Old £20 notes 21 February at 9:34PM in Over 50s Money Saving 21 replies 3.8K views

Pennylane

As I’m an Over  50er I am hoping I am posting in the right place.
I have several thousand pounds in old £20 notes but I understand banks and post offices won’t exchange them.  I believe I can pay them into a bank account but I don’t want to.  I like to have some cash to hand and always have done.  i know they will be legal tender for quite some time but I am not anticipating buying any large items in the next six months or so or I would just spend them.
Any suggestions?

p00hsticks

I suspect the old ones are going to be around for quite a while - the Bank of England have said that they'll give six months notice of when they will be withdrawn from circulation. So I'd just start using them for all your cash spends. I think that's your only option if you don't want to bank them.

Hasbeen

Pennylane said:

As I’m an Over  50er I am hoping I am posting in the right place.
I have several thousand pounds in old £20 notes but I understand banks and post offices won’t exchange them.  I believe I can pay them into a bank account but I don’t want to.  I like to have some cash to hand and always have done.  i know they will be legal tender for quite some time but I am not anticipating buying any large items in the next six months or so or I would just spend them.
Any suggestions?

Some info here, https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes

TELLIT01

Assuming you have a bank account, pay in the old £20 notes and withdraw the same amount of new ones.  You seem to be creating a problem where there really is none, unless the source of the current notes is dubious.

Oldbiggles

We could all be facing this problem soon because the Bank of England has announced that its going to replace the existing £20 pound notes with those (slippery) plastic ones .

Hasbeen

Oldbiggles said:

We could all be facing this problem soon because the Bank of England has announced that its going to replace the existing £20 pound notes with those (slippery) plastic ones .

Only the people with several thousands of £20 notes under the mattress. That do not want to put into their bank account.

Savvy_Sue

Oldbiggles said:

We could all be facing this problem soon because the Bank of England has announced that its going to replace the existing £20 pound notes with those (slippery) plastic ones .

I thought they had already? Yes, they have. 

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/polymer-20-pound-note

(The charity I work for has issued an appeal to "give us your first £20 note". Obviously not expecting the actual notes to be posted to us ... it was very successful with the £5 and £10 notes.)

molerat

I am trying to think what you could possibly need several £K in cash sitting in the house for.  I have just counted all the cash I have and it came to £16.40 including the bags of 1p and 2ps !

Pollycat

Pennylane said:

As I’m an Over  50er I am hoping I am posting in the right place.
I have several thousand pounds in old £20 notes but I understand banks and post offices won’t exchange them.  I believe I can pay them into a bank account but I don’t want to.  I like to have some cash to hand and always have done.  i know they will be legal tender for quite some time but I am not anticipating buying any large items in the next six months or so or I would just spend them.
Any suggestions?

Are these 'old £20 notes' the ones that are still in circulation after the new 'slippery, plastic' ones were introduced earlier this week?

I'm not going to make any comment about the 'wisdom' of keeping £2k cash in the house...

Sea_Shell

molerat said:

I am trying to think what you could possibly need £20K in cash sitting in the house for.  I have just counted all the cash I have and it came to £16.40 including the bags of 1p and 2ps !

We have a whopping £55 in notes currently, between us.    But I have been collecting up £2, £1, 50p, and 20p for "car park money" over the summer, and having just had a tot up, we've got £36!!!

I'd suggest the OP checks their household contents insurance ASAP to see what limits they have for cash in the house.   Could only be £500 or so.   If they're happy to take the "risk" (of which there are many), then that's up to them.

Pennylane

molerat said:

I am trying to think what you could possibly need £20K in cash sitting in the house for.  I have just counted all the cash I have and it came to £16.40 including the bags of 1p and 2ps !

who said anybody had £20k sitting  in their house?