Preferred Payment cash/App/transfer method?

[BeamerBikes]

Posing this to the group.  From a privacy standpoint, I will always die on the cash in an envelope is the most traceless.  However, it’s getting hard to source cash.  Banks making it a pain in the ass to withdraw out in larger bills. $20s common in the ATM end up bulking up a wallet.  Add into that any extended hours, overnight, weekend rates. 
 

Short of paying in gold coins…  Has there emerged a preferred payment platform?  I’ve used Zelle a bunch.  But I know there’s also Venmo, PayPal and CashApp floating around.  
 

I know the short answer is the one you both can agree on!  

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

38 minutes ago, BeamerBikes said:

Banks making it a pain in the ass to withdraw out in larger bills. $20s common in the ATM end up bulking up a wallet.

I visit the bank monthly and request $50s and $2s from the teller for that very reason.  I find the $50s are less bulky in my wallet than $20s, and the $2s are less bulky than $1s.

I don't bother with an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) unless I'm in a foreign country and using it to withdraw local currency.

Edited Sunday at 08:17 PM by Vegas_Millennial

[BeamerBikes]

@Vegas_Millennial I don’t know if the small-time gambler in me would be able to ask for $50s. The old gambler myth that $50s are unlucky and you will never see them in a casino.  Of course, I think the other is that they didn’t get a counterfeit redesign for awhile so the Casinos started that myth to keep the risk of accepting bad ones down.  
 

$2 bills would make leave mpression on the gogo’s and strippers!  And also really annoy the bartenders trying to cash up the singles at the end of the night.   

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

1 minute ago, BeamerBikes said:

$2 bills would make leave mpression on the gogo’s and strippers!  

Yes, indeed.  After walking into a Strip club that I haven't visited in a year, a few Strippers will recognize me as "The $2 Bill Guy" as they call me with a smile 😊

[Nightowl]

Cash only.  My credit union ATM dispenses 50’s so even up to 20 of them isn’t a huge wad.

[Johnrom]

 Most ATMs dispense  50s. Cash is always king 👑 

[+ KensingtonHomo]

Unless you’re spending huge sums (over $10,000), Zelle and Venmo are fine. Almost seven years doing this hobby and never had an issue. We also use Zelle and Venmo to send money for theater tickets, concerts, dinners, etc. It all just blends in. 

[+ Pensant]

B of A has been dispensing $100s for several years.

I only use Zelle for a select long-time provider or two.

Edited Monday at 02:02 PM by Pensant

[jackcali]

In NYC, most bank ATMs dispense 100s, though standalone ATMs in grocery and drug stores only dispense 20s.  I usually pay my regular for three sessions in advance to cut down on the need to make withdrawals.  One time, I went to get the money to pay him but the ATM didn't have 100s or 50s, so I presented him with a huge stack of 20s.  "Just like the old days" was his reaction.  

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

My most frequent hire prefers I pay him in $20s, as some businesses won't give change for anything greater than $20s.

[MassageCommunityMember]

I like Venmo.  

[TorontoDrew]

In Canada we have a system called Interac which I have used a couple of times. Once when I forgot cash for a massage and had a provider who preferred it. Otherwise it's always cash. Most ABMs in Toronto disburse 50s and a number of then do 100s.

[pubic_assistance]

On 12/14/2025 at 2:38 PM, BeamerBikes said:

Banks making it a pain in the ass to withdraw out in larger bills

What bank would that be ? I've never had a problem selecting the denomination of my withdrawal, and have never heard of anyone else finding this to be a problem.

[+ MikeThomas]

Be very careful with your privacy settings on Venmo.  For whatever reason, Venmo thinks it's "fun" to share your Venmo transactions with other Venmo users in your contacts.  You can turn that feature off.  Venmo is owned by PayPal.

[BeamerBikes]

52 minutes ago, pubic_assistance said:

What bank would that be ? I've never had a problem selecting the denomination of my withdrawal, and have never heard of anyone else finding this to be a problem.

I pulled out acouple grand in hundreds at Chase last year, and the identity verification for a teller transaction seemed to be excessive.  Drivers License plus a credit card if I recall correctly.  
 

I do need to look into their bank specific ATM and withdrawal limits.  If they will dispense 100s directly at the bank ATM, that’s likely a good option.  Been too used to the ATMs out in the retail establishments only dispensing $20s 

[pubic_assistance]

1 hour ago, BeamerBikes said:

the identity verification for a teller transaction seemed to be excessive.  Drivers License plus a credit card

I fail to see how a teller confirming that it was YOU withdrawing funds from your account is any kind of excessive burden on your life.

You made it sound as if a bank was banning you from selecting bank notes of your choice.

I bank at Chase myself. Never had a single problem. Their security measures are one of the reasons I bank there. Can't be too careful with all the scams out there today.

[BeamerBikes]

1 hour ago, pubic_assistance said:

I fail to see how a teller confirming that it was YOU withdrawing funds from your account is any kind of excessive burden on your life.

 

I miss being downtown with access to the snooty private bank that pretty much still treats you as customer not a suspect.  Out in the suburbs, it did feel unusual ask for acouple grand in hundreds at the Chase branch I visited. Tho now that I look at it, it was over 3k, which at the time was a requirement for the increased reporting. 
 

Add to that Treasury Department is now asking banks to report patterns of behavior for cash withdrawals / deposits routinely over 1k.  Lowering the Currency Transaction Report threshold from $10k to $1k.  I suspect they’re likely to snag both providers and clients.  That rule change came out in Aug 2025.  

[DMonDude]

I've mainly used any of the 3 main payment apps in the U.S. (CashApp, Venmo, or Zelle). Have also used cash before or when requested but same as Pensant said, i use BoA and their ATMs dispense $100 bills (and i was never a big enough spender to need more than a few of those $100s either), so that's never really been an issue either luckily.

4 hours ago, MikeThomas said:

Be very careful with your privacy settings on Venmo.  For whatever reason, Venmo thinks it's "fun" to share your Venmo transactions with other Venmo users in your contacts.  You can turn that feature off.  Venmo is owned by PayPal.

Yeah i'll never fully understand why Venmo took off when that was it's only differentiating feature. CashApp should have the popularity/wide spread use that Venmo does in my opinion. CashApp is so straight forward and no non-sense.

1 hour ago, BeamerBikes said:

I miss being downtown with access to the snooty private bank that pretty much still treats you as customer not a suspect.  Out in the suburbs, it did feel unusual ask for acouple grand in hundreds at the Chase branch I visited. Tho now that I look at it, it was over 3k, which at the time was a requirement for the increased reporting. 
 

Add to that Treasury Department is now asking banks to report patterns of behavior for cash withdrawals / deposits routinely over 1k.  Lowering the Currency Transaction Report threshold from $10k to $1k.  I suspect they’re likely to snag both providers and clients.  That rule change came out in Aug 2025.  

Going off of this. I do wonder sometimes what clients/providers would do as financial surveillance increases. We're already barreling toward a cashless society while at the same time seeing the further digitization of money with how crypto and stable-coins are attempting to be implemented into the financial system. There are privacy focused crypto coins out there that are largely untraceable. Signal app, and i'm sure other encrypted messaging apps, has a privacy coin for example you can send back and forth to other users. But that obviously has a technical hurdle/learning curve to it. Maybe we go back to bartering 😆

[Rudynate]

On 12/14/2025 at 6:05 PM, KensingtonHomo said:

Unless you’re spending huge sums (over $10,000), Zelle and Venmo are fine. Almost seven years doing this hobby and never had an issue. We also use Zelle and Venmo to send money for theater tickets, concerts, dinners, etc. It all just blends in. 

Venmo is so easy - I love it.  A lot of providers like Cashapp, but it feels sketchy to me.