Paying in large amount of £50 notes to bank 3 August at 3:19PM in Budgeting & bank accounts 40 replies 3.3K views

Bluemax220

Hi,

My mother (aged 77) has a monetary challenge that hopefully you can advise on and help solve.

She comes from that generation of people that has kept a sizeable amount of cash 'at home' - over £10k - most of it in £50 notes.

Now that the bank of England has changed the design etc, she needs to convert the money to the new denomination. However, when I went to the bank (HSBC) recently they said I had to prove where the money came from.

I explained that the money was withdrawn from her bank (HSBC) in stages around 1992-1995 and that my mother no longer held bank statements dating back 30 years. When I asked if the bank had such records, they told me that they only have to hold records for 6 years and would not likely have info dating that far back.

So, what to do? The bank basically have said that they cannot/will not help as they cannot authenticate the origin of the money and it contravenes their policies. When I asked when these policies were brought in (and if they pre-dated 1995), they said they did not know, although that was unlikely.

So, I am worried that my mother stands to lose thousands of pounds because she cannot convert the old currency to the new.

I hope some kind soul can help solve this conundrum and bring a little stress relief to my mother.

Thanks in advance.

soulsaver

Smaller chunks across more banks?
And maybe as a last resort Exchanging old banknotes | Bank of England

jon81uk

She won't lose the money, the Bank of England will always pay the bearer of the note.

But yes for money laundering reasons you will either need to prove where it is from, or do a lot of small trips.
Even in-person at the Bank of England they will want ID and to know where the money is from.

Brie

Deposit a small amount in to any bank account you have available.  Do so every week.  £200 this week, £150 next into £300 the week after into, say, 5 accounts and that takes care of about a third of the amount.  Then transfer the money to mom's account.

Keep_pedalling

Once this is sorted please try and talk her out of ever keeping so much cash at home again.

Sea_Shell

Brie said:

Deposit a small amount in to any bank account you have available.  Do so every week.  £200 this week, £150 next into £300 the week after into, say, 5 accounts and that takes care of about a third of the amount.  Then transfer the money to mom's account.

I thought any sort of "pattern" of depositing (even small amounts of) cash could result in AML checks and accounts temporarily frozen.


Surely that's classic launderers behaviour?

Nifty_Purse

It's not just HSBC's policy. They are asking for proof of where the money has come from because all banks/building societies have to follow anti money laundering laws. 

Smaller amounts over longer period of time will probably work?

Don't overly panic about the amount of time to do this in though.
The end of September deadline for using them just applies to general circulation, for example, use in shops.
Long after that you will be able to pay into banks/post office/Bank of England so your mum won't ended up out of pocket.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2021/september/one-year-left-to-spend-your-paper-20-and-50-banknotes

Brie

Sea_Shell said:

I thought any sort of "pattern" of depositing (even small amounts of) cash could result in AML checks and accounts temporarily frozen.

Surely that's classic launderers behaviour?

Yes - but that's why a number of accounts would need to be used.  and different amounts.  I realise this is exactly what launderers do but it's worth a try.  I think the issue might be triggered more by putting in £100 every week and then taking out the same amount would be easier to spot. 

Maybe an alternative is for "mom" to provide a letter to say "here's the money I've been saving for you Blue" and then Blue can take that to the bank as proof of origin.

Sea_Shell

OP, are you on any means tested benefits?

Olinda99

Just take £500 into your bank. Don't pay in - ask.to swap them

No bank.will query your wanting to have £500 cash at home for emergencies.

Repeat as required

p00hsticks

Olinda99 said:

Just take £500 into your bank. Don't pay in - ask.to swap them

No bank.will query your wanting to have £500 cash at home for emergencies.

Repeat as required

Banks won't just swap cash any more - you have to pay it into your account and then withdraw it.