Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to feel uncomfortable using a £50 note

171 replies

Charliegirl1974 · 16/08/2017 09:51

DH was given a £50 note by BIL and passed it on to me to top up the electricity and do some shopping and my first reaction was that the local shop might be a bit funny about accepting it. He thinks money is money and I'm being a bit strange.

I've decided to go a bit out of my way to use it at the Post Office so there shouldn't be a problem but am I being weird? All I can think of is that I'm turning into those little old ladies who were afraid of £20 notes when I was a kid Grin

OP posts:
dustarr73 · 17/08/2017 00:50

Well I take money out to pay my gas and electric.Which are metered.So usually I take enough out for a shop as well.

Usually a couple of hundred.So mostly it comes out in 50s.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 17/08/2017 00:52

dustarr73 Why not pay on card?

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 17/08/2017 01:12

On the rare occasions I've taken large amounts out of a cash machine it is paid in £20s (although by large amount I mean around £100 -£150. I have no reason to pay large amounts in cash.)

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 17/08/2017 01:16

Usually a couple of hundred.So mostly it comes out in 50s

I've never received a £50 note from a cash machine. There has been the odd occasion I've taken a couple of hundred or more.

dustarr73 · 17/08/2017 01:55

I can't pay my electric or gas on my card.

I'm in Dublin and it's quite regular here to get a 50 from a bank machine.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 17/08/2017 01:59

I can't pay my electric or gas on my card.

Really? When we had a meter many years ago, we took the stick to the local shop and topped it up there, paying by card. How strange that you can't.

I live in a lovely low-crime area, but would I fuck walk round with more than £20 cash on me.

If cash gets stolen, you're fucked. If your card gets stolen, you can ring up and cancel it and get a new one.

Cash is just too much of a risk.

dustarr73 · 17/08/2017 02:03

The electric and gas have a card I can top up.But I can only top up cards with cash.
Anyway that's off topic.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 17/08/2017 02:06

The electric and gas have a card I can top up.But I can only top up cards with cash.
Anyway that's off topic.

Fair enough; I was simply curious. I still am wondering why you can only top up cards with cash Grin Seems very strange.

dustarr73 · 17/08/2017 02:13

Fair enough; I was simply curious. I still am wondering why you can only top up cards with cash grin Seems very strange

Not as strange as never seeing a £50 note.

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 17/08/2017 02:15

Not as strange as never seeing a £50 note.

Considering how rare £50 notes are, and how nearly everywhere takes card, it is more strange that you can't top up your gas/electric card by card.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 17/08/2017 02:48

I understand that a £20 is more likely to be a forgery than a £50

Yep. Once had a barman throw a £20 back at me insisting ir was fake. It most certainly wasn't. The reason I know this is because the twat had me that worried I'd get arrested for forgery I took it to the nearby bank to get it checked! Blush Bank said it was kosher, and I'm still not sure why he couldn't just check it with his UV light thing.

Never had a £50 though so cant tell.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 17/08/2017 02:50

WhatToDo you can't pay on card for prepayment meters. I have PP meters and even if you buy something with your card you have to then get cashback to pay for your gas and elec with cash.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 17/08/2017 02:52

Not as strange as never seeing a £50 note.

Only ever seen one. Was at a church service and the bloke in front of me pulled two £50s out to put on the offering plate.

FairyDogMother11 · 17/08/2017 03:09

pixies the correct protocol for fakes is for the vendor to keep it and not allow it back into circulation so he was wrong on all accounts really!

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 17/08/2017 03:51

AwaywiththePixies27 Ahh, thank you Smile I appreciate the explanation; it's been many years since we had a prepayment meter. I could quite easily be misremembering paying by card (and it seems I am!).

zukiecat · 17/08/2017 04:33

I'm in Scotland and I regularly pay for my prepayment meters using my card, very rarely use cash for that

A lot of customers pay by card too

WhatToDoAboutThis2017 · 17/08/2017 04:35

I'm in Scotland and I regularly pay for my prepayment meters using my card, very rarely use cash for that

Ahh, I'm not misremembering then. I didn't think I was!

VisitorFromAlphaStation · 17/08/2017 05:24

What a strange discussion, since when is £50 a huge amount? I believe there's a tendency in society not to want people to use "large" bills (as opposed to small change or especially credit cards). Where I live (another country) 97 percent of people have access to a credit card but only 79 percent has used cash in the preceding month, according to official statistics. 72 percent used a debit/credit card or mobile phone last time they purchased something but only 15 percent used cash the last time the purchased something. (It doesn't say what the remaining 3 percent used.) We're heading straight for a cashless society. Bitcoins next, I guess. Confused

VisitorFromAlphaStation · 17/08/2017 05:25

Where did that "3" come from? Should read "13".

Natsku · 17/08/2017 06:08

The smallest denomination cashpoints give out here is 20e so 50s are common to get out and banks give out 100s and 200s.

UnicornRainbowColours · 17/08/2017 06:25

Self check outs defo don't accept them! Lol as I found out yesterday.

AlpacaPicnic · 17/08/2017 07:53

I've never had one of my own - £50 note that is... I have seen them and I think I'd recognise a genuine one though.
But when I was buying my house, due to a cock up by the solicitors I had to pay a bill that day, and the only way to do it was to take the cash out of my bank, and pay it in in theirs... it was 3000 and I was given it all in £20s.
Similar thing happened last year when I emptied out my savings to pay for a holiday. £2000 all in £20s.

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 17/08/2017 08:00

The smallest denomination cashpoints give out here is 20e so 50s are common to get out and banks give out 100s and 200s

You are referring to €. Cash machines on mainland Europe do dispense large notes.

Cash machines in the UK do not dispense £50 or £100 notes other than, according to Google, a few machines in Mayfair and the City of London financial area dispense £50 notes. I've never seen a £50 or a £100 note.

ArgyMargy · 17/08/2017 08:11

I haven't owned a £50 note since the 80s. It's blindingly obvious that England (and much of the rest of the UK) has moved towards paying with plastic. Much safer and more convenient for both buyer and seller.

Auldspinster · 17/08/2017 08:28

I'm used to handling £50 and £100 notes as people often paid penalties to the government office where i worked in cash. Made counting easier if the penalties were in the £1000s. I may have done the occasional loadsamoney 'look at my wad' between counting the sums and depositing them in the safe.