www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I'm going to need to pay part up front on my first day for dental. I'm getting a significant discount. All told when done, including hotel cash discount, $15,000! I'm uncomfortable with carrying that much but is there an alternative? I can't think of one. Enlighten a brother, please

Have a friend go with you and let him carry 6,000 and you carry 9,000. I have done it many times

I don't know your dentist but I'd be cautious paying that kind of money upfront, especially in CR.

On my very first trip, we prepaid for 10 day stay in private house. The pictures were awesome, it looked big, comfy, and spotless. Reality was much different. It was small, dingy, had dial-up internet (in 2005 I guess it's not that strange), dirty, in a crappy area. But we apid already so we were stuck. Bottom line... you really don't know what you are paying for when you pay upfront.

Never pay upfront in CR, with chicas or dentists. Good luck.

Also, the U.S. Govt has a habit of confiscating large sums of money when they find it on you when traveling by air. They assume that you are going to use the money for drugs, so they just take it. This has been happening for many years, but most people are unaware of it.

http://www.hightimes.com/read/dea-can-s ... -no-reason

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com ... not-alone/

http://abc7ny.com/archive/6285192/

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/co ... sewhere%20

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/27/immigrant.money/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/invest ... and-seize/

Very good links Yoyohat...travelers be ware!!

I had a personal experience with these operations at MIA a few years ago...I never carry anywhere near $10K, but this time I did, because I was planning to pay cash for the shipping of a vehicle from South America to my home in Seattle. I neatly stored 100, $100 bills in a bank envelope in my carry on bag, plus the normal $130 or so in small bills in my wallet...well, all told technically over 10K.

Guess what? The only time I do this in 100s of trips, I get pulled over as I board the plane, on the jet bridge by a badged official in plain clothes and asked if I had over 10k in cash...I said I had exactly 10k, plus a few more loose bucks in my wallet...

Well, they pull me aside and proceed to count each bill in my possession, on the carpeted floor...once assured I was telling the truth and had what I said I had, made me fill out an IRS form declaring the cash (which I guess I should have done at the counter) and let me put all the money away and board the plane a few minutes before they closed the door.

To say the least, not a fun experience....felt sodomized, and in the good old USA, not some third world country... In spite of the fact I did not lose a penny...

Now I wonder if they had the right to search my stuff like that!?? But, trust me, it not like you are going to begin a legal debate at that point in the process...you lose!

Of course they had a right to search your stuff.....you're very lucky you didn't get an anal cavity search since you already were breaking the law.......sodomized....you dodged that. They can do whatever they want...right or wrong....our new Homeland Security policies.....Just be happy this didn't happen at your destination, for sure your cash would lighter!

_________________
GG
"Last time I said no......I misunderstood the question!"

This has been going on from way before 9/11. I remember a 60 Minutes story about this long ago. Also, don't ever pay for a plane ticket with cash because the ticket agents will turn you in if they see you with a large amount of money. Why would they do that? Because they get a portion as a reward if the money is succesully confiscated. I believe they get 10%. I know this sounds like made-up BS, but it is true. Look it up if you don't believe it. Sadly, once you walk into an airport, you have essentially, unwittingly forfeited many of your basic constitutional rights.

Shit....nowadays.....you don't have to be in an airport. Just run across the wrong dickhead at the wrong time..

_________________
GG
"Last time I said no......I misunderstood the question!"

No lie there brother. I do not keep much money in banks anymore and it does make for fun sometimes paying for things but I do keep my transactions under the 10k limit.

I'm right there with you brother.......MickyD's drive thru has Dollar menu!

_________________
GG
"Last time I said no......I misunderstood the question!"

To add to Yoyohat’s excellent links on seizure of cash while traveling. The Government also has a history of seizure on suspicious bank transactions under $10,000. As in the travel seizures the Govt. keeps the money for years while the individual tries to prove in court there was no criminal intent.

Transactions under $10,000 if done with the intent of avoiding the reporting requirements can also be illegal and lead to seizure. Basically this is what former Speaker Dennis Hastert has been charged with.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/upsho ... 0002&abg=1

From the above article:
Mr. Hastert is charged with structuring: making repeated four-figure cash withdrawals from his bank in order to avoid the generation of cash transaction reports, which banks are required to send the government about every transaction over $10,000

And an even worse example

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/us/la ... .html?_r=0

The $10,000 transaction limit hasn’t been changed since the law was passed in 1970. $10,000 today is equivalent to $1640 in 1970 dollars

Amazing!

We are dealing with two separate situations here...

Holding and carrying cash over $10k when traveling.

And

Depositing/withdrawing amounts close to, but under, $10k from a bank account, repeatedly.

Seems like in either case you may get treated like a criminal without having committed a crime!

transfer the money via wire

Basically in this arena you are 100% guilty unless you can prove yourself 100% innocent
In Cali they can pull you over in your car and spy a few open containers of red bull and thats enough to search and sieze a large amount of cash
I travelled up to Sacramento recently to buy a dog and remembered to pull over periodically just to toss the trash out of the car so it wouldn't look like I had been on the road too long
Its not your daddies America anymore boys

_________________
im way deep into nothing special
riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of hollywood

on a side note, there have been many stories of people who operate small businesses holding money then making deposits of over 10k. The IRS has seized this money and will not give it back enough the business is legal and above board. Seized money with no probable cause.