222 million old £5 and £10 notes STILL out there - how to make them spendable again - MSE News

Former_MSE_Callum

Old paper fivers and tenners worth some £220m have been returned to banks in the last six months and swapped for new currency, new figures obtained by MoneySavingExpert.com reveal - but a further 222 million old bank notes are still out there. If you've got one, here's how to make it spendable again...

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'222 million old £5 and £10 notes STILL out there - how to make them spendable again'

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agrinnall

The title is misleading, the notes currently in circulation cannot be spent, all that can be done is to convert them to something else that can be spent.

eskbanker

'Making it/them spendable' does seem a clunky turn of phrase, I don't know why they didn't just say 'if you've got one, take it to your bank'!

Although they're saying that they can be paid in at Post Offices (on the basis that POs accept cash deposits for the published list of banks), I seem to recall from previous 'obsolete note' threads that the fragmented nature of the Post Office organisation meant that there's a world of difference between the PO claiming a corporate policy of accepting them versus local staff complying with that policy!

Perhaps some people really do take them to Threadneedle Street (or take their chances with Royal Mail!) but it would surprise me if this was a significant route....

Caddyman

I've still got a couple of Duke of Wellington fivers stuffed in a jar in my kitchen cupboard. They've been in that jar for 30 years. Maybe, one day, I'll ebay them for a fiver each.

agrinnall

eskbanker wrote: »

Perhaps some people really do take them to Threadneedle Street (or take their chances with Royal Mail!) but it would surprise me if this was a significant route....

I found one tenner a few months ago and decided to take the risk of posting it to the BoE because the stamp was cheaper than the cost of getting to a bank branch. £10 was credited to my account less than a week later.

chattychappy

I have no problem accepting old bank notes from customers.

Caddyman wrote: »

I've still got a couple of Duke of Wellington fivers stuffed in a jar in my kitchen cupboard. They've been in that jar for 30 years. Maybe, one day, I'll ebay them for a fiver each.

My local Tesco Express accepted a Duke of Wellington £5 a few weeks ago. The manager wasn't happy with the staff member concerned. I offered to swap it for a new one. He thought about it and said he'd ask the manager.

The next day he told me they had torn it up. Better to lose £5 than have any "trouble".