Does paper money ever expire?

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I can't seem to find much information on the Internet about this so I figured I would ask here. Be advised that this may be considered a silly question, and much apologizings if this is the case.

Anyhoo, here's the basic thrust of the gist. I am about to take a trip to Canada and I was wondering if the Canadian cash I have is still valid.

I got that cash from my dad, who had it laying around in his office. Most of the bills and coins are from the mid to late 90’s although some of them are as old as 1982.

Can I still spend this money when I come up there, or is it no longer valid? If the latter, what should I do? Can I get it exchanged for newer bills and coins at a Canadian bank? Should I do this anyway?

 

[Admiral2]

I thought this was a question about US money, then I could tell you that as far as I know, as long as the bill is genuine and in circulation it can be used as currency. Coins too.

I know nothing about how it works in Canada...

 

[DimesDan]

They might be ok.

Depends if the Canadians have replaced their bills and coins other past 34 years. I know we have several times.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Depends if the Canadians have replaced their bills and coins other past 34 years.

I think they're starting to introduce plastic money now.

I know we have several times.

What happened to the old stuff when you did that? Were people encouraged or required to exchange them, or did they just continue to spend whatever old bills and coins they had?

 

[Admiral2]

Here you go, MLB, from Canada's gummint website:

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-52/page-1.html#h-5

 

[Spot's Meow]

Hmm, Canadian currency, can't help you there. I was going to tell you that your Continental Currency isn't worth a continental anymore.

 

[Astra]

What happened to the old stuff when you did that? Were people encouraged or required to exchange them, or did they just continue to spend whatever old bills and coins they had?

We are getting new banknotes in Germany at the moment, and the way it is done is that the old money still exists and is valid, but you only get new one from the cash machine and once the old is all spent, it's vanished. Takes a few weeks / months.

We also exchanged Eastern German Mark to D-Mark back in 1990 and then a few years later to Euro. I'm an expert

I visited Vancouver in 2008 and 2010. My friend had still leftover Canadian money the second time, and when she paid in a shop they looked very closely at it, as it apparently was old notes by then, but they took it in the end. They just hadn't seen it in a while. So sometime in between 2008 and 2010 they must have switched.

I had only leftover stamps, which also weren't valid anymore as the price for a postcard had risen. But with a little addition I could still use them.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I got that cash from my dad, who had it laying around in his office. Most of the bills and coins are from the mid to late 90’s although some of them are as old as 1982.

Oh, those ones have totally expired. Tell you what, drop by on your way up, and I'll trade your expired money for the new polymer money. I'll only be able to trade you 50 cents on the dollar, but since it's expired, it's better than the banks will give you.

In all seriousness, it is still legal tender (all bank notes issued by the Bank of Canada are still legal tender), but if you're spending them in stores, if the clerk isn't familiar with them, and they're not sure what security features to check on them, they could theoretically ask you for newer bills.

I still spend, and get in change, the 2001 "Canadian Journey" series fairly regularly, but they are now just starting to become a little more scarce. I'm guessing yours are from the 1986 "Birds of Canada" series? I will occasionally see some of these bills pop up, but they're not really common.

If you're concerned, a bank should be able to replace them for you... at full face value!

Note that we don't make $1 or $2 bills anymore, so if you have any of those, you might want to hold on to them just to say you have some!

For reference, all the Bank of Canada bank note series can be seen here.

(And enjoy your visit! )

 

[HIjol]

Just how many Loonies does it take to equal a beaver pelt, anyway?

 

[Starkers]

I seem to recall when the UK changed the £20 note (I think) there was a deadline by which they stopped being legal tender. I think you could still swap them at a bank however.

Looks like they did this last year with the £50 notes but frankly I can't recall the last time I saw a £50 note, let alone had one. me and my friends always joke that they really only exist for drug dealers/criminals!

 

[tharpdevenport]

I can't speak for Canadian money, but here in the U.S., the money doesn't expire. There are, however, factors to consider:

• What you may have saved one year, will not be what it was worth when you got it due to the decline in value of the dollar. Saving money doesn't always equal saving unless there is a recovery in sight.
• State and local laws os saving money may have consequences you are unaware of. There are states that have changed or enacted laws that accoutns with no activity after a certain amount of time, are considered unclaimed and they steal the money from them without proving it. Some people have learned this the hard way going back to an old savings account they let sit or an account accuring money from one or more stocks, only to find out the money is gone and the state stole it without even checking with them. If you have such a thing, I recommend you check up on it and regularly access the account or else.
• I know this isn't what was meant, but the paper bilsl themselves have something of a life depending on how they are handled. Bills are regularly taken out of circulation that are falling apart of broken and destroyed. By the way, if you have broken or damaged beyond use bills (such as burying it and not realizing what a dumb idea that is over time), you can send in all the portions of the bills to the Treasury Department and they send you back fresh money for each bill they can account for in the pile you sent.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think I'll just take it to a bank when I get up there. I emailed the Bank of Canada and that's what they advised me to do.

Canada has really cool looking cash, by the way! I wish ours looked like that. I might actually carry some if it did!

 

[Count Zero]

I find it amazing that you can still pay with banknotes that old. Even before the Euro, banknotes were exchanged at least twice. Old ones eventually lost their value. At the moment we're getting new Euro banknotes as someone else upthread already mentioned.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

[*]What you may have saved one year, will not be what it was worth when you got it due to the decline in value of the dollar. Saving money doesn't always equal saving unless there is a recovery in sight.
[*]State and local laws os saving money may have consequences you are unaware of. There are states that have changed or enacted laws that accoutns with no activity after a certain amount of time, are considered unclaimed and they steal the money from them without proving it. Some people have learned this the hard way going back to an old savings account they let sit or an account accuring money from one or more stocks, only to find out the money is gone and the state stole it without even checking with them. If you have such a thing, I recommend you check up on it and regularly access the account or else.

Uh, thanks...I think... ... but I just wanted to know what to do with this leftover cash.

My dad just found it when he was cleaning out his desk. I think it was from the time he went to a medical conference at McGill U.

 

[John Clark]

@Starkers (quote isn't working for me at the moment.)

Yeah, I had an issue with a £20 I'd got a few years back. Fortunately, the bank were still swapping them at the time.

I've seen £50s once or twice (Legitimately, don't look at me like that). I haven't seen one since the early 90s though as we eventually convinced everyone to go over to direct transfer.

As for non GBP currency, I think we still have a couple of 1 Million (old) Turkish Lira notes somewhere. They're not worth much now though.

@Mr. Laser Beam
As for the Canadian Dollar (It's been about 10 years since I've handled any) but I think they changed in 2011-2013 though as Avro Arrow (and your reply said) the bank will take care of that.

 

[tharpdevenport]

When I think of Canadian money, since I've been re-watching "Due South", I think of the early episodes where Benton gives people money and they say to him confused, "Hey, think money is pink." (or blue, or what ever)

 

[Avro Arrow]

^ I never understood what benefit you gained by having all your denominations the same colour!

But doesn't the newest series of US bank notes now have colour differences between the denominations?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

But doesn't the newest series of US bank notes now have colour differences between the denominations?

No, as far as I know they're still green.

There may be the occasional bit of blue or something like that, but the overall color of all our bills is still green. And I don't think our bills are quite as secure as yours are.

 

[tharpdevenport]

^ I never understood what benefit you gained by having all your denominations the same colour!

But doesn't the newest series of US bank notes now have colour differences between the denominations?

Yes, all kinds of ugly shading. They seem to be having an internal contest to see if they can make the U.S. currency uglier each year. They'd doing a bang up job of it, I must say.

Hell, they even got a silver reflective strip going vertical on some bills. Hold it just right i nthe light and you got a Gaddamn lens flare without a lens!

 

[Avro Arrow]

But doesn't the newest series of US bank notes now have colour differences between the denominations?

No, as far as I know they're still green.

Yes, all kinds of ugly shading.