Foreign exchange requiring passports and rejecting bills

[bermondburi]

It made me laugh, at one of the super rich places last year, I changed up a load of Saudi Riyal, one note was rejected because of markings in pen on it.

They then proceeded to give me the Thai money, which had markings on it. I pointed this out, but was told that this was okay as Thai money no pwoblem!

They were correct. Marked or damaged Thai notes can be exchanged for new notes by commercial banks through the Thai central bank.

The only thing a bank or currency exchange can do with foreign currency is sell it to another customer and understandably their customers want clean money.

Probably not a good idea to laugh too quickly at things you don't understand.

"...no pwoblem!

This probably gave you giggles too.

What can I say, I'm a funny guy.

I always found that people want real money. Clean or not.

[bermondburi]

It made me laugh, at one of the super rich places last year, I changed up a load of Saudi Riyal, one note was rejected because of markings in pen on it.

They then proceeded to give me the Thai money, which had markings on it. I pointed this out, but was told that this was okay as Thai money no pwoblem!

Made you laugh? Should have made you cry. You would have lost % on that transaction.

The rates are pretty good at the moment, highest it's been in years.

[samsensam]

there's a bank near me if you change inside no passport, if you change at their exchange kiosk just outside you need to show passport...

there's at least one exchange booth at central world that doesnt ask to see a passport

never been asked to show passport at one of the private exchange booths, same rate as the banks

seems it's a rule to show passport but not always a rule...

[sandyf]

I've never ever had a single UK banknote rejected anywhere !! Most are marked in some way certainly never pristine. Always thought those that get rejected are the customer himself rather than the notes

I have to take it you never tried £5 or £50 notes, very few exchangers will take them.

[sandyf]

- passports have always been a requirement of fx of notes at thai banks. If you already know staff at that particular branch, you can do some transactions without requiring physical passport at their discretion.

- In this region, having new-looking bills from your home country are of upmost importance. Cambodia and perhaps Laos is more lax...but mainly because they actually use USD as their de-facto currency in circulation.

- superRich et al private exchangers, YMMV with passport requirement. But bills will be inspected carefully. Remember that they must guard against fraud. And also be able to sell them back.

Edit: be thankful new series of bills arent released and you travel right afterwards with the new bills. Despite the efforts of central banks/treasuries to inform people well in advance, it still takes a couple of weeks to get the word out to the banking staff.

"Cambodia and perhaps Laos is more lax...but mainly because they actually use USD as their de-facto currency in circulation."

You should use pristine dollar notes to pay for your visa on arrival in Laos, they most definitely will not accept notes that are marked in any way, hotels and shops do not seem to be so concerned.

I have noticed that in Super Rich Thais are asked for their ID cards when changing foreign money into Baht.

At Super Rich Thais have to show a passport too. A Thai ID card is not sufficient.

I know this first hand because I wanted to exchange some currency and I didn't have my passport with me. I asked the wife to use her ID card and the staff flat out refused her.

This was at the head office opposite Central World.

I have a few GBP and USD they have refused to change waiting to be spent when I travel.

We normally use the Super Rich head office and my wife has exchanged there on her ID card. They normally photocopy your passport/ID and take your telephone number.

Over the last few years we have bought quite a lot of Yuan from them and often there has been some old banknotes included which have then been rejected when paid into ICBC, bit annoying when it takes you below the minimum deposit.

[DerringDo]

It made me laugh, at one of the super rich places last year, I changed up a load of Saudi Riyal, one note was rejected because of markings in pen on it.

They then proceeded to give me the Thai money, which had markings on it. I pointed this out, but was told that this was okay as Thai money no pwoblem!

Made you laugh? Should have made you cry. You would have lost % on that transaction.

The rates are pretty good at the moment, highest it's been in years.

You get a much better rate for dollars in my experience and you can exchange Saudi Riyals for Dollars at 3.77 (SABB and Saudi Fransi for example) when the fixed rate is 3.75.

Although Super Rich et al don't discriminate as much as the banks. Only my experience.

[Chivas]

I've never ever had a single UK banknote rejected anywhere !! Most are marked in some way certainly never pristine. Always thought those that get rejected are the customer himself rather than the notes

I have to take it you never tried £5 or £50 notes, very few exchangers will take them.

Into my 25th year here its fair to say I certainly have with no issue, why would there be. ?? . Why are you having problems.....??

[JohnA61]

I have also noticed at Money Exchanges in Pattaya, along with requiring a form of ID, drivers license or passport, they will not take older series of US dollar currency. I had some 100's that were put in circulation in 1997 and they would not take them. Also the bills have to be clean, no writing.

[soc]

I have also noticed at Money Exchanges in Pattaya, along with requiring a form of ID, drivers license or passport, they will not take older series of US dollar currency. I had some 100's that were put in circulation in 1997 and they would not take them. Also the bills have to be clean, no writing.

Why do idiots write on notes/bills anyway?

[bermondburi]

I've never ever had a single UK banknote rejected anywhere !! Most are marked in some way certainly never pristine. Always thought those that get rejected are the customer himself rather than the notes

Guessing you're not Scottish then! LOL

[bermondburi]

It made me laugh, at one of the super rich places last year, I changed up a load of Saudi Riyal, one note was rejected because of markings in pen on it.

They then proceeded to give me the Thai money, which had markings on it. I pointed this out, but was told that this was okay as Thai money no pwoblem!

Made you laugh? Should have made you cry. You would have lost % on that transaction.

The rates are pretty good at the moment, highest it's been in years.

You get a much better rate for dollars in my experience and you can exchange Saudi Riyals for Dollars at 3.77 (SABB and Saudi Fransi for example) when the fixed rate is 3.75.

Although Super Rich et al don't discriminate as much as the banks. Only my experience.

At a bank the rates are much better for dollars, and also outside of bangkok. But at super rich etc there is no difference.

As an example, if you look on XE and the rate is 9.7, they will give you 9.6 at super rich.

[andrusius]

I had a bill rejected from super rich the guy said it was old. I took it to another branch and they accepted it. Lol.

[roo860]

I've never ever had a single UK banknote rejected anywhere !! Most are marked in some way certainly never pristine. Always thought those that get rejected are the customer himself rather than the notes

I have to take it you never tried £5 or £50 notes, very few exchangers will take them.

Been bringing £50 notes in for years, only problem I have had is if there were any markings on the Queens image, also tears, changed them in banks and money changers. My bank in Uk sorts them for me before I collect.

[houlicha]

It's been about 5 years since I retired, so that long since my last business trip to LOS. At that time I had to start bringing $50 bills because so many of my $100's were being rejected. The reason given was the series they were part of had been heavily counterfeited by the North Koreans. But I was able to find an automatic exchange machine at a bank near the entrance to Patpong 1. Whenever it was working, no problem with accepting bills and of course no passport needed.

[sandyf]

I've never ever had a single UK banknote rejected anywhere !! Most are marked in some way certainly never pristine. Always thought those that get rejected are the customer himself rather than the notes

I have to take it you never tried £5 or £50 notes, very few exchangers will take them.

Into my 25th year here its fair to say I certainly have with no issue, why would there be. ?? . Why are you having problems.....??

Exchangers are quite at liberty to refuse any banknotes they chose.

I have not had a problem because I am aware where the problems lie but I regularly change money for people that have had their banknotes refused. Always in need of GBP for trips back so it is not a problem

[GOLDBUGGY]

I have had this happen in several different countries exchanging foreign currency as well. Sometimes they will take them but only after a discount of 5% to 10%. A Rip Off, when you paid for new.

So always make sure your Bills are unmarked and like new and don't accept and others, as they will be difficult to exchange. I had a $100 US Dollar Bill rejected once only because it had the small head and thus was an older Bill.

At a bank I just explain to them I am taking this money overseas and they change it for newer Bills at my request. From an ATM Machine, you are testing your luck.

[Tomtomtom69]

- passports have always been a requirement of fx of notes at thai banks. If you already know staff at that particular branch, you can do some transactions without requiring physical passport at their discretion.

- In this region, having new-looking bills from your home country are of upmost importance. Cambodia and perhaps Laos is more lax...but mainly because they actually use USD as their de-facto currency in circulation.

- superRich et al private exchangers, YMMV with passport requirement. But bills will be inspected carefully. Remember that they must guard against fraud. And also be able to sell them back.

Edit: be thankful new series of bills arent released and you travel right afterwards with the new bills. Despite the efforts of central banks/treasuries to inform people well in advance, it still takes a couple of weeks to get the word out to the banking staff.

Only Cambodia uses USD as their de-facto currency.

Laos does not. Nowadays all prices must be in LAK, however, many tourism related businesses will accept both THB and USD and sometimes even EUR.

I've noticed that in Cambodia they apply less scrutiny to USD bills received than the Laotians do (for example when paying for the visa on arrival) as there is little reason to bring USD to Laos for any other reason, unless you happen to be arriving from a country that uses the dollar or had some on you anyway.

In Myanmar, brand new or near new USD notes are virtually a must. Fortunately, these days USD are becoming less and less necessary, so I avoid them to do away with all the scrutiny. They apply far less scrutiny to EUR, SGD or THB than to USD hence why I don't bring them anymore since unlike a few years ago, one doesn't need USD in Myanmar anymore.

[Tomtomtom69]

It's been about 5 years since I retired, so that long since my last business trip to LOS. At that time I had to start bringing $50 bills because so many of my $100's were being rejected. The reason given was the series they were part of had been heavily counterfeited by the North Koreans. But I was able to find an automatic exchange machine at a bank near the entrance to Patpong 1. Whenever it was working, no problem with accepting bills and of course no passport needed.

Many European banks will NOT exchange USD 100 bills and will NOT offer you this denomination if you happened to be buying USD. Probably because USD 100 notes are often forged.

The maximum note they will take is USD 50. Then again, since most American ATMs only give you 20s that shouldn't be a big deal as even in the States the only way you can obtain 100s (or even 50s) is to go inside a bank branch and frankly that's a nuisance.