Bagged change policy - ususal 22 February 2018 at 8:39PM in Debt-free wannabe challenges 6 replies 3.6K views

seatbeltnoob

So I had £72 worth of coppers in a self counting coin jar. I need to clear £600 of credit card debt so decided to cash it into the bank and transfer it to my credit card account.

I sorted them into bags and put the same coins in the same bags for as much as I could.

There was 1 bag with a mix of 5p and 10p coin, totally £5. Also 1 bag with a mix of 1p and 2p coins totally £1. Basically the leftover coins that I could not put all alike in one bag.

Took it to halifax, they have a 10 bag limit so I paid in 10 and drove to HSBC.

HSBC were fine with me paying it all in, but were quite unfriendly and rigid.

They wanted me to fill out a paying in slip where halifax just took my card.

Counter lady asked me if they're mixed, not thinking on my feet I replied "some might be mixed". She said we can't take these for you if they're mixed and ask me to go through them and take out the mixed bag. I told her they're supposed to be mixed it says so on the bags. She said the bag says 1p OR 2p, it doesn't say 1p AND 2p. I was confused by that and almost bought her for a second. Then I asked her why does halifax and other banks take it mixed, why is it that 2p is exactly 2x the weight of 1p. It's meant to be mixed into one bag.

Then she explained to me that their customers ask for certain coins specifically, they can't give them mixed bags when the customers asks for 1p (like a 99p store).

Then I said, that's not my problem, if you want to sort it further you need to put it into a machine that will sort it perfectly. You can't hand over bagged coins brought into the branch by a customer and handing the same bag over to someone else.

I was a bit annoyed by that, it was more their unfriendly approach and the dishonesty about not being able to take it and also insulting my intelligence about what "1p or 2p" means.

Anyone know if there's any truth to what the hsbc lady said?

newbie1980

seatbeltnoob wrote: »

So I had £72 worth of coppers in a self counting coin jar. I need to clear £600 of credit card debt so decided to cash it into the bank and transfer it to my credit card account.

I sorted them into bags and put the same coins in the same bags for as much as I could.

There was 1 bag with a mix of 5p and 10p coin, totally £5. Also 1 bag with a mix of 1p and 2p coins totally £1. Basically the leftover coins that I could not put all alike in one bag.

Took it to halifax, they have a 10 bag limit so I paid in 10 and drove to HSBC.

HSBC were fine with me paying it all in, but were quite unfriendly and rigid.

They wanted me to fill out a paying in slip where halifax just took my card.

Counter lady asked me if they're mixed, not thinking on my feet I replied "some might be mixed". She said we can't take these for you if they're mixed and ask me to go through them and take out the mixed bag. I told her they're supposed to be mixed it says so on the bags. She said the bag says 1p OR 2p, it doesn't say 1p AND 2p. I was confused by that and almost bought her for a second. Then I asked her why does halifax and other banks take it mixed, why is it that 2p is exactly 2x the weight of 1p. It's meant to be mixed into one bag.

Then she explained to me that their customers ask for certain coins specifically, they can't give them mixed bags when the customers asks for 1p (like a 99p store).

Then I said, that's not my problem, if you want to sort it further you need to put it into a machine that will sort it perfectly. You can't hand over bagged coins brought into the branch by a customer and handing the same bag over to someone else.

I was a bit annoyed by that, it was more their unfriendly approach and the dishonesty about not being able to take it and also insulting my intelligence about what "1p or 2p" means.

Anyone know if there's any truth to what the hsbc lady said?

banks are correct

all bags have to be off the same value not mixed.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=can+you+mix+coins+in+money+bags&rlz=1C1CHFX_enGB514GB514&oq=can+you+mix+coins&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57.9530j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

seatbeltnoob

i did google, all the information are discussion forums, including the excerpt on the google page which is from a MSE thread.

I'm looking for more authoritative sources. if you follow any one of those threads you'll see the opinion is 50-50. Also a lot of people who repeat DO NOT MIX COIN also do not know that 2p weighs exactly 2x of 1p. Including some commenters who say "do not mix coins, they dont count them, they weigh them, if you mix the 1p and 2p they can't weigh-count them"

seatbeltnoob

Slightly authoritative post, money.co.uk

https://www.money.co.uk/guides/whats-the-best-way-to-cash-in-spare-change.htm

£1 in coppers

Mee

My local HSBC branch are quite helpful. I switched recently to take account of the switch incentive. I would have done so earlier had I known they have a coin deposit machine. I've been putting loose change into a bag for a couple of years now but didn't want to take it to those machines which take a cut, plus it was bl**dy heavy.

Anyway, on my day off I took it in - borrowed a stool to put my bag on and discovered I had £125 to deposit. Felt rather proud of myself....

Connie

A few days ago I took £92 in £1 coins, all nicely bagged, to my local branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
The girl at the counter said, "Oh, you'll have to put them through the coin-counting machine. I can't weigh bags of £1 coins."
"Why not?" I enquired.
"Our scales are set up to weigh bags of old £1 coins, and won't weigh the new ones accurately" she said.
Somewhat flabbergasted at the idea that a bank still hasn't updated its scales so long after introduction of the new coins (and what sort of scales can weigh one item but not another ??), I said, "So it was a waste of time counting the coins into bags, then?"
No reply to that. She said again, "You'll have to use the counting machine."
I said, "I've never used one - you'll have to show me what to do."
She didn't seem willing to do that, and eventually said, "Oh well, I'll have to count them manually."
Which she did.

I'm treasurer of a couple of clubs, and frequently bank bagged coins, and I've never had a problem before.

patman99

If you have one, try Metro Bank. They all have coin sorters that are free to use. Once your coins are sorted, you can either credit them to your account or they can give you the money back in notes and coins to deposit elsewhere.