Changing a 100 Euro bill?

[happy cruzer]

Hi, We ended up with a 100 Euro bill when we exhanged dollars at our bank for our sightseeing in Barcelona,

 

Can a taxi break that? A Coffe bar? Hotels? A museum?

 

How unusal is it to pay with a 100 Euro bill?

 

Any advice on the best way to break it?

 

Thanks.

[riffatsea]

I would only use it to pay for a large item like the hotel bill or a large dinner bill. Even here in the USA you don't pay a $10 taxi fare and expect to get change from a $100! Can't you go back to your bank and get something smaller??

[John Bull]

Hi, We ended up with a 100 Euro bill when we exhanged dollars at our bank for our sightseeing in Barcelona,

 

Can a taxi break that? A Coffe bar? Hotels? A museum?

 

How unusal is it to pay with a 100 Euro bill?

 

Any advice on the best way to break it?

 

Thanks.

 

It's a fairly rare & very unpopular note - twice as high as the UK's largest note, the £50, & even that is viewed with suspicion.

I think I heard somewhere that it's being discontinued.

 

I'd be inclined to return it to your bank to break into 5 x 20.

Take your receipt - though it might be interesting not to produce it, but to just ask if they can break it down, omitting to mention that it was they who gave it to you, just to see their response :D

 

Otherwise getting the ship to break it down will give you least grief, if you don't need to spend it before you board.

 

John Bull

[jotabecu]

Sometimes I carry a 500 euro bill and use it for hotels or in the worst case, exchange it at a bank.

I do it to carry less bulk.

[Hlitner]

Sometimes I carry a 500 euro bill and use it for hotels or in the worst case, exchange it at a bank.

I do it to carry less bulk.

 

Geez. We do quite a lot traveling in Europe and have never even seen a 500 Euro note. You could mail it to us so we could finally see what they look like :)

 

Hank

[John Bull]

Sometimes I carry a 500 euro bill and use it for hotels or in the worst case, exchange it at a bank.

I do it to carry less bulk.

 

Hi, John D. :confused:

 

I find the same problem. It's so tiresome lugging round 30 or 40 lbs of spending money in little old twenties.

 

JB :D

[happy cruzer]

Well, I have may waited too close to the trip (I.e. Tuesday) to go back to the bank in the US.

 

So will a bank in Spain change the bill for no charge, for a charge??

 

we hope to have most of our Euros spent by the time we are on the ship :).

 

What a problem to have when I once lasted 3 months in college with same 20 dollar bill in my pocket.....

[tom_uk]

I have never seen a €100 note, let alone a €500 note.

 

Strictly speaking you could tender your note for anything and the retailer/taxi driver/whatever is supposed to accept it. However unless you're paying a bill that's already north of, say, €70, you can expect some complaints or even outright refusal.

[catllar]

HappyCruzer, any eurozone bank will break a 100 note for you at no cost.

 

Jotabecu, the 500 note is not at all popular (except with forgers) and will be refused in many places. Still if you can't lift the bulk of all those heavy small denomination notes, I guess you'll have to run the risk!

[John Bull]

Well, I have may waited too close to the trip (I.e. Tuesday) to go back to the bank in the US.

 

So will a bank in Spain change the bill for no charge, for a charge??

 

we hope to have most of our Euros spent by the time we are on the ship :).

 

What a problem to have when I once lasted 3 months in college with same 20 dollar bill in my pocket.....

 

 

I mentioned that I'd heard there were plans to ditch the €100 - after Jotabecu's post I've checked it out, & in fact that's the €500 note, which like Hank I'd never even heard of - it is being refused even by banks outside eurozone because it's estimated that 90% of those transactions are money-laundering for drugs & other crimes.

So now we know why Jotabecu is loaded :D

 

But the €100 note could still be bad news.

Is your hotel the best bet to break it down ? They're likely to have the cash, they know who you are, and they know that you would seek other places to unload it if it were counterfeit. And if you ask early on, they'll have been able to bank it before you check out. Just a thought.

 

I have no idea whether Spanish banks would break it down free-of-charge. You just might end up finding out for yourself :D

JB

[jotabecu]

Geez. We do quite a lot traveling in Europe and have never even seen a 500 Euro note. You could mail it to us so we could finally see what they look like :)

 

Hank

 

 

Do not have any now, but I have secured it in banks in Madrid a couple of times.

[jotabecu]

Well, I have may waited too close to the trip (I.e. Tuesday) to go back to the bank in the US.

 

So will a bank in Spain change the bill for no charge, for a charge??

 

we hope to have most of our Euros spent by the time we are on the ship :).

 

What a problem to have when I once lasted 3 months in college with same 20 dollar bill in my pocket.....

 

 

You can change a 100 euro bill at any bank, there is no charge.

You can of course use it to pay hotels, etc.

[jotabecu]

I mentioned that I'd heard there were plans to ditch the €100 - after Jotabecu's post I've checked it out, & in fact that's the €500 note, which like Hank I'd never even heard of - it is being refused even by banks outside eurozone because it's estimated that 90% of those transactions are money-laundering for drugs & other crimes.

So now we know why Jotabecu is loaded :D

 

But the €100 note could still be bad news.

Is your hotel the best bet to break it down ? They're likely to have the cash, they know who you are, and they know that you would seek other places to unload it if it were counterfeit. And if you ask early on, they'll have been able to bank it before you check out. Just a thought.

 

I have no idea whether Spanish banks would break it down free-of-charge. You just might end up finding out for yourself :D

JB

 

I wish I was loaded, unfortunately I do not have any now.

[manateemike67]

I mentioned that I'd heard there were plans to ditch the €100 - after Jotabecu's post I've checked it out, & in fact that's the €500 note, which like Hank I'd never even heard of - it is being refused even by banks outside eurozone because it's estimated that 90% of those transactions are money-laundering for drugs & other crimes.

So now we know why Jotabecu is loaded :D

 

JB

 

 

Here is the story.

[debt]

Why not try breaking it at the airport before you leave? The bureau de change booths might be able to help you.

[financialgrl]

Can probably use it to pay for a meal some night. If your meal is not that much, hold on to it but at some point, after your meal and drinks you should be able to get down close enough to where change won't be a problem for a restaurant.

 

As for breaking it at an AP bureau of change, don't do it. Their goal is to make money so doubt they'd exchange it 1:1. It's why all the threads here direct you to use ATMs while overseas, to avoid those guys.

[GlendaleCruiser]

When I got my Euros at the bank for our upcoming trip I asked for everything to be in small denominations. Largest I got was a few 50E and I will use those for dinners and times when I won't be getting so much change back.

 

I did this for the same reason I won't take $100s in the US. Not a lot of businesses will accept them.

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

Greetings from Madrid. A 100 euro note is really no big deal -- not too common in everyday trading, though. Exchange it at your hotel, a restaurant, etc. Taxis usually only provide change for a 20 euro note, except if it's a long ride (from the airport, for example), then you can ask them to break a 50 euro note.

 

50 euro notes are very popular. All the ATM's give them out readily. 100 euro notes are usually only given out at the window at a bank, not through an ATM.

 

It is actually the 500 euro notes that are looked upon quite suspiciously in Spain when people try to spend them. They are quite popular among money launderers, drug dealers and anybody else who handles what we call here "black money" (dinero negro). However, a 500 euro note won't raise any suspicion at a bank if you try to change it there.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[happy cruzer]

Feedback...

 

we stopped at a bank during the day. we had 4 100 Euro bills broken with no fee and no problems. did get a stern look, but that happens to me alot anyway for some reason :)...

 

Thanks for all the advice.