Exchanging old British pound notes for new ones

[NoWhiners]

Hi all

 

I dug our leftover notes from 2009 out of the safe today and the £20 notes are still OK (I think) but the 5's and 10's maybe not. Anyway, some of ours need to be exchanged and I read online that you can only do this at the Bank of England on Threadneedle St.

 

Is this true? We couldn't go to other banks and do this?

 

Thanks for any help

ML

[DebbieMacG]

Most other banks will take them although they don’t have to. You can post them to the Bank of England as well.

 

It really depends on the notes and when they went out of circulation.

[turnip eater]

:)https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes

 

The above website has all the information that you need re exchanging Bank of England banknotes. It also has a link to exchanging Scottish and Northern Irish Banknotes.

Hope that it helps.:)

Edited March 25, 2018 by turnip eater
sp.

[NoWhiners]

Most other banks will take them although they don’t have to. You can post them to the Bank of England as well.

 

It really depends on the notes and when they went out of circulation.

 

I saw that we can post them but we're leaving 3 weeks so I think it would be better to just do it in London.

 

Thanks

ML

[NoWhiners]

:)https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/exchanging-old-banknotes

 

The above website has all the information that you need re exchanging Bank of England banknotes. It also has a link to exchanging Scottish and Northern Irish Banknotes.

Hope that it helps.:)

 

Yes, I found that link and it's where I got our info. I'm just finding it hard to believe there is only 1 bank in London where you can exchange old notes :)

 

ML

[Cotswold Eagle]

Yes, I found that link and it's where I got our info. I'm just finding it hard to believe there is only 1 bank in London where you can exchange old notes [emoji4]

 

 

 

ML

 

 

 

Well, any commercial bank that exchanged them would have to take them out of circulation and deposit them with the Bank of England. That has a cost, so possible they will only do it for their own customers, but you could pop in to a couple and ask.

 

I swapped one in my own bank after the legal tender deadline and for that amount they did not ask if I was a customer, but that was only a couple of days afterwards, when they would still have been handling a lot of the expired notes.

 

 

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[Keith1010]

We have the same issue so I am glad you asked the question.

 

Keith

[NoWhiners]

Well, any commercial bank that exchanged them would have to take them out of circulation and deposit them with the Bank of England. That has a cost, so possible they will only do it for their own customers, but you could pop in to a couple and ask.

 

I swapped one in my own bank after the legal tender deadline and for that amount they did not ask if I was a customer, but that was only a couple of days afterwards, when they would still have been handling a lot of the expired notes.

 

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That's a good point. I guess I'll just try and we can always make a trip to the Bank of England. It's sort of on the way to the Tower (although not the way I was thinking we'd go).

 

Maybe if we act like clueless tourists (as we are), they will feel sorry for us? ;)

[Bob++]

Five-pound notes were withdrawn almost a year ago and even banks will no longer accept them, only the BoE as you saw. If you have any of the old round pound coins, you will also have the same problem.

 

Ten-pound notes only stopped being legal tender on March 1st this year and most high street banks or Post Offices will still exchange them.

[Cotswold Eagle]

 

Ten-pound notes only stopped being legal tender on March 1st this year ....Post Offices will still exchange them.

 

 

Bob, do you have personal experience of that? My understanding was that the Post Office would only accept them for deposit into a UK bank account.

 

As per this article, amongst others: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-5440313/Where-cash-old-10-5-notes-1-coins.html

 

 

 

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[tempus137]

Five-pound notes were withdrawn almost a year ago and even banks will no longer accept them, only the BoE as you saw. If you have any of the old round pound coins, you will also have the same problem.

 

Ten-pound notes only stopped being legal tender on March 1st this year and most high street banks or Post Offices will still exchange them.

 

When did they change the pound coins? I have a couple from a year ago that look like the old ones in the picture.

[NoWhiners]

Five-pound notes were withdrawn almost a year ago and even banks will no longer accept them, only the BoE as you saw. If you have any of the old round pound coins, you will also have the same problem.

 

Ten-pound notes only stopped being legal tender on March 1st this year and most high street banks or Post Offices will still exchange them.

 

Rats, we have 2 five-pound notes and 1 twenty. Guess we will be adding a sightseeing trip to the Bank of England. Anyone know of a good pub nearby?:D

 

ML

[marylizcat]

Well, at least the Bank of England is a very splendid old building, so it should be interesting to see it! There is even a free museum inside.

 

 

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[NoWhiners]

Well, at least the Bank of England is a very splendid old building, so it should be interesting to see it! There is even a free museum inside.

 

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Yes, it looked like that from the map and I saw the museum. We will make it a fun outing, and get new fivers for our trouble :)

[Globaliser]

I'm just finding it hard to believe there is only 1 bank in London where you can exchange old notes

Be grateful that the UK isn't one of those countries where withdrawn banknotes eventually become literally worthless, as even the country's central bank will no longer take them back.

 

While you're there, do ask whether you can open an account. A personal bank account at the Bank of England is a very, very, very rare creature. (In all seriousness, I think that you have to be staff to have one.)

[Bob++]

Bob, do you have personal experience of that? My understanding was that the Post Office would only accept them for deposit into a UK bank account.

 

As per this article, amongst others: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-5440313/Where-cash-old-10-5-notes-1-coins.html

 

 

 

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Looks like I misread something. Banks are okay though for the time being.

[Bob++]

Be grateful that the UK isn't one of those countries where withdrawn banknotes eventually become literally worthless, as even the country's central bank will no longer take them back.

 

While you're there, do ask whether you can open an account. A personal bank account at the Bank of England is a very, very, very rare creature. (In all seriousness, I think that you have to be staff to have one.)

 

Not even staff now:

 

Until recently, current and former staff could open accounts and receive specially issued Bank of England cheque books and debit cards marked with the figure of Britannia. The sort code of 10-00-00 indicated its status as Britain’s most important branch, with cheques grandly addressed ‘to the cashiers of the Bank of England London’.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3693977/Carney-shuts-Bank-England-300-year-old-tradition-private-accounts-staff-axed.html#ixzz5Ardv009w

[Globaliser]

Not even staff now:

What a pity! I did see one of these elusive chequebooks once; someone I know who was then working for the BoE.

[lamchops]

I just got back from London 2 weeks ago and I had a bunch of the old pound coins and a few paper 5 & 10 pound notes. No vendor would take them. I happen to see a Santander bank and went in to ask where I could exchange them. They did it for me without any fees. This was near the borough market area.

[NoWhiners]

While you're there, do ask whether you can open an account. A personal bank account at the Bank of England is a very, very, very rare creature. (In all seriousness, I think that you have to be staff to have one.)

 

Hmm, before I read Bobs post, I was thinking maybe if I asked really nicely they might let me have an account. Now I'm thinking maybe not :D

 

ML

[NoWhiners]

I just got back from London 2 weeks ago and I had a bunch of the old pound coins and a few paper 5 & 10 pound notes. No vendor would take them. I happen to see a Santander bank and went in to ask where I could exchange them. They did it for me without any fees. This was near the borough market area.

 

This is very helpful, thanks for posting. We won't be too far from Borough market and were planning an afternoon there, so we'll keep an eye out. And maybe we'll try the first bank we see and hope for the best.

 

ML

Edited March 26, 2018 by NoWhiners
typos

[Princess18]

I'm concerned we will not have time to locate the Bank of England. Wondering if we could use the "old" money for tips for housekeeping at our hotel? I realize the person would then need to covert themselves into the new currency, but we'd leave a generous tip, due to the inconvenience.

[Turtles06]

I'm concerned we will not have time to locate the Bank of England. Wondering if we could use the "old" money for tips for housekeeping at our hotel? I realize the person would then need to covert themselves into the new currency, but we'd leave a generous tip, due to the inconvenience.

 

Even if those bills are "convertible," please don't do that to the housekeeping staff. These folks are cleaning your toilet, making your bed, changing your towels, vacuuming your room, dumping your garbage, etc., and you want to give them obsolete currency? Do you think they have a lot of free time to go to a bank? :rolleyes:

[Globaliser]

Even if those bills are "convertible," please don't do that to the housekeeping staff. These folks are cleaning your toilet, making your bed, changing your towels, vacuuming your room, dumping your garbage, etc., and you want to give them obsolete currency? Do you think they have a lot of free time to go to a bank? :rolleyes:

Quite! The staff might even see it as an insult to be given "money" that can no longer be used. "I can't use these old notes and I can't be bothered to do the right thing with these old notes, so here, why don't you have this useless money instead?" And even if the staff have enough free time to go to a bank, they almost certainly don't have much free time to traipse over to the Bank.

 

If you really do want to put the old money to good use, I think it might be better to put it into a charity collection instead. Ideally, pick one that's intended to accept currencies from all over the world. Your airline may participate in one of these, or you may find a suitable box in the airport. The operations that sort the collected money from these sources are used to aggregating and dealing with money that it's difficult to extract value from, and would probably get enough old GBP notes to make it worth their while to exchange them or pay them in via the BoE.

[Princess18]

Excellent idea to donate to charity, that’s what we’ll do.