Old Fivers

[sunny-dave]

A smart Irish Person (no not that one) has fobbed me off with an old fiver whilst I was in the Emerald Isle - it was part of a refund for an overpayment in Sterling & so it was returned in Sterling notes.

I did notice, but it wouldn't have been polite to quibble, they were being quite generous in returning the cash at all.

So - has anyone tried getting a swap at either a Bank or a Post Office recently - I know they were doing swaps immediately after May 5th, but they may have stopped by now?

A letter to the Bank of England seems a bit over the top for £5 ...

[EDDIE51]

Just take it to any bank , they will exchange it for a new one. You don't even have to have a bank account !

[hereIam]

I was told by MY bank (Yorkshire) that they would change notes for up to a year afterwards and coins too !

[albaqwerty]

good grief, I really am losing the plot today.

When you said old fivers I thought of the old, large white paper ones

[NoMercy]

They'll exchange in indefinitely.

My dad found £3k in really old tenner in his dad's loft and changed them at the bank.

[wolf63]

I thought of an answer for you but by the time I went to type it had vanished. Sorry.

I have £38 of old coins that the banks won't change for 'real' money - I use the tub that they are in as a door stop.

[tamborine]

Asian shops change them but not the white ones

[sunny-dave]

Eddie - that (sadly) is not true ... even just after 5th May most of them were "customers only" and you had to pay into an account - the only bank in my village wasn't interested when a friend took a couple in.

[donny48]

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/about/exchanges.aspx

[sunny-dave]

Yes - thanks Donny - but it will cost me £50 on the train to Lunnon - I suppose I could just stick it in an envelope ...

[donny48]

The bank does say you can do that, perhaps with a S.A.E.

[Jackdaw33]

Providing you are a customer of the bank they should still change it. Remember also that old £1 coins become obsolete on Oct 15th so hunt them out.

[jno]

were those the old ones countersigned by the King, alba?

[Jackdaw33]

I vaguely remember, until they were withdrawn in 1957, that anyone tendering a white fiver was required to put their name and address on the back. Remember that £5.0.0. in 1957 = £104 today.

[albaqwerty]

am not sure jno
The only time I've ever seen one, was shown to me by an acquaintance who kept/keeps it as a memento of her dad

[Jackdaw33]

Monarchs never featured on banknotes until 1960, apart from a brief period after WWI as they were issued by the Bank of England, not the Royal Mint.

[nailit]

JD
//Remember also that old £1 coins become obsolete on Oct 15th so hunt them out.//

I wondered recently, if the old coins are been phased out, then why am I still getting them in change at shops (including change at self service tills)? Was in Poundland recently and got £4 in change from a self service till, got 2 new coins and 2 old coins. Feels like a loseing battle to get rid of old £1 coins

[Hopkirk]

Wolf, give old coins to a charity shop. They have ways of getting value.

[EDDIE51]

Our Laundrette can still only use the old £1 coins to work the washing machines, it needs £6 a wash for the largest machine. I still don't know what will happen when the old coins are withdrawn!

[wolf63]

Hopkirk, I volunteer in a charity shop and have been unable to offload them during the last 12 years. I did consider taking a couple in at a time and donating them but never got around to doing it.

[Buenchico]

'Exchanging' old fivers for new ones is a little more complicated than it might sound. You can't simply go into a bank, hand over the old note and be given a new one (because money-laundering rules require that all bank transactions must be traceable, however small).

You have to pay the money into your account and then, if you wish to do so, withdraw it again. However as long as you go to your own bank (or to a Post Office if they handle transactions for your bank) it shouldn't be a problem. Plenty of independent businesses (such as the burger van up the road from me) are perfectly happy to still accept old fivers, as they know that they can still pay them into their bank accounts. (So you could come and buy a couple of burgers in Stowmarket with them!)