Paper £20 notes

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

An older couple I know (very late 70s) have stashed about £1500 worth of £20 notes in their house. If they bank them they will go over the savings limit for the extremely tiny amount of benefits they get, so in a way I don't blame them - but that's a whole other thread.

However, they now need to get rid of them in a world that largely doesn't accept cash and they don't go anywhere to spend them. They get their shopping delivered, organised by a relative, I think they pay the relative by cheque as the relative doesn't want to accept the paper notes because in their words it would be money laundering.

They don't spend a lot, they have no needs in terms of clothes or anything else. They don't need a cleaner, yet. They both get their hair cut at home every couple of months and probably pay their hairdresser £40 cash if that.

Wwyd if you wanted to help them switch these paper notes for plastic? We don't live nearby so it's not easy.

I didn't know that notes were not legal tender.
I pay the cleaner and window cleaner in cash.

I think it’s time to read the OP again. These people don’t really go out. They spend £40 a month on haircuts. Shopping is delivered.

They will just not have to have their shopping delivered if they want an easy way to get rid of the money, its obviously benefit fraud and they can't put it in a bank

If they bank them they will go over the savings limit for the extremely tiny amount of benefits they get, so in a way I don't blame them - but that's a whole other thread.

From the OP for the poster above that said it wasn't benefit fraud.

I think they just have to play the long game - pay £200 in/week at a local Post Office, take £200 back out in new notes via the cashpoint. Or trust a relative to do similar for them.

@Foundatarantulainmykitchen

This also applies to Universal Credit (and State Pension, obviously)

Pension Credit not state pension. (Before anyone gets excited and starts reporting all the pensioners they know)

The benefit fraud angle is interesting. Yes it does sound as if they have up to the savings limit in the bank and are keeping the cash out so as not to put them over the limit.

I recently worked with a person who was in a similar situation. The problem with having a small amount of money over the £6k is that they no longer qualified for their housing benefit, which then meant the following month they paid the rent and were below the threshold, had to reapply and a couple of months later ended up in the same place. It was a vicious circle and very very stressful, particularly for someone who had intervention due to not being able to keep on top of things like that. Taking money out of the bank every now and then when the balance was heading up to the £6k was the only way to prevent the crazy cycle of uncertainty.

Just to clarify, the person is over the age of retirement. I worked with them in a professional capacity regarding the benefit situation. I realise my list made it seem we worked together in a job!

Surely they can buy a new mower/ tree for the garden/ hoover/ etc

Take an extre £50 a week out of a cash point to keep at home, then pay a few hundred of the old notes into the bank every so often when the amount in the account is below the allowed limit. It would take 7-8 months to switch the lot over.

If they are getting pension credit DWP will do checks on this when they die so I wouldn't be putting money in and out of bank accounts if they want to cover it up, they will have to spend it. They sometimes look at records going back years and will just claim back any excess out of the estate, it can hold things up though. They did checks on DM as she claimed pension credit, they check all the estates.

@toastantea

The benefit fraud angle is interesting. Yes it does sound as if they have up to the savings limit in the bank and are keeping the cash out so as not to put them over the limit.

I recently worked with a person who was in a similar situation. The problem with having a small amount of money over the £6k is that they no longer qualified for their housing benefit, which then meant the following month they paid the rent and were below the threshold, had to reapply and a couple of months later ended up in the same place. It was a vicious circle and very very stressful, particularly for someone who had intervention due to not being able to keep on top of things like that. Taking money out of the bank every now and then when the balance was heading up to the £6k was the only way to prevent the crazy cycle of uncertainty.

Hi, yes this is more or less their situation. They are on the standard state pension but don't own their own home, they rent. So they receive some housing benefit. If they put this money in the bank then they will go over the threshold to get that but within 2 months they'd have to spend the £1500 on rent and go through the whole process of applying again. I can't get worked up aboutcthis when I think of the massive tax dodgesgoing on out there and the literal millions of £ flowing into the accounts of friends of Boris & Co.

As Mil says, what they have in the bank is barely enough to pay for 2 very basic funerals.

Why don’t they pre pay for their funerals then , or at least one that way money is gone and they still get their benefits .

@Weebleweeble
@Wegobshite

There is a lot of misunderstanding of what legal tender is.

Legal tender has nothing to do with the spending of money, but is the denominations & quantities which cannot be refused for the payment of debt.

When you spend money the seller can choose what they will and will not accept

www.bankofengland.co.uk/knowledgebank/what-is-legal-tender

Both the £20 and £50 notes have new polymer notes in circulation, but the paper notes remain valid in circulation until 30 September 2022
After that date anyone can still take them if they wish, but if a shop accepts a paper £20 on 1 October that won’t be able to do anything with it other than bank it. eg cash paid staff or suppliers won’t want it. They can still bank it, as time progresses local banks will eventually stop accepting them but they can go to the Bank of England etc

www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/current-banknotes

www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/20-pound-note

www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/50-pound-note

The number of paper notes in circulation is falling as once they arrive at a bank they stop getting recirculated.

There are a lot of people holding onto cash savings stashed at home who will have the need to rotate that ‘stock’ from paper to polymer

Recently I paid for a funeral via my bank on behalf of a friend from her ‘secret’ cash. Of course that exceeded £1000, a lot of which was paper £20s making up nearly £1000 and a bankers draft for the balance

There was nothing untoward about it, she is elderly and likes to keep a safety net in real money, and does her banking with old practices
The funeral directors didn’t want the hassle and extra costs of cash, cheques etc and would have added a fee for the methods she wanted to use.
To save a lot of complexity I just told her to pay me as she liked and I’d transfer into the funeral directors account.
I had no challenges about large amounts, I already had plenty cash that I’m not using and put it all in my banks deposit point. No extra charges for me on a personal account
There are no benefits etc to worry about where her money came from or went to, no worries for me on that front and also if there was a challenge then sources could be accounted for

It does seem a good idea to use it towards the funerals as that will have to be paid anyway, also it will get the savings down in the bank account to well under the limit

As Mil says, what they have in the bank is barely enough to pay for 2 very basic funerals.

Buy two funerals and pay the cash into the bank.

Buy something that has a high resale value.

Probably the easiest if they don't want to go to a bank would be to buy foreign currency as though they are going on holiday and then exchange it back later.

Or buy prepaid credit cards / prepaid travel cards and take the cash out.

The only thing I will add is that age has nothing to do with it imho. Also that a lot of banks will only allow cash payments into an account over the counter by the account holder as an anti-money laundering measure.

@WeAreTheHeroes

That’s is true about the banks only allowing the account holder to pay in cash - HSBC’s refused to allow me to pay £200 into my Dh account. HOWEVER! the post office counters do not have the same reservations - they will accept payments into accounts which you are not the holder of. No limits.

However you look at it, its benefit fraud. The money should go to people in need, look at all the poor children living below the poverty line and go hungry everyday, while people with thousands in saving just try to get as much as they can.
If they were decent and honest they would give the money to charity

@VeganVeal

However you look at it, its benefit fraud. The money should go to people in need, look at all the poor children living below the poverty line and go hungry everyday, while people with thousands in saving just try to get as much as they can. If they were decent and honest they would give the money to charity

That isn't what's been asked here though.

what they have in the bank is barely enough to pay for 2 very basic funerals

Could they arrange to pay a deposit towards a funeral plan using the £1500 cash (some kind of cash movement with cooperative relatives to do that)?

Then they will have some peace of mind they have covered future costs, and they won't have a pile of cash to worry about (much less becoming obsolete notes or violating benefits rules). WinWin.

@VeganVeal

However you look at it, its benefit fraud. The money should go to people in need, look at all the poor children living below the poverty line and go hungry everyday, while people with thousands in saving just try to get as much as they can. If they were decent and honest they would give the money to charity

I feel this is another debate entirely and certainly not to be laid on people who live on housing benefit and pension credit. You have to be white hard of thinking to realise they are not the problem. Having £1500 over the savings limit doesn't really make them responsible.

However, your suggestion that they give the money to charity is bizarre in itself. Do you think that it's acceptable so long as the money goes elsewhere?

These people are not deliberately and actively seeking to claim benefits with thousands in the bank, or claiming as single with children whilst not, the money has just built up a bit over time which means they are slightly above the threshold. If they had spent it on takeaways every weekends would you have been ok with it?

This

@WeAreTheHeroes

The only thing I will add is that age has nothing to do with it imho. Also that a lot of banks will only allow cash payments into an account over the counter by the account holder as an anti-money laundering measure.

The bank may check but the post office certainly don't. I pay money and cheques in for my DH every week and they don't bat an eye

@Floralnomad

I think they need to bite the bullet and bank them , if that small amount takes them over the threshold then surely they will drop below it again fairly quickly and the benefits can be restarted I assume .

😂😂😂

Thanks for all your contributions. There are some excellent suggestions here, which I will pass on.