Large denomination euro banknotes (100, 200, 500)

Amik

I was trying to get a large denomination banknote for a Communion present last month and not a single bank I visited had a 200 bill in the tills, let alone a 100 (just realized I haven't seen one of those in ages).

Is there a special procedure for getting a 200 or 500 bill or are the very uncommon? I'd like to try to get one of each just for souvenirs now.

andrew

Did you try any particularly large branches? For example, if you're with BoI did you try the College Green branch?

Amik

Good point. I'm in Galway actually and tried all the major branches here.

May have to try this the next time I visit Dublin!

daheff

Just remember that if its difficult to get the high denomination notes, it'll be difficult for people to lodge them at branches. Tellers wont recognise the notes properly and may give the person lodging the notes a hard time or refuse to accept them.


had to move money between boi & AIB in cash once..boi gave me 2 *500 eur notes...only that i had the receipt from BOI showing the withdrawal AIB were going to refuse the notes.

coylemj

Amik wrote: »

Is there a special procedure for getting a 200 or 500 bill or are the very uncommon? I'd like to try to get one of each just for souvenirs now.

You're going to tie up €700 in 'souvenir' pieces of paper

coylemj

daheff wrote: »

Just remember that if its difficult to get the high denomination notes, it'll be difficult for people to lodge them at branches. Tellers wont recognise the notes properly and may give the person lodging the notes a hard time or refuse to accept them.

+1 you'd have just as much hassle cashing a big (>100) note as you would cashing a draft, I'd say it isn't worth the bother. I had a €500 note once, didn't even bother attempting to use it in a retail store, I just lodged it in the building society.

Herr Schmidt

daheff wrote: »

Just remember that if its difficult to get the high denomination notes, it'll be difficult for people to lodge them at branches. Tellers wont recognise the notes properly and may give the person lodging the notes a hard time or refuse to accept them.


had to move money between boi & AIB in cash once..boi gave me 2 *500 eur notes...only that i had the receipt from BOI showing the withdrawal AIB were going to refuse the notes.

Surely if the notes are legal tender they must be accepted ?

Miaireland

Why go to the bother? The child isn't really going to care what note is given, just what the amount adds up to. They could also have hassle lodging the note or spending it.

coylemj

Herr Schmidt wrote: »

Surely if the notes are legal tender they must be accepted ?

Only in payment of a debt. If I owe you €500 and offer you a €500 note in settlement of the debt, you have to accept it. If I go into a shop and offer a €500 note to buy an item, the retailer is well within his rights to refuse to deal with me.

Amik

coylemj wrote: »

You're going to tie up €700 in 'souvenir' pieces of paper

LOLOL!! I know I know. I'm better off depositing the money in a bank than keeping a 500 bill under my mattress. :P

However, keeping it in bill form like that will prevent me from spending it.

Amik

coylemj wrote: »

+1 you'd have just as much hassle cashing a big (>100) note as you would cashing a draft, I'd say it isn't worth the bother.

That's true. The one time I had a 100 bill I do recall having problems using it in a store and even the bank teller took her time ensuring it was real.

According to Wikipedia there's 582,806,900 of the 500 banknotes in circulation. Probably all in Germany....

hardCopy

It definitely won't be accepted in a shop. The bank will probably only accept it as a lodgment and only at the recipient's own local branch, I haven't tried it with big Euro notes but this is the case for $100 bills.

Kenny Logins

Miaireland wrote: »

Why go to the bother? The child isn't really going to care what note is given, just what the amount adds up to. They could also have hassle lodging the note or spending it.

I'm pretty sure that child will always remember receiving that €200 note.

I was a bit nervous with a 500 note a few years back, but only because I had never seen one before. Any bank will take it.

Amik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ina7ClFrmbE

palmcut

hardCopy wrote: »

It definitely won't be accepted in a shop. The bank will probably only accept it as a lodgment and only at the recipient's own local branch, I haven't tried it with big Euro notes but this is the case for $100 bills.

Several shops will acccept larger notes. Last Summer my local Bank would not change a large note for an Australian tourist. A local shop did change the note.

Kenny Logins

hardCopy wrote: »

It definitely won't be accepted in a shop. The bank will probably only accept it as a lodgment and only at the recipient's own local branch, I haven't tried it with big Euro notes but this is the case for $100 bills.

You can't say that with any degree of certainty.

cruizer101

Miaireland wrote: »

Why go to the bother? The child isn't really going to care what note is given, just what the amount adds up to. They could also have hassle lodging the note or spending it.

Disagree with this, even now I would love the idea of getting a 500 note rather than 10 50's (no idea who is going to give me 500 quid but here's hoping) kid would definitely love it

hardCopy wrote: »

It definitely won't be accepted in a shop. The bank will probably only accept it as a lodgment and only at the recipient's own local branch, I haven't tried it with big Euro notes but this is the case for $100 bills.

Your wrong here I used to work in Dunnes Stores cash office and we did accept them. Only at customer service desk and only after a good check but they were allowed. Only ever saw a few come in, massive yokes the 500's.

Pipmae

I went to my bank (PTSB Baggot Street) recently to withdraw a €100 note for a Confirmation present. They told me their new electronic machines don't dispense them but can accept them for lodgement. There was no way around it - they couldn't give me one. They suggested the Post Office but I didn't bother.:rolleyes:

murphaph

Ironically it's the €20 and €50 notes that are the most forged. The very high denomination notes are much more likely to be closely scrutinised by a teller/cashier.

I once spent 4 x €500 notes in IKEA here in Germany. They took them no problem. It's because when I first moved here (pre-SEPA) I had no local "Laser" card and IKEA didn't take credit cards in Germany either back then...so cash was king and I had an apartment to furnish fast. Never since spent a €500 note actually.

coylemj

murphaph wrote: »

Ironically it's the €20 and €50 notes that are the most forged. The very high denomination notes are much more likely to be closely scrutinised by a teller/cashier.

Pedantic correction: It's not in the least ironic that the forgers concentrate on printing €20 and €50 notes since you've provided the explanation for why it's not worth their time forging the bigger notes.

Greenmachine

Child won't be thinking about the demonimation of the note you give them. They will likely be comparing their loot with their pals, before deciding how to spend it. Incidentally the only time I have been given €200 notes was when I made a withdrawal years ago to buy a motorbike. Ended up taking out more than I needed and lodging a few hundred into my current account teller had never seen a €200 note before and was incredibly excited to handle it. No idea how long she had actually worked in the bank. It was year later before I even got €100 notes when making a withdrawal. Only place I have ever seen the €500 note was in the South of Spain.

Amik

Greenmachine wrote: »

Only place I have ever seen the €500 note was in the South of Spain.

Funny you should mention that. Here's a excerpt from Wikipedia about the note:

In particular, Spain had a quarter of all these high-value bills within its borders in 2006.[25] This concentration of €500 notes is far greater than expected for an economy of Spain's size and these notes are rarely seen in every-day commerce – they have been nicknamed "bin Ladens" by the populace (as the presence and appearance of the notes are well known, but the notes themselves are very difficult to find).

jimmii

I had a guy settle a €1300ish bill with 3 notes I thought it was pretty cool. Only time I've seen the 500s. I have a shop in Dublin we would get a 100 maybe once a month and we've had a 200 once in the last two years.

What I'd really love to get is a Belgium €2.50 coin.

tricky D

Surprisingly, not all banks take them never mind shops unless obliged by legal tender matters.

The best places in my experience with large notes is casinos (from having worked in one) then bookies.

Greenmachine

Amik wrote: »

Funny you should mention that. Here's a excerpt from Wikipedia about the note:

Saw in a barman hand and asked if it was real and if I could have a look. Cheeky as fook of me but I was locked younger and naive. He surprisingly obliged.

Toots

If you want them from your bank branch, your best bet is ringing beforehand and checking do they have any in stock, and will they hold them for you. The reason a lot of branches don't have any is that they are only allowed to have a certain amount of cash out at any given time - the rest is locked in the vault. Then added to that, there's a limit to how much cash they are allowed to keep in the entire branch.

Tellers have a limit on the drawer in their till (usually a couple of grand) and then when the drawer reaches that, they have to transfer it to their timelocked safe under the drawer, but that also has a limit of about 10-20k. If that reaches its limit, then there's another safe out behind that has a higher limit again, and the excess has to be put into that. However that one can only be opened once or twice a day, and it takes 2 staff members to do it.

When I was a cashier, if we got in large notes we'd drop them into the large safe pretty much straight away because they'd push the till closer to their limit. We'd only get people looking for large notes once a week or so, but everyone looked for 50s or 20s, so when it came to a choice between having 2 500 notes in my till or 20 50s/50 20s, I'd choose the smaller denominations because that's what was more in demand. Usually we'd have some large notes in the vault, so if a customer wanted some, they phoned us and we'd have them ready for them the following afternoon. We wouldn't keep a huge amount in the vault either, because as with the tills, 100 x 500s would be 50k, which would be fairly useless. We could have 50k in 50s instead and use it to fill the ATMs. (No ATMs in Ireland will dispense anything larger than a 50)

In my experience, the demand for them is fairly low, and I worked in an insanely busy Dublin branch. Usually people would be looking for a single note for a present for someone. The €200 notes are pretty rare, we'd hardly ever get them in. I'd say for every 20 of the 100s or 500s we took in, we'd only take in one 200 note. We'd only break large notes if the person was a customer of the bank, simply because when you changed a note the system asked you for the denominations, and also the account number of the person. That way if the note did come back as dodgy, we'd know who we took it in from.

delahuntv

It's quite simple - the central bank in Ireland don't issue €200 or €500 notes

If they do get lodged into a financial institution they send them to CB. They do not recirculate them.