Acceptance and Use of Older-Design Federal Reserve Notes (2024)

FAQs

Acceptance and Use of Older-Design Federal Reserve Notes? ›

Can I still use older-design notes? It is U.S. government policy that all designs of U.S. currency remain legal tender, or legally valid for payments, regardless of when they were issued. This policy includes all denominations of Federal Reserve notes, from 1914 to the present.

"Old" Federal Reserve Notes, 1928, 1934, 1950, 1963, etc. Most circulated Federal Reserve Notes from more modern series are worth no more than face value. Some of the early series notes (1928 and 1934) do carry a small premium, although for circulated notes this premium is small, usually 10% to 30%.

Exchanging old banknotes

Many banks accept withdrawn notes as deposits from customers. The Post Office will also accept withdrawn notes as a deposit into any bank account you can access at the Post Office. And you can always exchange withdrawn notes with us.

At Wednesday's proceedings, the Supreme Court panel led by John Okoro, ruled that the old notes remain legal tender until they are replaced with the redesigned notes. According to Mr Okoro, the old notes would co-exist as legal tender with the redesigned ones.

Old paper £20 and £50 notes are no longer legal tender.

It is U.S. government policy that all designs of Federal Reserve notes remain legal tender, or legally valid for payments, regardless of when they were issued. This policy includes all denominations of Federal Reserve notes, from 1914 to present as per 31 U.S.C.

Serial numbers

“A serial number '1' for a 1976 $2 bill would be worth $20,000 or more. But [for] a majority of those people holding 1976 $2 bills, they are only worth face value. There are very few that actually exceed face value.” Other high-value serial numbers include what collectors call “solid” or “ladders.”

Try taking old or foreign coins to your local charity shop as many charities accept them to help raise valuable funds. You can also often donate foreign coins on your return flight from holiday.

"Notes which have turned extremely brittle or are badly burnt, charred or inseparably stuck up together and, therefore, cannot withstand normal handling, shall not be accepted by the bank branches for exchange.

What happens if you have old notes? ›

Pay them in at your high street bank or Post Office.

You can also exchange old paper banknotes for the same value in current polymer notes at 30 selected Post Office branches – you can view the full branch list on the Bank of England website. This includes the old paper £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes from the last series.

Exchange paper Bank of England banknotes from the last series that have been withdrawn from circulation at participating Post Office branches. We'll give you the same value in current polymer notes. And you can swap up to £300 every two years.

They're usually destroyed because they are poor quality, or because they are no longer legal tender. What is legal tender? Until 1990, notes were burned and the heat helped warm up the Bank of England! However, that's not very good for the environment or very efficient.

This note replaces our paper £20 note which was withdrawn from circulation after 30 September 2022. You may be able to deposit withdrawn notes at your own bank or with the Post Office. Alternatively, you can exchange withdrawn banknotes with selected Post Office branches or with the Bank of England.

On the portal, which is on cbn.gov.ng, depositors are required to fill in their Bank Verification Number (BVN), phone number, email address, bank details, address, the amount to be deposited as well as the denominations to be deposited, after which a reference number is generated.

Notes: (1) Except for the elderly aged 60 and above and persons with disabilities, online pre-booking is required for (i) exchange of new notes at DBS, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) and CIMB branches, and (ii) exchange of Fit notes at DBS, OCBC and UOB branches.

If you think you might have possession of a bill that's worth more than its face value, you can go online to look up the serial number. To test it out, we looked up the number on a random $5 bill at MyCurrencyCollection.com.

More recently, the USCA lists a value of $500 on certain uncirculated $2 bills from 1995.

There are a couple of key places on your bill to check out, like the year and seal color. Bills that have red, brown, or blue seals printed between 1862 and 1917 could be worth up to $1,000, per IndyStar. And, the older a bill is, the rarer it's usually considered.

Unless it has a unique feature, like a low serial number or misprint, a newer $2 bill likely isn't worth much more than $2, even if it's uncirculated.