What Can You Do If Your U.S. Money Gets Mangled?

Shredded, chewed, exhumed, or burnt American bills aren't necessarily lost -- a service of the Department of Treasury may reimburse you for their cash value. Learn about the Mutilated Currency Redemption Service in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren vocal bomb Here. Let's say you get
a little forgetful and leave your day planner with tickets
to a baseball game and two hundred dollars in cash
on the roof of your car, and that day planner
just happens to fall off at a railroad crossing. Everything
gets bangled when the four or five freight train goes

(00:23):
barreling through the crossing. The baseball tickets are gone, the
planner is a lost cause, and all that's left of
the cash is it chewed up twenty dollar bill. You
can't possibly use it, can you? Or can you? Most
damaged US cash, whether it's shredded by a train, damaged
in a flood, or even if your dog eats it,
is covered through the U. S. Department of Treasuries Bureau

(00:45):
of Engraving and Printing or b EP, and specifically their
Mutilated Currency Redemption Service. But it takes a lot for
a bank note to be considered mutilated. Bills that are dirty,
limp defaced, torn, or otherwise more than one half intact
don't go far enough. The b e P two finds
mutilated currency as bills that have been quote severely damaged

(01:08):
to the extent that its value is questionable or security
features are missing. That means that the twenty dollar bill
from our railroad example is simply torn. It's no problem,
get out the tape and spend away. But let's say
you find a cache of cash buried in your yard.
I mean that happens all the time, right. The bills
have deteriorated to the point that security features such as

(01:29):
the water marks, color shifting, inc security thread, or three
D security ribbon are no longer visible or have been destroyed.
Now things are a little more complicated in cases like this. Again,
this happens all the time, right. You'd have to submit
what's called a mutilated currency claim to the b EP.
It's basically a letter describing how the currency got damaged.

(01:51):
You'd include its estimated value and other contact information, including
your banking information. You also need to send the money
to the b EP, where they will examine it. This
process can take anywhere from six months to three years,
depending on how complicated the case and how damaged the currency.
The Treasury Department has guidelines on its website about how

(02:12):
to package up the cash for shipping. But in general
you'll need to send it in the exact same condition
you found it. If the currency was flat, to keep
it that way. If it was in a roll, don't
try to straighten it. One caveat defaced coins shouldn't be
sent with paper currency coins go to the U. S.
Mint for evaluation and are not redeemable for cash value,
only the value of the metal. So how much can

(02:36):
you get back for your damaged cash? That depends on
what the b EP examiner finds. Treasury Department regulations state
that US currency can be exchanged for full value if
more than fifty of the bill is identifiable as US
currency and enough of any relevant security features remain, or
I or less of the bill is present, and Treasury

(02:56):
examiners are convinced that the missing portions have been destroy
The U. S. Treasury Department handles about thirty thousand mutilated
currency claims annually, valued at more than thirty million dollars.
The most common causes for damaged currency are fire, water,
exposure to chemicals and explosives, damage from rodents, animals, or insects,
and deterioration or petrification from burial. Today's episode was written

(03:25):
by Patty Resmussen and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff
is production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For
more on this and lots of other topics, visit our
home planet, how stuff Works dot com and for more
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