UKC

I know someone who has managed to build up around £1500 in loose change, rough estimates but last count was over £1k! They want to put it into their savings. When they counted they counted only the £1s and 50ps so they shouldn't be too difficult to get rid of. Is the best way really to bag it all up and take it to the bank to pay in?

In reply to danrock101: Unlucky! Most Banks and building societies will only take three bags per day from you. It'll cost you a fortune in bus fare to go to the bank every day.

Supermarkets have machines that count and take money from you. 7% commission I think.

Robin

In reply to annieman: Last time i used one of those supermarket machines it only gave out a coupon for use in the supermarket.

In reply to danrock101: I have counted up £300 in coins and taken it to my local HSBC in the appropriate bags and they took it all in one go, Just guess it depends on the bank and person behind the counter.

In reply to annieman:

Are you sure? I took £80 in bags, in 1ps, 2ps and 5ps to our bank when we moved house. No quibbles at all.

In reply to danrock101: Like the last guy said, most banks will only take a few bags a day. At a push they'll take a bit more but nowhere near what you have. I think it's because of the weight, it's not worth their effort to transport it all.

The machines take a commission but for low value coins it's probably your best bet.

In reply to annieman:

Halifax won't take more than 3 bags per day, but I've had no problems with Barclays for up to about a dozen bags.

Problem is not neccesarily the bank, more the secure courier company they use to take the excess cash off-site, apparently.

In reply to annieman:

Ive never had a problem, what do you think businesses do with all the change they get given?

In reply to Adam Lincoln:

Likewise. I took over £300 of 1p, 2p, 5p 10p & 20p coins in to my local branch (Barclays) with no hassle whatsoever - I'd pre-sorted and bagged the coins. For the amount the OP is talking about I'd have a word with the local branch first.

Tip. Use a set of kitchen scales and count out one bag's worth of whichever coin. Bag it and use that as the counter weight - now all you have to do is fill the bowl until the scales balance, bag and repeat. All the time is then in the initial sorting - get the kids to do it while they are off school due to the snow

ALC

In reply to danrock101: Might be best to pop into the bank first and let them know. Somethign like this takes a lot of time to count up etc so they will be reluctant to do it at certain times. Also, they might not do as many change orders etc if you're bringing it in on a certain day.

In reply to danrock101: My brother was helping organise a "Mile of 2p coins" collection a while ago, so he ended up with tons of 2p coins to bag up and bank. I think he contacted his local branch and they gave him a time to come in and deposit them so they could arrange for either someone to be available to do it, or for them to be stored appropriately.

In reply to danrock101:

Know any small businesses? They get charged by the banks for change. Some may have a machine for accurately weighing the coins - much faster than counting in my experience

In reply to danrock101:

Not sure if it has taken off in the UK yet but my bank in Holland has an in built coin sorting machine which is free to use to make deposits.
They only charge if the amount done in any one transaction is more than 150 euros or thereabouts but you can do as many transactions as you want on the same day.
Saves all the sorting hassle too which is great.

In reply to Professor Bunsen:

They use those machines in Germany too. I haven't seen them in the UK though.

I suspect that most banks have them 'behind the scenes' as I can't imagine it's very efficient to have some poor employee counting change out all day...

In reply to danrock101: The HSBC branch I use has one of those change machines like the supermarkets but it goes straight into your account no charge. Not tried massive ammounts in it though.

In reply to danrock101:

Natwest have the machines where you can put coins in and it doesn't charge you commission. However, when I used it I got to about £80 before it stopped working because it was full. I don't know what their capacity is or how many had used it before me but I imagine it'll take a few trips for that amount of cash.

In reply to danrock101: I think the answer is speak to the bank in advance and work on the customer relations/one off nature of the transaction. As somebody else said, small businesses deposit and collect significant amounts of change but they pay for their banking. For a personal client, one off goodwill will probably prevail. So long as it is counted and bagged correctly, its a limited chore as all they do is weigh each bag and make sure it matches the correct weight for a bag of that value of whatever the denomination of coin is. Warning them in advance means they can give you a quiet time, possibly a little before they do their daily/weekly task of deciding how much change to either order in for business customer needs or return to another location if they have surplus. Your deposit may stop them ordering a bunch of stuff in, or may just go into a bulk return.... far easier if they know its happening.

In reply to danrock101: HSBC have coin machines in their branches. Just put your card in then start pouring in the coins. £1500 no problem

Yes the HSBC machines are great. You might want to pick a less busy time, some HSBC are open for the machines only on a Sunday.

The best thing is you don't have to bag them. The down side is you'll get some rejects and it can be a bit tricky to keep track.

I hate having change so I dump it all in a pot when I get home. Every month or so there's about £50 in it. Using the HSBC machine I normally end up with more counted than I actually put in (there's always a few 5ps that get dislodged when you use the machine).

In reply to danrock101:

Call the (their) bank and ask.
jk

In reply to annieman:


Amazes me that people would even consider using a coinstar machine. 7% of your money just because they're too bone idle to count, bag and bank it.

Similarly I'm amazed that people will pay £1.50 to use a cashpoint rather than walk a bit further to find a free one.

Maybe I'm just a tight sod...

In reply to ThunderCat:

That wasn't aimed at anyone in particular by the way. It's just a little bug bear of mine (one of many).

When I was a nipper my nana would empty out her handbag once every month or so and let me keep all the loose change in there. I used to love counting it, bagging it, arranging it in piles and eventually putting it in my bank account. I have a feeling it helped with my grasp of arithmetic and general concentration.

Kids nowadays are too busy with their bloody x-boxes.

In reply to danrock101:

In the past I have been involved in counting up charity collections. We have had several thousand pounds of coins to pay in. We simply counted and bagged them all, made an appointment with the bank and just paid them in. It takes a while though, as the staff have to weigh and count it all (hence the need for an appointment).

In reply to danrock101:
Cheers guys, those HSBC coin machines sound interesting, we'll phone around and see what the branches near us say, never knew they had them. Knew of the coin machines in supermarkets, and used them when feeling lazy, they give you a receipt that you can take to the tills and they will change it into cash or you can use it to buy shopping.

In reply to danrock101: if you're near London Metro Bank also have them that anyone can use.