Global TV posted a video reminder that the Bank of Canada (BoC) will be changing the legal tender status of the $1, $2, $25, $500, and $1,000 notes starting next year (link below).
What's happening?
- "When the clock officially rolls over into 2021, tens of millions of old Canadian bills will lose their legal tender status, meaning they technically can’t be used in transactions."
Which bills are affected?
- "the $1, $2, $25, $500, and $1,000 notes, which haven’t been produced in decades, and are typically not used in transactions"
What happens if you have an old bill:
- "In an email, a spokesperson for the BoC says the simplest thing is to bring the bill to your bank and have it exchanged for legal currency, or you can send it to the BoC to have its value redeemed."
Is my old bill worth anything?
- “They should probably take them to a coin dealer they trust and get an idea what they’re worth and then they can decide what they want to do … maybe keep them in the family, or sell them and take the money.”
- “The worst thing they can do is take them to the bank and get face value for them,”
- The article gives some thoughts on some typical bills people ask about (i.e. the $1000 bill - usually not worth much more than face value).
What about $1 and $2 bills?
-
"There are well over 100 million of both the $1 and $2 notes left, which were replaced with coins in 1987 and 1996 respectively. As for why they’re losing their legal status, the BoC says they’re simply not very common and aren’t being used in transactions."
Is my money going to be worthless?
- “Withdrawing legal tender status from these notes is the final step in fully removing them as transaction notes in Canada,” a BoC spokesperson writes.
- “It is important for Canadians to understand that these notes will not lose their value; the Bank of Canada will continue to honour them.”
Here is the video: