So I was toying around with the idea of what it would take to go full Snowdon mode. I starting looking around for info online about how to de-bank yourself and unfortunately non of what I found was useful. One comment on a related reddit post literally said you should just get over your irrational fear of banks, which I get what he means from a great depression standpoint but that’s still incredibly unhelpful. Other resources pretty much all said it’s too inconvenient, too expensive (because a lot of services you would use might charge fees), and not worth the effort. Most of the discussion around this topic though was focused on normie reasons like not trusting them with your money or whatever, but not much discussion was related to how banks participate in the ever expanding data market. I figured it would be more helpful to ask this wonderful community of like minded privacy enjoyers.

A bit of context on the scope of the question:

  • I love monero and would use it for most of my online purchases where applicable, but I don’t want to store my money in crypto unless I can be 100% sure it’s a reliable stable coin, and I don’t trust the current state of crypto to be capable of that so a different way of storing money would make more sense (the obvious answer being cash in a safe like the good ol’ days).
  • I’m sure this community would take this as a given, but I’m not looking to move from a bank to another service that requires a similar level of PII, like cash app. Only based anonymous methods allowed
  • However I don’t necessarily mean untraceable. I’m not looking to start beef with the IRS, I just don’t want my financial info in the data market
  • Em Adespoton@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    12 hours ago

    Move to the country and take work where you get paid in cash.

    Unfortunately, this is exactly what ICE is currently targeting, so you’d better look white.

    Also, never conduct a financial transaction over $10k. There are reporting requirements above that number even if you’re paying cash. And cash above $10k is considered enough evidence to do deeper investigations into your activity, which can get annoying after a while, even if you’re not doing anything wrong.

    What’s annoying to me is that this $10k threshold has existed for over 20 years, and never goes up.

  • xianjam@programming.devEnglish
    3·
    10 hours ago

    It sounds like you know how to debank yourself, but you’re afraid to execute it. If you would prefer to store cash in a safe, it might be smarter to use something that could keep up with inflation, like gold. Cash will become more worthless as time passes.

    • flaccid_corn_husk@lemmy.cafeOPEnglish
      1·
      10 hours ago

      I guess you’re right, I just think there are some gaps in my knowledge on the finer details. For example I know that prepaid debit could be used as a replacement for debit and credit cards, but I’m not sure if there’s a better way to go about that other than just buying visa gift cards constantly.

      Also I think one of the big things I’m curious about is if there’s a more convenient or just better way of storing my money other than a safe full of cash (or gold), or crypto.

      There’s also probably some catches related to paperwork stuff that I’m not aware of yet. I think taxes should be relatively fine, because my employer will have payment records regardless of what I end up doing with my money, the only thing that might be difficult would be deductions but at least I won’t piss off the IRS with tax evasion.

  • lime!@feddit.nuEnglish
    3·
    12 hours ago

    well the first thing you’d need to do is to not have a job or a home, since all that’s handled through bank accounts.

    • flaccid_corn_husk@lemmy.cafeOPEnglish
      3·
      11 hours ago

      That’s not necessarily true, my last job would give out physical checks if you didn’t have direct deposit setup, and I could cash them out at my local grocery store without a fee because I didn’t get paid much.

      As for a house as far as I know you only need a bank if your getting a mortgage. If you buy it outright then you don’t need them. It’s a tall order I know but I was already planning on attempting that route because I don’t like credit.

      This defeatist mindset is exactly what I was finding everywhere else, and most of the time I think it’s just invalid. I know it’s a lot of work and would need to take advantage of niche systems but I really don’t think it’s impossible or even infeasible

      • lime!@feddit.nuEnglish
        1·
        4 hours ago

        you should probably have specified us, because i know nowhere else that still uses checks. also isn’t having large amounts of cash/no activity at all also grounds for being audited?