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Old £20 notes

Pennylane
Posts: 2,721 Forumite


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?
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?
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Comments
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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to be around for quite a while - the Bank of England have said that they'll give six months notice of when they will be withdrawn from circulation.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.
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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?
The world is not ruined by the wickedness of the wicked, but by the weakness of the good. Napoleon0 -
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.
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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 .
Trying to learn something new every day.1 -
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 .
The world is not ruined by the wickedness of the wicked, but by the weakness of the good. Napoleon2 -
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 .
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.)Signature removed for peace of mind0 -
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 !
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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...
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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 !
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.
How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.56% of current retirement "pot" (as at end January 2025)0 -
Pennylane said: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?
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