Discard Currency Paper For Free

Often times, even financial institutions won't accept cash if it's too damaged. This is because the Federal Reserve does not accept deposits of mutilated money from banks and credit unions.

If you have damaged or mutilated currency, or need currency replaced, contact the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. If you have currency you suspect is counterfeit, contact your local Secret Service Field Office. For questions about coins, please contact the U.S. Mint.

Otherwise it is my understanding that So long as you have more than half the original note, it can be deposited with no problem even if it ripped, torn, defaced, or dirty. The bank will take damaged currency out of circulation, in effect exchanging it for new undamaged notes.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) redeems mutilated currency as a free public service.

Damaged money can easily be replaced at the bank. At first, you may be asking, do banks accept ripped money? Yes, they do.

The Federal Reserve Bank will then store the damaged bills for destruction. When enough old bills have been collected, the Federal Reserve Banks will shred them. If you take a tour of a Federal Reserve Bank, you can sometimes take home your very own unique souvenir: a bag of shredded paper money!

For extreme cases of damage, you can send bills to the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) to be examined. They have a Mutilated Currency Division full of U.S. currency experts that examine mutilated bills and bent coins for free and will return an equivalent amount.

Under regulations issued by the Department of the Treasury, mutilated United States currency may be exchanged at face value if: More than 50% of a note identifiable as United States currency is present.

No, you do not have to trade in your old-design notes for new ones. All U.S. currency remains legal tender, regardless of when it was issued.

How to redeem older bank notes. The $1, $2, $25, $500 and $1,000 bills still retain their face value even though they are no longer legal tender. You can take them to your financial institution or send them to the Bank of Canada to redeem them. Or, you can decide to keep them.