions is for large cash transactions in the form of... cash. Personal checks have a trace-back to the person providing the funds so the information is available if the DEA, homeland security, or the IRS have a need to look closer at an multitude of suspicious transactions.