OT: Euro notes not changed in UK?

[Jaffna Dog]

I had a EUR 20 note recently which I needed to change for GBP, but apparent ly they can no longer be changed in the UK, I tried both my bank branch ("c omputer says no") and two bureaux de change ("can't take used Euro's"), wha t is the current legal status of Euro currency in the UK?

I assumed they were like U.S. Dollars, being freely exchangeable worldwide, but are they in fact like Indian rupees, which are officially invalid and unobtainable outside their home territory?

Is this some unofficial action in response to the EU referendum, to destroy confidence in the currency?

[Andy Burns]

The ?500 "drug smugglers" notes are/have been withdrawn, but AFAIK anywhere else generally changing money should change them.

Odd. I've got a a few stashed away that I didn't change back last time I was abroad.

I remember some UK shops even accepted payment in euros when they first came out, not noticed if any still do.

[Michael Kilpatrick]

I'm not convinced that any establishment which doesn't have currency exchanging as its main business would want to be bothered with looking after a single twenty Euro note. It's a waste of their time. I would have imagined that most currency exchanges might also have minimum quantities for a transaction? Or not?

Michael

[Andy Burns]

Sainsbury's bank runs the in-store bureaux de change, seems to buy euros for a £1.99 fee for amounts under £100 (they don't specifically state whether they'll only buy them back if they sold them to you).

[soup]

Seems like No1 currency will buy them.

"I can't take used" sounds like it should be translated as "I can't be arsed to deal with such piddling amounts". ?20 ? £15

[Capitol]

I thought M & S took them in payment?

[Martin Brown]

Most have a minimum transaction value of around £50 or there abouts. And any that don't will rip you off good time.

ISTR that most large M&S's will accept Euro notes as payment. As will some other shops in distinctly touristy areas.

The OP would be best off selling a single 20 EUR note to one of his mates about to go on holiday at a split the difference rate. Bank fees and poor exchange rates would otherwise dominate the transaction.

Alternatively hang onto it and it will gain value as the pound continues to fall in the post Brexit slow motion car crash.

Regards, Martin Brown

[soup]

ITYM extremely slow

[Cursitor Doom]

Tell me about it.

I don't think the euro needs any assistance from outside to destroy confidence in it! I have the same problem with a 500 euro note which I can't exchange so I'm lumbered with it until next time I go over - by which time I'll probably need a visa (with any luck!)

[S Viemeister]

And John Lewis, I think.

[Davey]

Our local village East-of-England Co-op exchanges currency. It might be worth a try. But it does seem a low value. I have 750 of them, I'll wait until my brother, who lives in Germany, visits next time.

[John Rumm]

And to change it into Drachma ;-)

[Capitol]

Gaining against the dollar. Not surprising as the US banks appear to be nearly insolvent again through excessive bad loans. The Euro will follow shortly.

[Martin Brown]

Interesting choice of note denomination. AFAICT they are only used by money launderers and drug dealers moving lots of hard cash around.

There is a move afoot to discontinue (decision happened 4/5/16) that particular note which was mainly pushed through by tax evading rich Germans to avoid overloading their BMWs when visiting Swiss banks.

No further ones will be issued after 2018.

Regards, Martin Brown

[Brian Gaff]

Well a friend recently came back from Eire with some and had no issues though rates are all over the place at the moment. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

BUt surely a bank ought to be able to do it if only at a cost they might pass on. I agree as with many currencies, small quantities are always an issue though, so maybe its the amount not the currency itself which has been the issue. My friend had considerably more than 1 note! Brian

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Capitol escribió:

I was thinking that yesterday. Italy looking very shaky, France and Spain not much better.

Looks like we did the right thing keeping the pound.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at

13:13:37 on Tue, 2 Aug 2016, Jaffna Dog remarked:

That's odd, I've had no trouble getting rupees in the UK.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 21:50:54 on Tue, 2 Aug 2016, Michael Kilpatrick remarked:

I had no trouble exchanging small amounts in pre-Euro european curencies to clear out my travelling kit just before the Euro ame in. That was at a Post Office in central London.