# Paying a debt with coins.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-a-debt-with-coins/418784>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 11, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-a-debt-with-coins/418784 "2007-09-11T14:15:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Fuzzywulfe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Fuzzywulfe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzywulfe)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-a-debt-with-coins/418784/41 "2015-12-04T01:04:03Z")

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Technically, a traffic ticket is not a debt; it’s a fine or punishment.

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**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-a-debt-with-coins/418784/42 "2015-12-04T01:58:47Z")

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> [@Isilder](#):
>
> Laws in various jurisdictions have actually removed coins from “legal tender”.  
> Specifically that the law does NOT require the handling of large amounts of coins.
> 
> The teller can refuse to handle your coins…

The U.K. Law was mentioned above – what others are you thinking of?

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-a-debt-with-coins/418784/43 "2015-12-04T12:36:12Z")

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> [@Gfactor](#):
>
> Check out my second link. 😃

I did and it seems to refer to minor coins (1 and 5 cent coins, the ones that were not silver). I understood that the amount in pennies is limited to 25 cents, but the amount you can pay in dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollar coins is unlimited. And yes a merchant can specify what he will accept for something, but debts are different. “All debts public and private” would seem to mean all debts public and private.

Hijack: I once dated a girl named Penny, so named because her parents had paid the obstetrician’s bill with a jar of 1500 pennies (this would have been the late '30s).

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paying-a-debt-with-coins/418784/44 "2015-12-04T12:56:41Z")

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> [@Bricker](#):
>
> The U.K. Law was mentioned above – what others are you thinking of?

Here’s the Canadian one, in the [Currency Act](http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-52/page-1.html):

> [@](#):
>
> **Legal tender**
> 
> **8.** (1) Subject to this section, a tender of payment of money is a legal tender if it is made
> 
> (a) in coins that are current under section 7; and
> 
> (b) in notes issued by the Bank of Canada pursuant to the Bank of Canada Act intended for circulation in Canada.
> 
> **Limitation**
> 
> (2) A payment in coins referred to in subsection (1) is a legal tender for no more than the following amounts for the following denominations of coins:
> 
> (a) forty dollars if the denomination is two dollars or greater but does not exceed ten dollars;
> 
> (b) twenty-five dollars if the denomination is one dollar;
> 
> (c) ten dollars if the denomination is ten cents or greater but less than one dollar;
> 
> (d) five dollars if the denomination is five cents; and
> 
> (e) twenty-five cents if the denomination is one cent.

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