The $50 bill isn’t nearly as common as other denominations. In actual fact, it’s on course to be be the least-printed bill in 2024, even behind the $2 note. But for those who occur to have a $50 bill in your wallet, don’t be concerned: You’ll be able to still use it just about anywhere.
Rumors are circulating online this week that the federal government is retiring the $50 bill and that some banks have stopped accepting them as of last month.
But Money investigated this claim, and we are able to report that it’s four-Pinocchio, pants-on-fire false.
First, here’s a take a look at the claim: Based on one blog post, “The Federal Reserve of the USA has announced that certain $50 bills will stop to be accepted at banks and ATMs nationwide… Major financial institutions resembling Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citibank will stop accepting $50 bills with specific descriptions.”
Money reached out to those 4 banks, and all of them said the claims a couple of $50 bill policy change are incorrect.
- Daniel Castorina, a spokesperson for Chase, says he checked along with his team and might confirm it is not true. They’d never heard anything about this, he adds.
- Don Vecchiarello, a spokesperson for Bank of America, replies in an email: “The statement about $50 bills just isn’t accurate.”
- Julia Tunis Bernard, a spokesperson at Wells Fargo, says, “Our branches and our ATMs accept $50.”
- Lastly, Colin Wright, a spokesperson at Citi, says in an email, “This just isn’t true.”
No, $50 bills will not be going away
A Federal Reserve spokesperson declined the chance to comment but directed Money to several online articles that confirm $50 bills will proceed to be treated as “legal tender,” indefinitely.
“It’s U.S. government policy that each one designs of Federal Reserve notes remain legal tender, or legally valid for payments, no matter after they were issued,” in response to the U.S. Currency Education Program’s website.
A few of the articles concerning the purported end of the $50 bill’s life mentioned that older notes specifically could be affected “as a result of the discharge of recent designs and models for currency notes” in an effort to “modernize the monetary system, ensuring that the currency in circulation is up-to-date and secure.”
Nevertheless, a continuously asked questions post shared by the Federal Reserve spokesperson refuted this assertion.
“You wouldn’t have to trade in your old-design notes for brand new ones. All U.S. currency stays legal tender, no matter when it was issued,” the FAQ reads.
One other considered one of the recent articles alleging the retirement of the $50 bill made reference to policy changes regarding mutilated or damaged bills. However the U.S. government hasn’t announced anything about that, either, and the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) continues to supply free mutilated currency redemption services.
Based on the federal government, private businesses are free to just accept — or not accept — whatever U.S. currency they please. Barring a state law that claims otherwise, which means a cashier can turn down your $50 bill, nevertheless it isn’t all that common.
In online forums, some fans of the $50 bill say they’re keen on it since it tends to be accepted more continuously than the $100 bill, which may be an excessive amount of for businesses to interrupt and there is a greater loss involved if a Benjamin happens to be counterfeit.
It’s hard to inform where all these rumors originated. So far as Money is aware, there have been no changes involving the bill $50 in recent months. The bill’s current design entered circulation 20 years ago, on Sept. 28, 2004. (Perhaps that anniversary has something to do with the false claims?)
Through the years, there have been several unsuccessful efforts to take former President Ulysses S. Grant off the bill — most notably in 2010 when Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., introduced a bill to place former President Ronald Reagan on the note citing polls of students that rank Grant in the underside half of all of the presidents. But this proposal didn’t gain much traction.
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