Is there a legal requirement for banks in US to exchange

amother

Lemon

Tue, Jul 04 2017, 7:05 pm

coins or bills?
I walked into a bank and asked to exchange a bunch of coins -properly wrapped- for bills. I was told they could only exchange if I have an account there. I have a cc with the bank but not a checking or savings, so they didn't exchange it for me.
It got me wondering whether or not banks have a legal requirement to exchange coins or small bills (like if I'd wanna exchange a hundred singles for larger bills).
Thanks!

MagentaYenta

Tue, Jul 04 2017, 7:11 pm

amother wrote:

No there is no legal requirement for a bank to provide services to someone who isn't one of their customers. Credit card operations are a whole seperate area of banking.

My credit union has had a change counter for the past ten years. You dump your change. Insert your card, change gets counted and you get a chit. You take the chit with your card and photo ID to the teller and the chit will be processed. If I have a big bill I want broken before I go shopping I use the drive up, put the bill and my card and photo ID in the container. The teller asks me to confirm the amount of cash and how I want it broken. My teller receipt shows I gave her a hundred and she gave me back, however many bills in the dominations.

amother

Yellow

Tue, Jul 04 2017, 9:37 pm

Most banks will only do it if you have an account there.

I take all my loose change the stop n shop near me. If you want cash, they take a cut, but you can choose a gift card and you get the full amount. I choose an amazon card which I can then spend on anything.