# How much has to be missing from paper money before it useless? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706 "2001-04-20T18:22:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/1 "2001-04-20T18:22:56Z")
Well, I am sitting here in my office counting some cash. One of the $20 bills I have is missing about 1/8 of the bill. On the back side (its Canadian) the first 3 digits (letters) of the serial number are gone. I _think_ it should still be OK but I am not sure. Does anyone know if the bank going to accept it or not? How much has to be gone before it is worthless? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Marko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@El\_Marko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Marko)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/2 "2001-04-20T19:06:04Z")
I think the rule in the States is that a bill must be more than 50% intact to be legal tender. One might assume the same holds for other countries, but that might be going too far. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/3 "2001-04-20T19:06:10Z")
I seem to remember seeing something on TV once where if a significant enough piece of a bill is missing, a bank will accept it for the value of the remaining part, and then put the bill out of circulation. I remember the guy brought about half of a $5 (CDN) to a Royal Bank, and they used this little grid to determine how much of the bill was left. The guy got back about $2.40 or something. You might want to check with a bank, though. Sorry, I don’t have a cite for this, though now that I think about it, it might have been on StreetCents (CBC). ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/4 "2001-04-20T19:08:33Z")
I was all ready with an answer until I saw that damn word “Canadian.” Going on the assumption that Canadian policy is similar to U.S. policy, the answer is as long as you have more than half the bill, it’s good. From the [U.S. Treasury site](http://www.ustreas.gov/opc/opc0034.html): > [@](#): > > You will be interested to know that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing’s (BEP) Office of Currency Standards processes all reimbursement for damaged United States currency. They decide the redemption value of torn or otherwise unfit currency by measuring the portions of the notes submitted. Generally, they reimburse the full face value if clearly more than one-half of the original note remains. Currency fragments measuring less than one-half are not redeemable. ---
**Author:** ![AETBOND417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@AETBOND417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AETBOND417)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/5 "2001-04-20T22:23:37Z")
I’ve always heard that 60% was the minimum acceptable portion for paper currency in the United States. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2001, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/6 "2001-04-20T23:37:15Z")
They change the rules sometimes. I took a burned Bill to the bank here in the US, it was complete & you could see all of it but brownish. They would not take it. I should have put it in bleach, it would make it whiter & then they would probably take it as I did this once with another torched dollar. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/7 "2001-04-21T01:26:04Z")
I think one possible problem, **handy** , is that the government destroys bills by burning them, so banks may not like to takes burnts bills (depending how burnt). Plus they can be messy. ---
**Author:** ![JFMichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/aeb1de/32.png) [@JFMichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFMichael)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/8 "2001-04-21T02:17:55Z")
My question has always been whether a bank will accept a bill in more than one piece. I believe the bank will accept a bill that has been ripped down the middle- two 50% pieces. However, what if I ripped a bill down the middle, then ripped 1/4 of _another_, comepletely different bill, and presented the two pieces (1/2 and 1/4). If the bank would accept this, then couldn’t I take the other half of the bill I ripped in half, and rip 1/4 of yet another completely different bill, and get a new dollar for this? I would then have gotten two bills for one, with two bills with 3/4 left. Of course, I’m sure the banks have already considered this. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/9 "2001-04-21T04:36:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by handy \* > \*\*They change the rules sometimes. I took a burned Bill to the bank here in the US, it was complete & you could see all of it but brownish. They would not take it. I should have put it in bleach, it would make it whiter & then they would probably take it as I did this once with another torched dollar. \*\* So, I’m the only one here who is a little worried as to WHY **handy** seems to have a lot of these torched bills around the house??? Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2001, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/10 "2001-04-21T05:04:01Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > So, I’m the only one here who is a little worried as to WHY **handy** seems to have a lot of these torched bills around the house???_\* I’m sure it was just the result of some wacky **Planes, Trains, and Automobiles** -style mishap. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JasonDean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f04885/32.png) [@JasonDean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JasonDean)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2001, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/11 "2001-04-22T13:29:44Z")
I’m pretty sure in Canada for a bill to be legal tender you have to have both complete serial numbers. A bank might still take the bill but I am not sure. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2001, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/12 "2001-04-22T18:08:05Z")
I had a pamphlet once upon a time from the U.S. Treasury which said that they could accept 51% of a bill for its full amount, but there was some stipulation I can’t exactly recall involving the seal. But probably this information is available in the gov. docs section of your public library. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2001, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-has-to-be-missing-from-paper-money-before-it-useless/62706/13 "2001-04-22T21:09:31Z")
Here’s the [Bank of Canada](http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/)’s web page on [mutilated bank notes](http://www.bankofcanada.ca/en/banknotes/mutilated/index.html). They don’t really go into specifics on percentages and what-not, but they do say > [@](#): > > Such note(s) could display one or more of the following characteristics: burnt, decomposed, damaged with missing portions, shredded or contaminated…The Bank of Canada offers a free and bilingual mutilated note redemption service. This service includes careful examination of damaged notes by an experienced team. The Bank of Canada houses a specially equipped laboratory in Ottawa for this purpose. The amount of time needed to process each case varies with its complexity and the workload. Settlement, if any, is issued to the client following a formal evaluation of the mutilated note case. So it sounds like they will at least _try_ to redeem some pretty tore-up bills. (It also sounds to me like this service may be more geared to “our armored car had a head-on collision with a gasoline tanker truck” than “I got drunk and lit a cigar with a twenty-dollar bill”.) For a bill with 1/8 missing, I’d try just running it by the local regular bank and asking them if they’ll still take it. (This would probably be somewhat less complicated if you are actually in Canada, so you don’t have to get in to the whole foreign currency exchange thing on top of the damaged bill.) Or you could just take it to the grocery store and see if you can fob it off on them–maybe they’ll be so grateful you’re not writing a check in the express line…