Buying things with your own money appears to be considered 'suspicious activity' now.

[Vault101]

Any normal finance adviser will tell you to NOT use a credit card unless you really have to.
When using a card, you don't have the same feeling as when using real money. You will spend more money because of it. You give a plastic card, they give you the card back. You didn't lose anything. But when you give 50% of the cash you have with you, you will think if it's worth it or if you need it.

Another reason why to avoid credit cards is because credits are the reason why this economy crisis is still going on.

I don't use a credit card, nor do I intend to get one. I don't need it, I don't like it.

This is just some bullshit from the banks. Homeland security my ass. They got money from the banks, they add a video to make you feel guilty for using you own cash.

that..and (correc me if Im wrong)

when ever I use a credit card, Im going to have to pay back that amount and mabye a little extra

so if I bought somthing for $100, I wouldnt feel good about it..because later Im going to have to give that $100 back from my own money....a mentality thing I supose

 

[FalloutJack]

That IS stupid. The guy had it right the first time: Cash is money. That should've been the end of the clip. Why? Because some people don't WANT to use a credit card, because they are so easy to max out and cause SEVERE DEBT. There are many cases where this is a documented fact and a serious problem. Using money is not evil. It's sensible. I, for instance, do not have a credit card. I have a Debit Card. It can only use money that exists. And I will accept no other.

 

[CulixCupric]

That IS stupid. The guy had it right the first time: Cash is money. That should've been the end of the clip. Why? Because some people don't WANT to use a credit card, because they are so easy to max out and cause SEVERE DEBT. There are many cases where this is a documented fact and a serious problem. Using money is not evil. It's sensible. I, for instance, do not have a credit card. I have a Debit Card. It can only use money that exists. And I will accept no other.

yeah, this is why i also use only a debit card.

OT: i think this video is for training hotel employees, and seeing as this hotel charges about, and i'm guessing here, $400 a night approx. that would be more than a grand in cash, which is a strange amount to be carrying, and the guy didn't look like the kind of guy who would normally carry around grands of cash all the time, although, to be honest, I'm profiling the suspect, which may not be fair.

 

[DarkRyter]

Those actors probably wanted so much more from their lives.

 

[Insanum]

The thing is If someone wanted to pay for several weeks stay, upfront in cash, I'd be suspicious.

I mean why would you risk carrying around a large amount of money when a little card is the same?

Its not to say on its own is dangerous, and they're just trying to help people remain vigilant...I suppose.

 

[Insanum]

The thing is If someone wanted to pay for several weeks stay, upfront in cash, I'd be suspicious.

I mean why would you risk carrying around a large amount of money when a little card is the same?

Its not to say on its own is dangerous, and they're just trying to help people remain vigilant...I suppose.

 

[Blow_Pop]

People are just crazy. I have no clue why anybody would find paying something with cash suspicious unless of course it was a house or something along those lines. I pay for nearly everything with cash. I paid for my car, tuition, laptop, etc all with cash.

I concur with this. Though I don't have a credit card out of personal choice. My ATM card for my bank is strictly just an ATM card. Helps me keep track of my money. Personally, it pisses me off that certain places REQUIRE a credit card. Its bs....

I dont want to touch a credit card with a ten foot pole..I simply do not trust myself

so must stuff is eather cash or ATM/debit card

but "requiring" a credic card is stupid....like buying stuff online, ok I hear there was ways you can use a debit card for that..but still

Buying stuff online is a different story altogether. That I can understand more. As such I don't do much online shopping. If I do, I give the cash to my parents and use their ATM card since it can be used as a credit card. Mine can't. Out of personal preference. I was taught valuable lessons in high school about credit cards and how to or not to use them wisely. The closest I've come is at one point I had a reloadable one that I had to pull cash out to put money onto it(pull cash out of my bank account)and honestly that is the closest I will ever come. Car rentals, some hotels, and some massage parlours require you have a credit card. The latter being that if you cancel they can charge their cancellation fee that they have(last minute cancellation, I believe you have to give a 2 or so hour notice to not get that fee if I recall correctly)

The thing is If someone wanted to pay for several weeks stay, upfront in cash, I'd be suspicious.

I mean why would you risk carrying around a large amount of money when a little card is the same?

Its not to say on its own is dangerous, and they're just trying to help people remain vigilant...I suppose.

Probably but knowing Americans, and our corrupt arse government this will get blown out of proportion and people who choose not to use credit cards simply for the fact of not wanting to put themselves in debt or whatever reason they have are going to start getting interrogated for just pulling out a lot of cash to pay for something they know they will need. I've personally carried over a grand in cash on me before(granted I was going to buy my car but the point remains)and I KNOW I'm not a terrorist or anything.

 

[TheRussian]

And I suppose the 5 rolls of duct tape and 30 yards of polymer sheet I bought with cash without an ID should appear suspicious.
_>

 

[Jinx_Dragon]

Umm... I have been in the guys situation.

You're traveling the world and you don't have a international credit card so you have to carry money or bank notes on you. This can easily be into the thousands of dollars, which you have no other choice but to carry on you, because your in transit all the time and don't have a safe to keep it in that you can access everywhere.

As for not showing ID, I had reservations so it was required to prove identity.

However, lets make this hypothetical for a moment: What if he was in Vegas, had just made a mint at the casino tables and was meeting a few hooker? One for each day of the week... now he is a senator or a large business owner or a wide range of other 'in the spotlight' professions*. Do you think he is going to pay with credit card or hand over his ID?

No terrorist, just a horny old man not wanting the media to make a scandal.

*PS: Does anyone feel dirty considering politicians to be professionals?

 

[FalloutJack]

And I suppose the 5 rolls of duct tape and 30 yards of polymer sheet I bought with cash without an ID should appear suspicious.
_>

Nyet, comrade. It is every man's right to buy perfectly innocent items with money. Incidentally, have a theme. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO5-hM6xKt4]

 

[TheIronRuler]

But if you don't use a credit card the fatcats can't get rich off of your debt!
How heartless can you be? They won't be able to buy a developing country now!

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

People are just crazy. I have no clue why anybody would find paying something with cash suspicious unless of course it was a house or something along those lines.

Funny you should say that because my uncle, who is both crazy and quite wealthy (a dangerous combination), once bought a brand new Mercedes (roughly 80k) in cash.

 

[Damien Granz]

Well, to be fair, they were compounding the situation with other things, such as refusing to show an ID. It's still all circumstantial "evidence," though. They would do good to remember what they can about them, but you shouldn't call the police based on someone paying with a large sum of cash. And if the hotels are THAT worried, they should simply adopt a policy of requiring a valid ID for all patrons, and they should have a system to check the validity to be 100% sure.

Wouldn't someone who wanted to be discrete just wind up going to a motel that caters to that? There's no shortage of no-tell motels or ritzy hotels that discretely host the unfaithful. How do you tell the difference between someone who doesn't want to leave a paper trail because of unfaithfulness and someone who wants to kill people?

Using a motel creates a paper trail now, at least it does legally (obviously I can't vouch that every motel stays above the law...). Using a motel as a way to hide from the law was pretty popular a few decades back, so most motels won't rent to you unless you have a credit card or similar verifiable ID, even if you pay in cash.

Whether nor not that paper trail is admissible as evidence in a civil court case involving infidelity, I ain't sure (but I wouldn't be surprised if it was, as even 'private' emails and cell phone calls can be), but it sure as hell can and would be used in a criminal court case.

 

[thedeathscythe]

TBF I would find this suspicious. Its very rare people spend that much money in cash, especially on something like a hotel room.

I work retail and there are many people who buy things with cash, not even debit. These aren't even cheap things, they're spending like $600+ cash. It's kind of odd to have that much money on you. I used to work trades work, and some jobs paid cash so that we could avoid processing the paperwork and such. Pretty much, they would save like $60 on a $3,000 install, and at the end of the week, I would get paid that portion in cash, sometimes up to a grand in cash if there were enough cash jobs. It was honest work and I was in the situation of sometimes having a lot of cash, so I'm not saying at all that any of these people are likely to be drug dealers or who knows what. That being said, it's still a weird experience to have them spend $700 and pay you in cash.

With a hotel room for a week, the cheapest ones I found when looking to take a trip once were about $40, if I wanted one that was pretty clean, maybe $60 or so. Times 7 days, that's a lot of money, and a lot to only have cash for. I think this is obviously a biased video for maybe hotel people to watch, but it's not completely out of the question to feel odd about people that pull out a huuuuge wad of cash and pay cash.

 

[Varitel]

Most hotels in the US require you to pay with a major credit card, or at least that you have a credit card, so insisting on paying with cash in that situation is admittedly a bit sketchy. Buying a coffee or a sandwich with cash is still copacetic.

 

[2733]

cash payment, now with indefinite detention!

Thanks Washington.

 

[Damien Granz]

TBF I would find this suspicious. Its very rare people spend that much money in cash, especially on something like a hotel room.

I work retail and there are many people who buy things with cash, not even debit. These aren't even cheap things, they're spending like $600+ cash. It's kind of odd to have that much money on you. I used to work trades work, and some jobs paid cash so that we could avoid processing the paperwork and such. Pretty much, they would save like $60 on a $3,000 install, and at the end of the week, I would get paid that portion in cash, sometimes up to a grand in cash if there were enough cash jobs. It was honest work and I was in the situation of sometimes having a lot of cash, so I'm not saying at all that any of these people are likely to be drug dealers or who knows what. That being said, it's still a weird experience to have them spend $700 and pay you in cash.

With a hotel room for a week, the cheapest ones I found when looking to take a trip once were about $40, if I wanted one that was pretty clean, maybe $60 or so. Times 7 days, that's a lot of money, and a lot to only have cash for. I think this is obviously a biased video for maybe hotel people to watch, but it's not completely out of the question to feel odd about people that pull out a huuuuge wad of cash and pay cash.

To be honest, if they're paying in cash like that, and you're assuming on good faith it's not stolen and shit or drug money, then they're probably poor, and this is all the money they have on the whole earth.

Some people frankly just can't afford a bank account.

If you're seeing dudes in retail pay for a single 600 dollar item, then there's a good chance that they just can't afford a bank account, and this 600 dollar item is something they've saved up for for a long time (being poor doesn't mean you have NO money).

So you're correct that it'd be rude to assume just because they payed in cash they're all crackheads and terrorists.

Most hotels in the US require you to pay with a major credit card, or at least that you have a credit card, so insisting on paying with cash in that situation is admittedly a bit sketchy. Buying a coffee or a sandwich with cash is still copacetic.

Yeah, that's what I was saying above, that even if you don't pay with credit, they'll try to take a credit card to hold on file.

This doubles as ransom/insurance that you don't basically destroy the room too.

Something like this happened at Costco (don't know how familiar Non-Americans are with this store. It's essentially a warehouse that holds everything you'd ever need to buy in bulk, it cuts out the middle man), and some guy used cash to buy his things. The thing is, you spend a lot of money and it's essentially expected that you use a credit card.

My Dad looked at me and told me he was a drug trafficker (He actually was, before anyone jumps the gun to judge him).

Yeah, it's paranoid, but in this day and age in first world countries, it's sort of expected to have some sort of card when you pay in large amounts of money. And it's only gonna become more normal.

I ain't trying to say you're dad's wrong (cause maybe he does traffic drugs), but again, most people that pay in cash do so because banks ain't gonna give them an account they don't have to pay monthly and yearly fees on.

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Something like this happened at Costco (don't know how familiar Non-Americans are with this store. It's essentially a warehouse that holds everything you'd ever need to buy in bulk, it cuts out the middle man), and some guy used cash to buy his things. The thing is, you spend a lot of money and it's essentially expected that you use a credit card.

My Dad looked at me and told me he was a drug trafficker (He actually was, before anyone jumps the gun to judge him).

Yeah, it's paranoid, but in this day and age in first world countries, it's sort of expected to have some sort of card when you pay in large amounts of money. And it's only gonna become more normal.

 

[Torrasque]

The only thing that should ever be suspicious is the lack of an ID.
Every time I go to a hotel, they ask for who I am, and if I can confirm it. They don't give a fuck how I pay, they just want to know that I have my ID. Yes it is odd for people to pay for expensive things with cash, because carrying cash is inconvenient when in large quantities. Thats it.
I had a guy pay for $500 worth of booze with $5's one day. I laughed at the fact that he had so many 5s, while the person I was working with was "zomg, that person must be a drug dealer or something". I just said "Or they had a shitload of 5s that they wanted to get rid of".
I pay for Subway every once in a while with ***** change just because I have it and want to get rid of it, doesn't make me a terrorist.