Jar full of change to exchange for notes

comp-uter_guy

My partner and I have been collecting £1 and £2 coins in a jar for the last 18 months and now have approximately £500 worth. This has been earmarked for a new TV. However, the fun part is now changing it into something that is acceptable to spend (rather than watching the guy in the electrical shop running out of fingers and toes to count on!). I know (from past experience) that banks are funny with changing coppers into notes, but does anyone know if its any different with £1 and £2 coins? Alternatively, would it make any difference to pay it into an account instead? Any tips would be appreciated (apart from using those expensive machines they have in supermarkets which is a definite no-go for something of this value!). Thanks in advance! :money:

meester

£1/£2 coins are legal tender (in shops and everywhere) for any amount

See

http://www.royalmint.gov.uk/Corporate/BritishCoinage/CoinDesign/OnePoundCoin.aspx

Bernard_Coleslaw

Paying it into an account will be easier - most places won't let you swap it for notes. A lot of places have restrictions - no more than five bags of change at a time. But as £1 coins come in bags of 20 that still means you can pay in £100 at a time (don't know about £2s).

purch

Why not just take the jar down to Curry's and ask if they give discount for cash !!!

going2die_rich

If you are on good terms with the owner of your corner shop you could always ask them if they'd take it. Saves them going to the bank for bags of change.

Murphy_The_Cat

As long as it's £1 & £2 coins, it shouldn't be too much hassle to cash it in at a bank/building society in batches of £100 at a time.
I put all of my 1,2, 5, 20 and if I have more than one alky drink a £1 coin into my bottle and I sweet talk the local building society to take it from me, which they are happy to do, as long as it is bagged up.

tawse57

I thought the likes of Sainsburys and a few other supermarkets had machines by their main doors that changed coins into cash? There is one in my local Sainsburys and I have seen one in another supermarket - think it was Tesco or Morrisons as I don't shop at Asda.

Oh, looks like there is a fee in Sainsburys. Try some other supermarkets
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/offline-shopping-misc/sainsburys/133564/

SalsaDanca

The machines in supermarkets can charge a high fee (up to 7%).

The last time I had a lot of coins to pay in, I got a load of coin bags from Barclays, then bagged the coins up at home and took them back to the bank. They have scales that can count the number of coins in a bag, so it's no hassle to pay in lots of bagged coins.

Meltdown_2

SalsaDanca, how much did Barclays charge you for the hire of the coin bags?

Sola

I get bags from Natwest (my bank) for free and have had no problem paying in hundreds of pounds at a time as long as they're bagged up.

gt94sss2

comp-uter_guy wrote: »

I know (from past experience) that banks are funny with changing coppers into notes, but does anyone know if its any different with £1 and £2 coins? Alternatively, would it make any difference to pay it into an account instead?

It depends on who you bank with.

Some banks (mainly ex building societies) and current building societies don't like dealing with lots of small change or coin deposits and impose limits on the amount you can deposit each day and if it has to be bagged etc.

This is because dealing with these kinds of 'low value' transactions takes up a 'relatively' long time and there is nothing in it for the bank - also if the branch is busy the staff could be serving other customers (with potentially more profitable transactions etc)

As such, if you want to deposit coins etc., you are better off sticking to the likes of the big 4 (HSBC etc) rather than the Halifax or Abbey National..

A couple of options come to mind:

- ask your bank for some (free) coin bags. Then separate and bag the coins - this basically means putting 20x£1(or £10x£2) coins in a bag. Then simply go to a counter and pay your bags into an account (at a 'proper' bank as per above). As the coins are separated by denomination its easy for the cashier to weigh the bags and check the value is correct

- some bank branches (mainly some branches of HSBC it seems) have now fitted coin counting machines, where you just put all your coins in and the machine will automatically count them and produce a deposit receipt for you - just like at a supermarket but for free..

Regards
Sunil