Where Can I Change Old Bank Notes
IF you've got an old £5 or £10 note lurking down the back of a sofa or tucked in the pocket of a long-forgotten pair of jeans, don't worry - it's not too late exchange it for some cold, hard, usable cash.
It's more common than you might think, the Bank of England says there are still a whopping 212million paper notes in circulation that can no longer be used.
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Paper £10 notes were withdrawn as a legal tender in March 2018 and paper £5 notes were scrapped way back in May 2017.
They were both replaced with plastic "polymer" versions.
These paper notes are no longer legal tender, meaning they can't be used to pay in shops, but the good news is you can still deposit them or exchange them for cash.
How to exchange paper notes
The Bank of England says that the easiest way to exchange notes is by depositing them with your UK bank account, if you have one.
But banks don't legally have to keep accepting old money, so it's worth checking with yours before you head to a branch.
Customers of Lloyds Banking Group, which covers Bank of Scotland, Halifax, and Lloyds, can deposit old notes worth more than £20. Cash of less than £20 will be exchanged for polymer notes.
Nationwide, Santander and TSB told The Sun that customers can deposit - not exchange - notes at their branches. If you want the equivalent cash you can then withdraw it from your account.
Meanwhile HSBC and RBS Banking Group, which covers NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, say customers can swap or deposit old notes.
The Post Office may also accept withdrawn notes as payment for goods and services, or as a deposit into any bank account you can access with them.
You can do this at any of the Post Office's 11,500 branches as long as you're a customer of one of 25 banks - see the box below for the full list - but you can't exchange paper notes directly for polymer notes.
If your bank doesn't accept old notes or you can't access it via a post office, don't worry.
The Bank of England itself says it will honour withdrawn currency forever, so you will still be able to swap old notes.
Which banks let you deposit notes at the Post Office?
HERE's which banks allow customers to deposit old paper notes into their accounts at the Post Office:
- Allied Irish Bank (GB)
- Bank of Ireland
- Bank of Scotland
- Barclays
- Cahoot
- Cashplus
- Clydesdale Bank
- Co-op Bank
- Danske Bank
- First Direct
- First Trust Bank
- Halifax
- Handelsbanken
- HSBC
- Lloyds Bank
- NatWest
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Santander
- Smile
- Starling Bank
- ThinkMoney
- TSB
- Ulster Bank
- Virgin Money
- Yorkshire Bank
You can send your out-of-date fivers or tenners by post, and the bank will pay your money into a bank account (normally within ten working days), by cheque or, if you live in the UK and your exchange is worth less than £50, in new banknotes.
You will need to complete this form and provide a copy of some photo ID.
You can also visit the bank in person to make an exchange at its bank counter in London.
But the bank warns that waiting times can be over an hour.
The counter is located at the Bank of England, Threadneedle Street, London, EC2R 8AH and is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm.
It is closed at the weekend and on bank holidays.
You will need to bring proof of ID and proof of address.
Steve Nowottny, news and features editor at MoneySavingExpert.com, explained: "Given paper tenners were taken out of circulation a year ago, and paper fivers almost two years ago, some might assume all the old notes have now been handed in.
"But these new figures show that's far from the case – in fact, a massive amount of cash is still out there.
"So make sure you check behind the sofa, empty old coat pockets and go through old wallets to see if any of it's yours."
A new polymer £20 note featuring JM Turner will be issued in 2020 replacing the current paper notes. But for now, paper £20 notes can still be used.
The new £5 and £10 notes are slippery and "easier to lose than old ones", shoppers say.
But it's not just new notes to watch out for. Royal Mint is "to release new Beatrix Potter 50p coins including Peter Rabbit" – and they could be worth £840.
First look at new Gruffalo 50p coin now on sale with prices starting from £10 each
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Where Can I Change Old Bank Notes
Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/8662482/old-notes-circulation-swap-cash/