Cash & Bills: Everything you need to know about valid, invalid, or damaged currency

You can basically receive them at any bank you choose, though I’m still a little fuzzy on whether they'll take USD specifically

I wouldn't go that far. Foreign coins generally aren't accepted just about anywhere here.

They only take Euro coins up to 50 cents. Anything smaller? Forget about it. As for anything larger than that, I wouldn't bet on it!

Look, I’m telling you, they were getting absolutely everything... at least throughout the entire last month.

I was at the local bank branch in San Diego this morning, and I noticed something quite peculiar happening. They’re actually buying up all the loose change—everything from the dime mark up—and applying the exact same exchange rate as they do for paper bills.

Duh, obviously they're the same. It’s not like coins have less value than paper bills!

I’m aware, but if you head to a few of those currency exchange spots in ST, they actually pay out about 70% of the exchange rate when you're dealing with coins—specifically that one over by Central.

So, I stumbled upon a decent amount of German Marks tucked away in an old jacket, and I was wondering if there's any way to exchange them for dollars or euros. I could really use the extra cash right now. I did some digging on Wikipedia and found this: Since that date, the Federal Reserve and its other branches allow Marks to be exchanged for euros free of charge, with no time limit.

Does anyone with connections in Germany know if this is actually true? Or perhaps someone who has recently handled an exchange like this could confirm the process for me? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Matthew Brown9 said:So, I stumbled upon a decent amount of German Marks tucked away in an old jacket, and I was wondering if there's any way to exchange them for dollars or euros. I could really use the extra cash right now. I did some digging on Wikipedia and found this: Since that date, the Federal Reserve and its other branches allow Marks to be exchanged for euros free of charge, with no time limit.

Does anyone with connections in Germany know if this is actually true? Or perhaps someone who has recently handled an exchange like this could confirm the process for me? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

You can trade them in at a central bank in Germany at the old rate of 1.95... basically the historical fixed rate.

I’ve been doing a bit of digging, just searching all over the web to see where I can actually swap some old American dinars for US dollars here in Chicago (since none of the banks or currency exchanges I’ve hit up so far seem to have any clue what I'm talking about), so I was just wondering if anyone happened to figure it out... It's been almost a year since the last person posted about this 🙂
thanks!

Why wouldn't you just swap those dollars for euros before heading out of the States?

Even if they actually rolled that out here in the States, the exchange rate would be an absolute train wreck—wouldn't it?

I don't think you guys can change anything anywhere—really.

How much cash you looking to swap?

I've run into that exact same mess—total disaster. Most banks around here haven't even heard of those dollars before.

Not even out in the rural areas—nobody's gonna touch them.

So, I went to grab my monthly pass and handed over a hundred-dollar bill along with a twenty. The cashier took the hundred and just handed me the twenty back without saying a word. I was standing there totally confused, so I asked her what the deal was. She just told me that the hundred isn't good anymore. Apparently, it was printed in '92 (though I looked it up online later and saw it was actually '93, but whatever). Anyway, she refused to take it—luckily, I had another $6.75 bill on me, so she just took that and put it in the register.
When I asked her where I could go to exchange the old one, she pointed me toward the Federal Reserve.

Does anyone know if she actually had the right to refuse it, or was she legally obligated to take it? I mean, I know it’s not valid currency anymore, but still. 🤷

Am I supposed to just deal with this old bill myself, even though it was just passed down to me? (And trust me, I definitely wasn't the one holding onto a bill from '93 🤣)!

🤔

The one on top is that newer version
you probably had something like the one below
if you ask me, they don't really have to take them

I mean, you could definitely try passing one off to someone at a dive bar or something, honestly, not everyone's paying attention to that little mark

Aha, alright then...

I mean, honestly, it doesn't really matter if they swapped it out or if I did, but whatever. 🙂

I’ve been reading quite a bit about the financial crisis lately. A lot of people seem to think the Chinese yuan is going to gain value, but we don't really have access to it here in the States, do we?

What are your thoughts? If anyone here has more experience with this, do you think it will actually rise?

Also, where would one even go in America to buy Chinese yen?

1. The Chinese yuan is pegged to the U.S. dollar. If the authorities over there ever decide to let it appreciate against the greenback, it won't be much of a shocker. China’s entire economic engine is built on exports, so letting their currency get stronger would essentially act as a brake on their own growth. It's a bit like trying to run a sprint while wearing heavy boots.

2. You can't just walk into a local bank here in the States and pick up some yuan; it simply isn't traded on our domestic markets. If you actually wanted to get your hands on it, you'd have to look toward specific hubs in Asia, like Singapore, or certain spots in the Middle East.

It isn't tied to the dollar anymore. It actually "broke free" about a year or two ago, and since then, it's climbed about 20% in a very controlled, steady way.
My take? It’s basically off the open market because the Chinese government keeps a tight leash on all the volume and transactions.
Foreign investors are capped too—you can only buy up to a $50,000 equivalent per year.

The yuan has always been tethered to the US dollar, and frankly, Beijing isn't about to let an appreciating currency gut their export numbers or stall their economic engine. They haven't just let it float wildly; they’ve engineered a controlled appreciation. It started back in July 2005 when it sat at 8.3, and it’s drifted down to where it is now—around 6.8. From there, they allow a tiny wiggle room of plus or minus 2%. For the last four months, that’s pretty much been the status quo: 6.8, give or take a couple of percent.

Now, China didn't just wake up and decide to hike the yuan's value out of the goodness of their hearts. It was a response to pressure from Washington, sure, but also a reaction to that global inflationary spike we all felt earlier this year. For the past five months, they've kept a tight leash on the exchange rate against the greenback. Part of the reason? Inflation, which hit levels as high as 8% in the first half of the year, has finally cooled off. Since the fire is mostly out, they don't need to use the currency as an anti-inflationary tool anymore.

Bottom line: the yuan is pegged to the dollar, and it’s going to stay that way. The authorities in Beijing will pull the strings, deciding whether it climbs higher or just sits right where it is. This creates a predictable reality where other currencies might actually outpace the yuan against the dollar. But here’s the thing—we aren't sweating the dollar. We care about how things stack up against the Euro. And that’s where the trap lies. If you play the long game, you risk losing money because once the inevitable crisis hits its peak, the dollar tends to slide against the Euro. And since the yuan is hitched to the dollar, it’ll slide right along with it.