Changing $100 bills for lower notes

[BlueGiraffe]

We received our money from FairFX today - $3400 of our $4220 total is in $100 bills, which is understandable, but a bit of a pain.

Will foreign exchange bureaus change some of them up at all?

 

[General Panic]

I would be surprised if one did that for you but always worth asking nicely. I never have had an issue , in Disney in particular getting rid of $100 notes when buying a small item and getting change.

I work in a shop that has a Bereau in it and the lady here would only exchange notes if she sold them in the first place and had no smaller notes in when the person bought them.

 

[Elise79]

I would less worried about changing the notes and more about the fact that your insurance is unlikely to cover you for that much cash

I wouldn't think anywhere over here will change them as they haven't sold them to you and they don't want to end up with a lot of large notes unnecessarily.

 

[Disney Frenhines]

I can tell you now, having worked for Travelex, that they will not break $100 into smaller bills simply because the $100 bill is the most counterfeited of all US notes and it is a huge problem, the palaver we had to go through when changing $100 back into Sterling was mind boggling. If you cannot change them be aware some stores will check and double check them when you use them to pay with, it's all precautionary, but, I spent 30 minutes at Wal Mart once while they went through the three I handed over.
I certainly wouldn't want to be carrying that much cash, I prefer to have some cash and a pre paid card or Travellers Cheques as the PPC or TCs will be covered if you lose them or they were stolen. Believe it or not, when I went to Universal in May on the same day I found a handbag outside Men in Black and not long after a purse on the floor of the ladies loo by The Mummy, luckily for those people they were found by an honest person who handed them in straight away, not everyone is like me, things can be easily dropped, lose a card or TCs it's all sorted in a phone call, lose a large sum of cash and you are stuffed.

 

[BlueGiraffe]

Thanks for the advice on the foreign exchange.

With regards to the amount of cash we have (a family of 4 for 3 weeks), I'm not silly enough to carry it all in my purse while out at the parks...

 

[edinburghlass]

I don't think anyone is suggesting you would be carrying large amounts of cash to the parks but my household and/or travel insurance certainly wouldn't cover that amount of cash no matter where it is lost/stolen?

 

[Kath2003]

I don't think anyone is suggesting you would be carrying large amounts of cash to the parks but my household and/or travel insurance certainly wouldn't cover that amount of cash no matter where it is lost/stolen?

This ^^
Our (very comprehensive) travel insurance covers us for £500. Many will only cover up to £200.

 

[BlueGiraffe]

It's very kind of you all to worry about my insurance, but my OP was actually about the possibility of changing up bills.

 

[oceanscape]

Goodness, $4220 in cash?!

 

[chmurf]

Disney should not make problems accepting the $100 bills

but be aware that many smaller stores (as well as toll booths for example) will not accept bills larger than $20

some even have a sign in the window about large bills.

It might be difficult to exchange the bills here in the UK, if it's possible at all.
As previously said, change bureaus will only change the currency they sold, with original receipt.
And if you have ordered online, it might be even more difficult even at the change bureau that issued the bills.

I once had this argument at a Travelex office. I had ordered online (without fees) and picked up the currency at one of their offices.
Large bills, and I asked for smaller ones. They answered that they (travelex) paid more for smaller bills, so, since I had a good rate online and no fees, they couldn't exchange my $100s for $20s

So apparently (according to what travellex told me), change bureaus get their currency at different rates.
Larger bills have a more favorable rates than smaller ones. So changing a large note for smaller ones cost them money. That's why they don't do it. (or so they say, I'm not savvy enough to know if it's true or not)

For any future trip, it's sometimes best to go with a small amount ($200pp for example, re: insurance) and withdraw in Florida (depending on bank fees it's often cheaper than changing a large amount at home)
charging on a magic band also eases the cash issue.

 

[BlueGiraffe]

Goodness, $4220 in cash?!

Yes. What of it...?

 

[BlueGiraffe]

Disney should not make problems accepting the $100 bills but be aware that many smaller stores (as well as toll booths for example) will not accept bills larger than $20 some even have a sign in the window about large bills. It might be difficult to exchange the bills here in the UK, if it's possible at all. As previously said, change bureaus will only change the currency they sold, with original receipt. And if you have ordered online, it might be even more difficult even at the change bureau that issued the bills. I once had this argument at a Travelex office. I had ordered online (without fees) and picked up the currency at one of their offices. Large bills, and I asked for smaller ones. They answered that they (travelex) paid more for smaller bills, so, since I had a good rate online and no fees, they couldn't exchange my $100s for $20s So apparently (according to what travellex told me), change bureaus get their currency at different rates. Larger bills have a more favorable rates than smaller ones. So changing a large note for smaller ones cost them money. That's why they don't do it. (or so they say, I'm not savvy enough to know if it's true or not).

Thanks

 

[chmurf]

Yes. What of it...?

first of all, understand that we all respect the reasons, decisions and choice that led you to go with such a large amount of cash

what you need to understand is that, for many of us, taking such a large sum of money in cash is a risk we're not willing to take. some of us may even consider that it's reckless.
There are so many alternative ways, such as prepaid credit cards or traveller cheques for those who don't have (or trust) Credit Cards, and it's so easy to get your bags stolen at an airport, that the vast majority of travellers will object carrying more than a couple of hundred bucks in cash. It's not just about carrying that money in the parks, it's about the trip itself.

It's your decision, your reasons, and we're not going to debate it out of respect.
But consider that the mere fact of carrying several thousand bucks on a 10hrs+ trip through airports, checkpoints and transportation, just makes many of us freak out.

 

[scoobydooby]

We received our money from FairFX today - $3400 of our $4220 total is in $100 bills, which is understandable, but a bit of a pain. Will foreign exchange bureaus change some of them up at all?

I had a large amount of cash last trip and had the same problem. I couldn't get it changed before we travelled. Over our first two days I went to the hotel shop 4 times and the food court four times and got something small and paid with a $100 bill each time. This pretty much sorted me for having the right amount for tips and other small item stuff until half way through the trip when I did the same kind of thing again.

I also used a pre paid credit card this trip for the first time. I have always previously been a massive cash carrier too! I would say it worked fine and I did feel a bit less stressed about it.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We have alśo taken similar amounts of cash and like pp tend to change my $100 bills at the theme parks with my first purchase. I usually have plenty of $1 bills and quarters for when we land as I save a few from our last trip

 

[BlueGiraffe]

consider that the mere fact of carrying several thousand bucks on a 10hrs+ trip through airports, checkpoints and transportation, just makes many of us freak out.

That's fine, freak out all you want, but it's not your money, so chill out. I respect that you may not carry that amount of cash, and that's fine, but it's a choice DH and I have made. Anyone would think I'd robbed a bank with the way people are reacting... It's spending money for a family of 4 for 21 days. It's only $50 per person per day.

One of the things I dislike about DisBoards, sadly, is how judgemental people can be, especially when it was just a simple question that was asked.

Thank you all for your concern. Thank you all for your advice. And thank you all for your suggestions.

However, the answer to my OP was "no", which is fair enough.

 

[wilkeliza]

At Disney you should be ok. If you are off property that is where the issue lies. I believe if your UK bank has a sister bank here in the US you can get them to break the bills down.

 

[BlueGiraffe]

Thanks scoobydooby and Mrs Doubtfire for your help. That's probably what we'll end up doing too . It's good to know I'm not the only "reckless" one...

 

[edinburghlass]

Sorry for being 'judgemental' just thought it was a valid point to consider.

 

[wilma-bride]

I have read all the posts and I don't see where anybody was being judgemental, only showing valid concern for a potentially risky situation. Fair enough, that is your decision and your risk to take but the DIS (and its members) is here to give advice to all travellers, be it seasoned WDW pros or complete newbies. I'm sure nobody would like to see somebody's trip potentially ruined by having what could conceivably be their entire fortnight's spending money lost or stolen, and I think people were only commenting out of genuine concern.

Since you have the answer to your question, I am closing the thread