Bank Refused ‘Deteriorated’ Bills

July 31, 2024 DINARRECAPS8

Sacramento senior, 66, found $6,000 that she lost, Bank Refused ‘Deteriorated’ Bills — how to deposit damaged money

Bethan Moorcraft Tue, July 30, 2024 Moneywise

Mary Venegas was “flabbergasted” when she finally found an envelope containing $6,000 in cash buried beneath some cardboard boxes in her backyard.

The Sacramento senior thought the money was long gone after losing it four years ago and was “just so happy” to find it, since she’s living on a fixed income and had overdue utility bills to pay.

How does one come to lose a cash fortune in their backyard?

“I don’t know… I’m just a 66-year-old woman who’s very forgetful,” Venegas told CBS News Sacramento, explaining that she’d originally planned to use the money to pay her taxes.

But when she went to deposit the money, Bank of America refused to accept her cash because the bills were “deteriorated,” dirty and water damaged after their four-year stay outside.

Here’s what happened — and what you can do if you have damaged or mutilated money.

Government Examination

Venegas thought her recent money struggles were solved when she found $6,000 in cash — money that is rightfully hers.

When the bank refused to take the money — which was mostly $100 bills — she found that her deposit may have had to undergo a thorough examination by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP), the government agency that prints money (referred to as Federal Reserve notes) and redeems mutilated currency notes.

The BEP defines mutilated currency as notes that have been “damaged to the extent that one-half or less of the original note remains, or its condition is such that its value is questionable.”

Currency notes can be mutilated in many ways, including by fire, water, chemicals, explosives, animals, insects, rodent damage and petrification or deterioration by burying. In Venegas’ case, the cash was likely damaged by water and the corners were clearly eaten away by an insect or animal.