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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that you should be able to change coins in a bank......

50 replies

LavenderRain · 24/06/2015 19:38

I save my 1p, 2p and 5p coins in a jar. When the jar is full I count them all out and put them into money bags and take them to the bank for paper money. It's usually £25-30 a time,
I then go to my local charity shops and see what bargains I can get. That way the charity benefits and I have fun spending,
This time, had £25 in coins, went to the bank as usual and cashier asks me 3 times if I want the money paid straight into my account, I said no, cash please,
She then asks if I have an account, I say yes,
She then asks for my card. I say to her that surely anyone can change coins in a bank? Isn't that the point of banks?!
She becomes quite haughty and says she won't change my coins unless I give her my bank card, which I give her.
She then gives me my cash and card and says "we have to keep account of every penny and soon you won't be able to change coins here"
I just walked away at this point,
Is this weird or usual? I've never been questioned, or asked for my card before Confused

OP posts:
kinkyfuckery · 24/06/2015 19:41

As far as I know, a lot of banks will only pay into an account, not change coins for you.
Why didn't you just put it in your account then withdraw it? Cash deposits clear instantly.

DarthVadersTailor · 24/06/2015 19:41

Dunno what your bank is like but I can deposit coins and then go straight to a cash machine and withdraw the cash....

mistymeanour · 24/06/2015 19:42

This happened me a few years ago - I think it is standard practice . That's why a lot of people take change to the Cashstar machines at Asda which charge a hefty fee for the service.

karbonfootprint · 24/06/2015 19:42

the bank isn't going to provide just anyone with any service for free, you need to prove you are a customer.

RepeatAdNauseum · 24/06/2015 19:43

It's for money laundering purposes.

I mean, I shouldn't think that many people launder money in pennies, but the banks have to be able to "track" the money they have.

Let them put it into your account and then withdraw it. Cash deposits clear instantly so it won't be too much of an inconvenience, and they will be happy.

youngestisapyscho · 24/06/2015 19:43

Do you have a Metro bank near you? They have one of those coin counting machines you tip all the coins in. They then give you the cash. You don't even need to bank with them and there is no charge.

leccybill · 24/06/2015 19:46

The Coinstar machine in Asda charges 9.9p in the pound now which is quite a lot I think.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 24/06/2015 19:47

What if you want the cash in coins but a different denomination though DarthVadersTailor.

I suppose you could always pay it into your account, then ask the cashier to withdraw the same amount from your acount to be paid in the coins you want. That seems like a huge waste of time though.

chocoshopoholic · 24/06/2015 19:51

The HSBC has a coin counter machine, you can only pay into an account but don't need to sort it and have full bags and doesn't take a fee.

I save for Christmas by emptying my purse of coins everytime I pass it.

noeffingidea · 24/06/2015 19:52

My bank used to put a £5 limit on it. They said they didn't have enough space to store a lot of coins.
Nowadays I use my coins in the self service tills in Sainsburys.

Original poster
LavenderRain · 24/06/2015 19:57

Thanks for the replies, It seems I ABU but I've never been questioned before and I've banked with the same branch for 30+ years

I could of let her pay it in then got it back out but that just seemed a waste of time, and I wanted £25 and the cashpoint doesn't give out £5 notes,

I don't have a metro bank near me, but I've seen the coinstar machines in sainsburys, maybe that's the way to go? Or maybe just give the charity shop the pennies and ruin my shopping spree

OP posts:
Musicaltheatremum · 24/06/2015 20:00

I'm with royal bank of scotland. They now have a counting machine. Pour all the coins in and counts them and gives you a receipt. Not sure what happens then. Presume you go and pay it into account.

wooldonor · 24/06/2015 20:01

It isn't to do with money laundering it's simply that it's expensive for banks to handle a lot of small coinage.

It's been standard practice at most banks for years to restrict the amount they will take in.

getdownshep · 24/06/2015 20:04

My dm took her bags of coins into her branch of the Halifax and was told they could only accept 3 bags at a time.
She went to another branch and they took all six bags, she had it paid into her account.

Lunastarfish · 24/06/2015 20:08

I use to have this problem over 10 years ago with Halifax. I worked in a shop and would often require change, Halifax wouldn't change it as neither I or the shop banked there. I'd have to walk to HSBC where I was a customer to get change (which was a good 15 minute round trip minimum- Halifax being opposite the shop)

AdventureBe · 24/06/2015 20:12

You're right wooldonor, banks don't like dealing in coin because it's expensive. Most limit the amount you can transact at any one time and want to know you're a customer, to avoid giving free service to non-cuustomers, although how rigidly the limit is applied will depend on how up for a fight the cashier is at the time.

However, it's also true that they do need to know who you are. They're not allowed to accept any cash without establishing who the "customer" is.

Floralnomad · 24/06/2015 20:15

Natwest have machines that count the coins and put them into your account - we do it once or twice a year , the staff are very helpful and happy to assist .

Whopper · 24/06/2015 20:18

If your paying your coins into a child's bank account they will take as many bags of money as you've got. That's how lots of children save! I frequently take lots of bags of low value coins to the Nationwide. They might raise their eyebrows at me, but they take it all - cos it's going into a child's account.

Sparklingbrook · 24/06/2015 20:19

I wanted two coin bags to take home and bring back to pay some coppers in and there was a queue out the door at my bank. I nipped into the bank next door and asked and got quizzed very sternly by the cashier about whether I banked there. I confessed that no I didn't.
Much umming and aahing and she asked the other cashier what to do. Eventually she gave me two pre-used bags. Grin

I worked for a bank for twenty years and back in my day we didn't worry about these sort of things.If I went back on the counter now i would be permanently Hmm I think.

My bank has no humans in though. No cashiers, just a lady with a clipboard asking what you want.

unlucky83 · 24/06/2015 20:37

It is because of the cost and hassle for the bank ...but you might want to ask in the charity shop if they want the change ...or actual any small business might want some of it.

The banks will charge businesses for getting change....so depending on what they need/use some may be happy to swap it When DP had a restaurant we used to get lots of £1 coins...and for some reason the hairdresser was always short - so I used to ask them if they wanted any before banking the bags...
(Banks charge businesses for everything - putting money in and then taking it out - and cash was the most expensive. I used to use cash as much as possible ...not because we were avoiding tax/fiddling but to avoid being charged twice!)
I do floats and bank money from fundraisers for charities now - I deal with 4 different groups and they all use the same bank (was the local one - until they closed our branch Sad) The people in the bank knew me and as charities they get free basic banking but even so if I wanted to swap notes for coins for floats I had to give them an account to assign it to.
(I'm in Scotland -I know lots of places in England can be funny about taking Scottish £20 notes (and vice versa) - once I (stupidly) took £100 out of the bank's ATM the day before I was going down to England -so I went in the bank to ask them if they could swap any of it for English notes - they made me assign it to an account to prove I was a customer! (Personally I wasn't but I just used one of the charity accounts details)

unlucky83 · 24/06/2015 20:46

sparkling -I know why they questioned you - check out ebay - people sell bank bags on there - start at about 5p each iirc. Don't think the sellers take them from a bank ...but I guess they could be!
When I saw that I was amazed - I wonder who buys them? surely people just get them from their bank - and they can be reused multiple times ....

workingdilemma · 24/06/2015 20:49

I do similar, then just get rid of them at the self service tills at the supermarket over the course of a few weeks.

Deeply satisfying.

Sparklingbrook · 24/06/2015 20:51

Really unlucky? Shock I must have looked like a dodgy e bay coin bag seller. Well I never. Blush

I got a few more from my own bank not long after I keep meaning to take 2 back in to the bank next door. Grin

FryOneFatManic · 24/06/2015 20:58

My local bank has a coin counting machine, so I can deposit coins in there to be counted, it gets credited to my account, then I just take the cash out the ATM. And there's no fee because I have an account.

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